The Second Life of a Discarded Heiress

Chapter 457

When Sawyer returned home, he fell gravely ill. His fever soared to 103 degrees, and he slipped into a deep, unresponsive sleep.

By the time Norton Iverson got home from work, Sawyer was already unconscious. He didn't dare waste a second-he rushed him straight to the hospital.

Sawyer tumbled into a nightmare, trapped in a feverish haze, desperately fighting to claw his way back to reality.

Suddenly, the dream sharpened into focus.

A girl, hair tangled and wild, was tied to a hospital bed. Her helpless sobs clawed

at the air, raw and jagged. Her eyes, red and swollen, streamed with tears-and even flecks of blood.

She stared at him, pleading. "Daddy, help me. Please don't let them take my kidney."

Her frail, sickly face-so pale it was almost translucent-slowly overlapped with the real-life image of that cool, proud girl he knew.

Citrine.

Sawyer froze. Who would want to hurt Citrine? Just as he braced himself to rescue her from the operating table, he heard his own voice echo through the dream:

"Be good, Citrine. If you save Jeanette, I promise I'll treat you well from now on."

turned to the man beside him, speaking with a heavy, deliberate tone. "Theo, let the doctors begin.

couldn't believe those callous words

why, in this nightmare, did he even know Theo? How was Theo

sense of it, a raw, anguished scream tore through the

was

do this to me? If Jeanette is your daughter, then what am I? You

the biggest mistake of my life was ever meeting you-was ever agreeing

unfeeling—and his heart twisted in agony, as if it had been ripped

he saw Citrine wheeled away

the doors swung

then hurried over to the doctor. "Did

pulled off his mask, smiling.

"But the

he could finish, Dream-Sawyer interrupted, "She's

not dead," the doctor replied. "But

"We'll talk later.

word, Sawyer and Theo rushed off

doctor stared after

daughter is barely hanging on, and they don't even ask about her. That poor

dream-self with growing fury-he was shaking, wanting nothing more than to

them to