Broken Yet Untouched by Mark Twain 4
Chapter 4
As the sedative wore off, I leaned against the wall and made my slow way to the operating room entrance.
Estelle was there, wheedling and pleading with the papers in hand.
“Nathan, once Ricky’s better, I’ll enroll him in the best private school. Please, just sign it.”
Nathaniel had been wholly focused on praying for Patrick’s successful
surgery.
Unable to resist Estelle’s coaxing, he signed the document without even reading it.
He went back to his prayers, murmuring Patrick’s name.
Our daughter was not mentioned once
The last shred of my hesitation vanished.
All my regret now was for trusting the wrong man and bringing harm to my daughter.
In the end, a doctor finally emerged, wiping sweat from his brow.
“Mr. Sanford, the donor’s physical condition is weak. The quality of the stem cells is critically insufficient. We need to extract more, but doing
So…”
Dizzy and lightheaded, I stumbled forward, my voice trembling uncontrollably. “Stop the procedure. Sir, please stop it.”
I turned and grabbed Nathaniel’s arm.
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“I’ve never come to you with a request. But today I’m pleading with halt the procedure. I won’t hold anything against you. I’ll accept any condition… Please, just stop it.”
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Estelle let out a piercing scream, her cries tearing through the hallway.
The doctor quickly shook his head. “The recipient’s marrow has already been cleared. Stopping now would be fatal for him.”
I stared at Nathaniel, my gaze desperate.
I clung to a futile hope-that just once he might choose our daughter and
Instead, he steadied me, keeping me from collapsing.
“Vivi, Nika’s mind is damaged. Growing up would only be a burden for her. We can have other healthy children.”
I shook my head, backing away.
I tried to force my way into the operating room.
I called my daughter’s name, over and over.
“Nika!
“Sweetheart!
“Don’t be scared. Mommy’s right here.
But at Nathaniel’s command, his hired assistants held me back firmly.
In the silent surgical corridor, amidst Estelle’s wrenching sobs and my own cries and the frantic alarms from the operating room, I heard Nathaniel’s voice, tight yet utterly resolved.
“Save Ricky. At any cost.”
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I fought like mad against Nathaniel, wishing I could tear him apart.
Estelle approached me, tears in her eyes.
“I know you’re sad. But you can’t keep forcing Nathan to choose. Don’t you know how much it tortures him?”
The next instant, I kicked her to the ground. She spat out blood and fragments of teeth.
Nathaniel’s face darkened.
“Enough.
“Vivienne, can’t you act like an adult? This isn’t Elle’s fault.
“Apologize to her.”
I looked at him with a deep hatred. “If anything happens to Nika, you and Estelle will pay for it. I swear you will”
Nathaniel faltered, seemingly shocked by the venom in my eyes.
He looked away, his voice cold. “Lock her in a storage room. She can stay there until she’s ready to apologize to Elle.”
As I was dragged away, I heard it: the flatline alarm of my daughter’s monitor from inside the OR.
It was my daughter’s.
I closed my eyes in agony.
Once the storage room door slammed shut, plunging me into darkness, a strange, profound calm settled over me.
I took out my nearly dead phone, exported the audio file, and sent it to my assistant, Claud Duncan, with instructions to release it to the press.
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I looked at the family photo on my screen-the three of us.
Another tear, tinged with blood, fell and smeared Nathaniel’s face.
***
Outside the operating room, Nathaniel held Estelle, a sudden, inexplicable dread gripping him.
To distract himself, he picked up the document she had urged him to sign.
Only then did he read the words on the page.
His breath caught.
“Who told you to trick me into signing this?”
Estelle froze, her tears stopping abruptly. “Nathan, you love me, don’t you? Don’t you want to divorce her and marry me?”
Nathaniel’s hand shot out, striking her face with such force that she crashed against the wall.
He didn’t spare her a glance.
He ran for the storage room like mad, as if losing a single second would cost him something vital.
But when he threw the door open, the sight before him nearly destroyed him.
Joseph King is an editor and storyteller who ensures every chapter is clear, polished, and engaging for readers.
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