Catherine waited in the small hospital room with Sophia, Maria, and Samuel. At first, they talked, but then the tension grew too much, and they fell into a stressful silence. The surgery was supposed to last five hours, but after two, Catherine felt like she'd go crazy.

A knock sounded at the door, and she jumped to her feet. She tugged the door open, terrified to see a doctor or nurse. Instead, she saw Geoffrey carrying two large canvas bags.

​​

"What are you doing?" she asked the bodyguard.

"Mr. Blair was worried you'd be hungry," she said. "He sent this over from the kitchens. There's enough for all of you."

"Thanks, Geoffrey," Catherine said. "You can leave it on the table."

Geoffrey placed the two bags on the small hospital table and left the room. An enticing, savory aroma came from the bags, but Catherine wasn't hungry.

"Geoffrey's right," Maria said. "We should eat."

"I'm not hungry," Sophia murmured.

"You haven't eaten in over 24 hours, dear," Maria said. "Making yourself sick won't help your mom."

"She's right," Catherine said. "You have to eat something."

Maria began unpacking the canvas bags, pulling out piles of glass containers, ceramic thermoses, and real cloth napkins. She opened the containers and carefully served the food onto china plates from the second bag. There were creamy tomato and basil risotto, seared ribeye steaks, charred broccolini dusted with parmesan, and a summer pomegranate salad. Catherine smiled to herself, wondering if the rich meal was Sean's idea of comfort food.

She dutifully accepted her plate from Maria and forced herself to eat, hoping Sophia would do the same. They all picked at their food in silence before Geoffrey came to clear it all away.

"Thank Sean for us," Maria said.

"I will," Catherine replied.

Hours later, another knock sounded at the door, and Catherine opened it to the doctor. He looked exhausted, but he was smiling.

"We successfully removed the tumor," he said. "The patient will make a full recovery, but it will take time. She needs to rest and stay calm."

"Of course," Catherine said. "We'll see to it that she has everything she needs."

"Good," the doctor said. "For now, she's still in post-surgical care, but once she wakes up, we'll bring her back down here."

"Thanks," Catherine said.

The doctor left, and she turned to look at Sophia and Maria. "You heard what he said," she said. "We have to keep her calm—that means no mention of Tom or anything else that might upset her."

"That's not a problem," Maria said. "Sophia and I will spend as much time here as we can, and we'll keep her distracted."

"I'm not sure I can," Sophia said quietly.

"Why not?" Catherine asked.

"My boss is already furious with me for missing so much work," she said. "If I miss another day, she's going to fire me."

"Don't worry about that," Catherine said. "You don't need the job anyway."

"But I do," Sophia insisted. "My family is already in debt, and now we owe you and Sean—I can't afford to stop working now."

"You owe us nothing," Catherine said firmly. "Sean doesn't want you to pay him back."

"But—" Sophia began.

"Just worry about Linda," Catherine said. "I'm going to go home now, but call me when she wakes up, okay?"

Catherine was on her way home when her phone began to ring. She answered it immediately.

"Catherine," Maria whispered. "Linda woke up early."

"That's wonderful," she said. "But why are you whispering?"

"Linda's really upset," Maria said. "She's basically hysterical. If she doesn't calm down, they're going to have to give her a sedative."

"They should just do it," Catherine said.

"They say it's risky to do it so soon after the anesthesia," Maria said. "But if she doesn't calm down, they'll have no choice."

Catherine sighed, "What can I do?"

"Can you come back?" Maria asked. "She seems to listen to you."

"Turn the car around, Geoffrey," she ordered. "We're going back to the hospital."

A few minutes later, she found herself racing down the same hospital corridors. Once again, she found Linda's room in complete chaos.

"What happened?" she asked.

"The first person she asked for when she woke up was Tom," Maria whispered. "We told her he's at the police station, and she went into a panic. She doesn't seem to remember anything that happened right before the surgery."

"My poor Tom," Linda wailed. "He doesn't deserve this."

"Yes," he does, Catherine said. "He beat you and Sophia."

"I'm sure it was an accident," she said. "You need to bail him out—he can't survive in there. Oh, god, I have a horrible feeling that he's in pain."

"This is ridiculous," Catherine snapped.

She crossed the room and leaned over Linda's bed. Linda's head was heavily bandaged and wrapped in thick gauze. Only her eyes, nose, and mouth were visible under the white bandages. She looked like a mummy.

"You need to stop thinking about that sad excuse for a man," Catherine said, staring deep into Linda's watery eyes. "Have you seen Sophia's forehead? It's covered in stitches. Do you know why that is?"

Linda shook her head.

"It's because Tom hit her with a lamp," Catherine said. "Sophia's lucky he didn't kill her."

"I'm sure he didn't mean it," Linda said.

"Oh, he meant it, Mum," Sophia said, approaching the bed. "He was going after you, but he turned on me when I tried to make him stop."

"Oh, sweetie," Linda cried. "You can't blame him. Your father is a very sick man—he needs our help."

"Bullshit," Catherine snapped. "Sophia needs your help. What about her?"

"Sophia can support herself," Linda said. "She's a strong girl. She'll work, and eventually, she'll marry a nice man who can take care of her."

Catherine rolled her eyes, "You should be ashamed. Sophia was top of our class—she's one of the smartest people I know, and you want her to skip college just to support Tom's vices. You know he's just going to drink and gamble her money away. It's what he did with all your money, after all."

"He can't help it," Linda cried.

"And I see you can't help but be pathetic and weak," Catherine snapped.

"Don't talk to me that way," Linda said.

"I'll talk to you however I want," she said. "If you want to ruin your own life, that's one thing. But I won't sit back and let you ruin Sophia's too."

Linda stared at her in silence, and Catherine stared back. Eventually, Linda looked away.

"I tried my best," Catherine said, feeling disgusted. "But she won't listen to me either."

"I'll walk you out," Sophia said.

Together they walked to the front of the hospital. Tears streamed down Sophia's face, and her eyes were red and puffy. Her normally shiny, blonde hair was pulled into a tangled, matted bun and her clothes were wrinkled and messy.

"I care about you, Sophia," Catherine said. "And I know you care about your mum, but you have to live your own life. If you stay with her, she's just going to pull you down."

"I can't give up on her," Sophia said.

Catherine sighed, "Just promise me, you won't go near Tom."

"But he's in jail," Sophia said.

"For now," she replied. "But unless Linda presses charges, they'll have to let him go."

Sophia's face paled, and her eyes widened with fear, "Really?"

"Unfortunately," she said. "Just promise me if he shows up at the hospital, you'll leave."

"I'll do my best," Sophia said. "But I can't leave my mum."

"You have to, Soph," she said. "Linda has already failed you. I know you love her, but she doesn't treat you as she should."

"I know," Sophia whispered miserably.