The Day Our Promise Breaks

Charlie was still fast asleep in the hotel bed.

Evelyn watched her daughter's peaceful little face, cheeks rosy and full of life. Relief finally washed over her.

She didn't have anything left to say to Charles. She just said, "Take care of Charlie," and hung up.

Unable to resist, Evelyn leaned down and kissed her daughter's soft cheek again and again. "Charlie, just wait a few more days for Mommy, okay?"

She lingered, unwilling to look away, before finally handing her phone back to the staff.

Charlie was safe.

Evelyn straightened up, feeling her strength return. Seeing her daughter's

sleeping face made her even more determined.

She would become someone her daughter could be proud of.

...

In the next exam room, the air was so tense it felt frozen solid.

Charlie's tiny body had slipped into a deep coma. Her skin was a scary bluish- purple, her breathing so faint it was barely there. Every heartbeat was a desperate fight to hang on.

The monitor's alarm screamed-a sharp, hopeless sound, even more urgent than the one by Charles' bed. It was like the Reaper's scythe swinging closer with every second.

Francis' face was grim as he snapped at his top medical team, his voice cold as ice. "I don't care what you have to do-keep her stable! Until we get results from Charles, nothing can happen to Charlie. Got it?!"

faces set in stone as they

pads, blood purification-every method they could think of, thrown at the crisis like patching up a bridge over a bottomless

a thread. Francis and his team fought for

pounding, each shrill beep echoing

barely ended the call before he coughed up

said, eyes glued to the monitor the numbers on Charles' screen

brought news of Charlie from

Charles'

went wide, his

ragged. His voice firm "Andrew... one

up the

the

.up the det

was their last-ditch antibody strategy, risky as hell

maybe

shot. Until now,

back, afraid Charles could

held

survive

it. sŵnovel

"But you "

Charlie!" Charles roared, forcing out the words as blood

look in Charles' eyes—a father

Andrew plunged the shimmering,