The Man She Let Die

I paid Curtis Robinett 200 thousand dollars a month to be a standby blood donor.

My fiancée, Eden May, thought it was a waste of money. So she reassigned him to work part-time as her personal assistant instead.

When Curtis accidentally submitted my marriage license appointment as a divorce filing for the 99th time, I kicked open Eden's office door.

She didn't even look up.

"We're in no rush to get married anyway," she said calmly. "Curtis is just careless. That's how he's always been."

Later, in the emergency room, I called Eden while doctors rushed around me, my throat shredded from yelling.

"Where's my emergency medical kit?" I rasped. "What did you do with it?"

Curtis answered instead, his voice warm and smug.

"You mean the expensive leather bag you kept in the cabinet? I swapped it out for a large party snack box. It holds everything just fine, and honestly, it looks a lot more cheerful.

"Ms. May's brother and sister-in-law are both career soldiers. Your bag didn't really match that image, so I thought this would be more appropriate."

My vision dimmed. My hands shook as I told Curtis to come donate blood.

Eden laughed softly and cut in, "Stop pretending you're anemic just to get attention. If you're actually sick, deal with it. You're at the hospital; I think the doctors are fully capable of keeping you alive. Curtis is afraid of needles. He's not coming."

Then, she hung up.

She didn't appear until the surgical lights finally went dark.

"Curtis had me bring you chocolate milk," she said. "It's good for recovery. It's not that he didn't want to help. He just faints at the sight of blood."

She placed a settlement waiver on my bed.

"I was the one who told him not to come. That 200-thousand-dollar monthly salary is his pay as my assistant. It has nothing to do with you. You didn't have to call the police for that. Sign this, and I'll go get the marriage license with you."

I thought of what I had just seen in the operating room.

Eden's brother, Harvey May, was bleeding out on the operating table, waiting for a lifesaving drug that never came. In the final moments of surgery, he could do nothing but lie there and die.

I looked at her and said evenly, "You're the immediate family. It's not my place to sign that."

"Matthew, that's enough. You're obviously fine. Who are you putting on this show for? So you suffered a little. Did you really have to drag Curtis into this, like you wanted him dead?"

Seeing how pale I was, Eden May sighed. She casually opened a bottle of chocolate milk and handed it to me.

"Be good and sign it. We're family. There's no need to make this ugly. Harvey and Laurel care a lot about their image. Don't make this hard on me."

"Ms. May, please don't argue because of me. Mr. Stone just couldn't wait anymore, so he pretended to be sick to force the marriage."

Curtis Robinett peeked out from behind her and turned to me.

"That bag… It was at the very bottom of the closet in your room. I never saw you use it, so I thought you didn't want it anymore. I was trying to protect the Mays' reputation, so I donated it. Where I come from, men tough things out even if they're not feeling great. I had no idea you would prepare an emergency kit over something this minor. If I had known you'd fight with Ms. May over it, I wouldn't have touched it, I swear…"

I didn't even have time to ask why he had the keys to the house I shared with Eden.

I wasn't the one who needed blood.

It was Eden's brother, Harvey May, who spent years overseas on classified missions. That emergency kit held the drug that kept him alive, along with his medical records and contingency plan.

I let out a sigh and handed Eden Harvey's death notice.

The moment I raised my hand, Curtis suddenly screamed and fell backward. His phone broke with a loud crack.

He burst into tears.

"Mr. Stone, if you don't want to sign, then don't! You can hit me if you want to…"

He pointed at the shattered phone on the floor, his voice trembling.

"But that phone…had my mom's last voice message before she passed. That was the only thing I had left of her in this world…"

Eden shoved me aside and rushed to help him up.

When she looked back at me, her eyes were cold as ice.

"Heh. No wonder you grew up without parents. Guess it's karma. Now, you want to copy my brother and pretend you're anemic, too? And you keep insisting Curtis should be your personal blood bank! Do you really think you deserve that? You should be on your knees thanking Curtis. If he weren't so softhearted, you would've ruined yourself a long time ago."

She held my gaze, every word measured and cutting.

"Matthew, losing your parents wasn't some accident. It was your fault."

My blood turned ice-cold. She ripped open every scar I had, right there in front of everyone.

If only she knew that the one lying on that operating table was her brother, Harvey.