Machines tracked a heart struggling to continue its work.
Chloe entered first.
“Mom.”
Margaret opened her eyes.
Relief spread across her face.
“You made it.”
Chloe took her hand.
“They’re fixing the problem.”
Margaret smiled faintly.
Then she noticed Rayan standing at the door.
Everything stopped.
Her fingers went rigid around Chloe’s hand.
Rayan stepped into the room.
“Margaret.”
She whispered his childhood name.
“Rayan ibn Layla.”
Rayan’s breath caught.
No one had called him that since his mother died.
Chloe looked from one to the other.
“You know him.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I promised someone I never would.”
“Who?”
Margaret looked directly at Rayan.
“Your mother.”
The room went silent.
Then Omar entered.
Margaret’s heart monitor accelerated immediately.
“No.”
Her voice changed.
Chloe noticed.
So did Rayan.
Margaret gripped Chloe’s arm.
“No. Get him out.”
Omar stopped.
“Margaret.”
“You.”
Rayan stepped between them.
“What did he do?”
Margaret looked terrified.
Omar sighed.
“She’s sick. We should allow her to rest.”
Margaret suddenly tore the oxygen tubing from beneath her nose.
“No.”
“Mom!”
Margaret pointed toward Omar.
“He is the reason your mother died.”
Rayan did not move.
The machines continued beeping.
Omar’s face remained strangely calm.
“This is absurd.”
Margaret looked at Rayan.
“The explosion wasn’t an attack.”
Rayan’s expression emptied.
“It was meant for you.”
Chloe covered her mouth.
Margaret struggled to breathe.
“Your father discovered money disappearing from the royal development fund. Hundreds of millions. Omar was moving it through shell companies.”
Omar laughed softly.
“Thirty-year-old accusations from a dying woman?”
“I had proof.”
Margaret looked at Rayan.
“Your mother found it first.”
Rayan’s fists closed.
“She was going to expose him.”
“Enough,” Omar said.
Rayan turned.
One look silenced him.
Margaret continued.
“Omar arranged the explosion. He expected everyone inside the convoy to die.”
“But I didn’t,” Rayan whispered.
“No.”
“Because you saved me.”
Tears filled Margaret’s eyes.
“Because your mother made me promise I would.”
The transplant director appeared at the door.
“Mr. Al-Zahir, we have a problem.”
Rayan turned.
“The donor heart is being released in twenty-three minutes.”
“Then correct the record.”
“We’re trying. But the modification wasn’t made through our hospital.”
“Where?”
The doctor swallowed.
“It came through the national transplant identity database.”
Rayan stared at Omar.
Omar’s expression did not change.
That was his mistake.
Rayan understood.
“You knew she was here.”
Omar said nothing.
“You altered her record.”
Still nothing.
“Why now?”
Margaret began crying.
“Because he knows what I kept.”
Omar’s eyes snapped toward her.
There.
Fear.
Rayan saw it.
“What did you keep?”
Margaret looked at Chloe.
“Your bag.”
“My bag?”
“The lining.”
Chloe frowned.
“The canvas bag?”
“I gave it to you years ago.”
