3、

The fright brought on a high fever that same night.

There was nothing else I could do. My hands were shaking as I dialed Ned's number.

The busy tone dragged on and on before the line finally connected.

"Ned, Grandma, she—"

I hadn't even finished before his tired voice cut me off.

"Let me guess. Grandma's sick again, and you need me to come to you."

"Odette, this trick's getting old."

The rest of the words stuck in my throat and wouldn't come out.

Ned kept going.

"Zoey's almost done with her bath. Lately she can't fall asleep without me telling her a bedtime story."

"Show a little kindness to a dying woman. Don't pick a moment like this to throw a jealous fit."

I lowered my head, and scalding tears dropped one by one onto the back of my hand.

I remembered my first time at the fight club, when I got beaten half to death.

By the time they dragged me off the platform, my face was swollen out of shape.

I was huddled in a corner when a white handkerchief suddenly appeared in front of me.

Ned stood over me with the light behind him, his voice unbelievably gentle.

"Wipe your face."

After that, he tended my wounds, went with me to visit Grandma, taught me how to use my own build, the cleverest angle for the most perfect force.

The first time I won, he pressed my head into his chest in front of everyone, his warm breath against my ear.

"From now on, you can lean on me."

I actually believed him.

Looking back now, how stupid I was.

Grandma lay in bed, the breath leaving her hotter and hotter.

I wiped my tears, went out, dragged the family cart from the yard, and laid a mat over it.

Then I gritted my teeth, went back inside, and lifted Grandma onto my back.

The wound on my chest hurt worse and worse. I bit it down and made no sound, edging step by step to the cart, easing Grandma flat.

The snow lay deep along the road.

I sank in with every other step.

By the time I stood at the hospital doors, I couldn't feel my body anymore.

The doctors inside came rushing out.

Then the familiar operating room light came on.

I leaned against the wall, eyes fixed on the door, not blinking once.

The snow on my shoulders had long melted into water, soaking through clothes that were already too thin.

Thank God the doctor's words gave me something to hold on to.

"The patient's condition is stable for now, but the follow-up treatment has to keep pace."

Something unsettled stirred in me.

"How much longer will the follow-up treatment cost?"

"A hundred thousand, roughly."

I let out a breath.

These past two years I'd barely stopped, one fight after another.

What I'd saved was just about enough to cover what came next.

When I walked into the ward, Grandma was already awake.

"Odette, I've gone and made trouble for you again."

I shook my head, the tears falling without stop.

I took out the bank card and tucked it under Grandma's pillow.

"Grandma, when you get your treatment, pay with this card."

"While I'm gone, you have to take good care of yourself."

The next day, picking up her medicine, I ran into Zoey.

"Odette, what a coincidence."

"I just had a bit of a headache last night, and Ned insisted I come in for a checkup today."

I twitched the corner of my mouth. I didn't want to get tangled up with her.

But when I stepped through the door, I saw the person who should have been in bed lying on the floor instead.

"Grandma!"

Grandmother's hands were shaking, and all at once she slapped her own face.

I caught both her hands, and something inside me sank.

"What's wrong?"

Two lines of clouded tears slid down, her lips trembling.

"Some men just now, they broke into the ward and took that card."

"It's my fault, I'm useless. I couldn't protect it!"

She beat at her own legs, her face full of regret.

I opened my mouth, but no sound would come out, and the world went dark in waves before my eyes.

She gripped my arm, the hatred in her eyes almost spilling over.

"Those men, they're the same ones who came yesterday to seize our house!"

I thought of Zoey Swanson, the woman I'd run into downstairs. That unreadable smile of hers.

It was her!

I spun around and ran.

From a distance I could already see her, that figure in the wheelchair.

"Zoey Swanson!"

I ran up to her with red eyes and held out my hand.

"Give me back the money!"

She tilted her head, all innocence.

"Odette, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Stop pretending!"

I grabbed her wheelchair and begged.

"Whatever you have against me, take it out on me. I don't even want Ned anymore. Just give me back the money."

"I'm begging you. All I want is the money."

She stared at me for a moment, and then her eyes slowly went red, her body starting to tremble.

"Odette, you're scaring me."

The next second something wrenched me aside.

Ned had my arm, fury churning in his eyes.

"You really never learn. Kicking up a scene in front of Zoey again."

"Looks like yesterday I went too easy on you."

I laughed a few times, the dull ache tearing at my chest, and the look I gave him was dead of everything.

"I only want her to give me back the money."

Ned's brows drew together.

"You lost some money?"

"If it's gone, you earn it back. What are you doing throwing a tantrum in front of Zoey?"

I threw off his arm and screamed until I broke.

"There's no time! I don't have time to earn it back!"

That set Ned off too, and he slapped me across the face.

"What do you mean, no time!"

"You've just been spoiled by me too long, and the laziness in your bones is coming out!"

"You're a piece of mud that'll never hold to a wall."

He used to say I was wild grass, tough, one of a kind, that he was drawn to me deeply.

Now he called me mud.

My throat worked, and I swallowed the mouthful of sweet iron.

He turned Zoey's wheelchair around and walked away.

"Odette, I'm truly so disappointed in you."

I stood there rigid, and I didn't miss the flash of triumph in Zoey's eyes.

Inside her drooping sleeve, the familiar face of the card caught the light for an instant.

I lunged, and Ned kicked me away.

Then two bodyguards pinned me hard to the ground.

"Odette, enough!"

The wound in my chest seemed to be getting worse, and black spots began breaking across my vision.

From somewhere off came a sudden burst of commotion.

A nurse ran past, her face grave.

"Someone jumped from the inpatient building. They've confirmed there's no pulse."

"Just admitted last night. I heard it was because their money got stolen."

The voices around me blurred and drifted off, until all I could hear was my own ragged breathing.

In the end I couldn't hold it back, and coughed up a mouthful of sweet blood.

As my mind slipped away, I felt someone lift me up.

They were talking.

"Take her back."

"The boss said her life belongs to the fight club now."

Little by little, my mind sank all the way into the dark.

……

The hospital parking lot.

Ned lifted Zoey from the wheelchair and set her carefully into the back seat.

As he straightened up, someone came running over and said a few words close to his ear.

The next second, Ned's face changed completely.