“Emily, how dare you speak to your mother like that!” my father bellowed, stepping forward with his fists clenched, but two burly hospital guards were already grabbing them by the shoulders, dragging them backward toward the exit.
“I am the Chief Trauma Attending of this hospital,” I stated coldly, not breaking eye contact with my mother as she kicked and screamed while being pulled through the doors. “And right now, I am the only thing standing between your favorite daughter and a body bag.”
The doors shut with a heavy thud. The silence was instantly replaced by organized chaos.
“Dr. Vance,” Sarah said, her voice tight, a rare edge of panic seeping into her professional tone. “Her blood type. It’s AB-negative, but she has the extremely rare Ro subtype. The hospital blood bank is completely out. The regional center is out. We can’t do the partial liver repair without a massive transfusion, and we have absolutely no match in the entire tri-state radius.”
I stared down at Chloe’s face. It was gray, the color of wet concrete. She was a renowned lifestyle influencer now, a millionaire built entirely on the aesthetic of perfection—and on the stolen funds that had ruined my twenties. She had destroyed my reputation, shattered my family, and left me to starve in a freezing studio apartment while she bought sports cars.
“We’re losing her, Emily. Pressure is bottoming out,” Sarah whispered, her eyes pleading with me to perform a miracle.
I closed my eyes. I felt the strong, steady pulse in my own neck. AB-negative. Ro subtype. A rare genetic anomaly we shared from our father’s bloodline. The irony was so thick it tasted metallic in my mouth.
I opened my eyes and began methodically unbuttoning my white coat. “Prep me for a rapid direct transfusion and an emergency tissue harvest,” I ordered, my voice steady.
Sarah stared at me, completely stunned. “Dr. Vance, you’re the attending physician, you can’t…”
“I’m also the only match she has left on this earth,” I said, rolling up my sleeve to expose the prominent vein in my arm. “Save her.”