The emergency responders finally arrived.
Evan scrambled to the door and yanked it open. He grabbed one of the emergency responders by the uniform.
“Please, save my sister!”
The medics rushed in with a stretcher and began examining me.
One pressed a stethoscope to my chest, his brow tightening. He lifted one eyelid and shone a light into my eye, then checked the other.
After several silent seconds, he lowered his stethoscope.
“I’m so sorry. She has no vital signs.”
Evan stood frozen, as though the words made no sense.
“What do you mean, no vital signs?”
The medic sighed with genuine sorrow.
“She’d been under extreme stress for a long time. The intense shock appears to have triggered cardiac arrest. It may have been stress-induced cardiomyopathy, sometimes called broken heart syndrome.”
Dead of a broken heart.
Evan opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Tessa went pale at the news. While everyone was distracted, she quietly slipped away.
When Maya heard the words broken heart syndrome, she swayed.
She tried to move, tripped over the leg of a chair, and fell.
Then she broke into sobs on the floor.
“Lily, how could this happen?”
She looked up, her face covered in tears.
“Weren’t we supposed to be best friends forever? You said we’d be each other’s bridesmaids. What am I supposed to do without you?”
Graham knelt beside me, his eyes as empty as still water.
He reached out and smoothed the loose hair away from my forehead, his fingertips tracing gently from my brow to my temple. Again and again, just as he used to when he coaxed me to sleep.
“Your hair’s messy, Lily. Let me fix it.”
He straightened my collar and tucked away the strands stuck to my bloodstained cheek.
Then he leaned down and kissed my forehead.
The next instant, he doubled over as if the pain had become unbearable. A mouthful of blood burst from his lips.
Evan knelt on the floor and struck his forehead against it.
“Please, try again. Save her!”
“She’s the only family I have left. I can’t lose her!”
He emptied his pockets, pushing his wallet, phone, and keys toward the medic’s feet.
“I have money. Take all of it. Whatever you want!”
“Please save her. I can’t lose her too!”
The medic bent to help Evan up, his own eyes wet.
“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. We did everything we could.”
He paused and looked at my face, speaking almost to himself.
“She was so young. What kind of shock could have done this to her? How much suffering would it take for a heart to finally give out?”
His words pierced everyone in the room.
Graham strode up to him, grabbed his collar, and shoved him toward the door.
“You incompetent idiots! Get out! All of you!”
“My Lily is fine. What the hell are you talking about?”
He returned to my side and clasped my hand.
“It’s okay now, Lily.”
He pressed my cold hand against his cheek.
“I know you’re tired. Get some sleep. I promise I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay right here with you.”
Graham took a diamond ring out of his pocket and slipped it onto my finger.
Then he kissed my forehead.
“I’m keeping my promise, Lily.”
“When you wake up tomorrow morning, we’ll get married, okay?”
But he’d never hear my answer again.