Chapter 9: Please Don't Die

Abigail's POV

I kept calling her back that night. When the phone went to voicemail again, I made myself speak.

"Cora, it's Mom. It's a small thing in my head, and it's fixable. The doctors say I'll be fine. I'm sorry you found out from a calendar."

I waited, and there was only the click of the line.

"I love you," I said. "Whatever you think of me."

I put the phone down.

Then I opened the family calendar on my laptop and looked at the settings.

The private lock on my entry had been turned off on Wednesday.

The edit had come from Delaney's login.

Simon read it over my shoulder.

"That's a very small crime," he said, "committed very carefully."

"She wanted Cora to find it."

"Why?"

"So I'd chase her," I said. "So I'd go to the lake house in tears. So she could be the calm one."

He didn't ask what I would do instead.

I did nothing.

Four weeks later, I lay on a hospital bed with a paper cap on my head, counting backward from ten.

Gilbert had texted that morning.

Hope it goes well. Delaney says don't be dramatic about it. Sign the equity forms when you're up.

Cora had not answered a single call.

Simon walked beside the bed all the way to the double doors.

"I'll be right here," he said.

"You promised soup."

"The worst soup in the state."

I laughed, and the last thing I saw was his hand letting go of mine.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Reborn, I Gave My Daughter to His Mistress from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.