EVANGELINE
The ICU smelled like antiseptic and machines.
Evangeline sat in the plastic chair next to her father's bed, holding his hand like it was the only thing keeping him alive. Maybe it was. His hand was cold and papery thin. She couldn't remember when her father had started feeling fragile.
The heart monitor beeped steadily. A rhythm that meant he was still here. Still breathing.
Still hers.
His face was gray. His chest rose and fell with the help of oxygen tubes. The doctor's words kept replaying in her head. Another shock could kill him. Another shock.
She'd given him that first shock by finding Adrian and Natasha tangled together like animals. She'd given him the second shock by letting the videos spread.
She was going to kill her own father if she wasn't careful.
The early morning light filtered through the hospital window. It had to be around six now. She'd been sitting here for hours. Since the moment they'd stabilized him. Since they'd told her his heart was damaged beyond what they'd thought.
Her phone buzzed on the armrest.
It was Marcus Chen from her father's investment board. The fourth call in three hours. She'd ignored the first three. She had nowhere to hide in this small hospital room so she answered this time.
"Evangeline, I'm sorry to call so early but I had to speak with you before the board meeting."
His voice was careful. Practiced. The kind of careful people used when they were about to say something cruel.
"The scandal with Adrian. Combined with the FDA investigation. Combined with the failed drug trials." He took a breath. "We can't be associated with this level of public crisis. The board has voted. We're pulling our investment."
"You can't pull out now. My father needs—"
"Your father's company is failing, Evangeline. The drug trial sabotage was extensive. The cover up was worse. And now this personal scandal is making everything worse. We're protecting our assets."
She wanted to scream at him. Wanted to tell him that her father had spent thirty years building this company. That he'd sacrificed everything for research that would save lives.
Instead she just said, "Okay."
"I'm sorry. I liked your father. But I have investors to answer to. We're out."
The line went dead.
Her father stirred in the bed.
For a moment she thought he was waking up. Her hand gripped his tighter. But his eyes stayed closed. Just a bad dream making him restless.
Another call came through before she could even set the phone down.
This time it was James Peterson from their creditor bank. James sounded hungover and impatient.
"We need the outstanding loan payments by end of business today or we start seizing assets. Your father signed agreements. Those agreements are binding."
"Mr. Peterson, my father just had a heart attack. The doctors said another shock could kill him. I'm asking for an extension until—"
"I don't care if he has three heart attacks. The contracts are the contracts. End of business today."
He hung up.
Evangeline sat frozen in that chair, phone still in her hand, staring at her father's unconscious face.
Everyone was leaving.
Everyone was circling like vultures.
By the end of the day her father's entire company would be seized. His life's work would be liquidated. Everything he'd built. Everything he'd sacrificed for. Gone.
And she was supposed to keep this from him. She was supposed to let him sleep peacefully in this hospital bed while his whole world burned down around him.
The doctor had been very clear. His mind needs to stop racing or his heart is going to give out.
More than one more shock and he'd die.
That was the choice she had now. Let him live in ignorant peace while everything was taken from him. Or tell him the truth and risk his heart giving out completely.
Her phone buzzed again.
This time it was a lawyer. Robert Mills. He represented the pharmaceutical company's major creditors.
"Miss Winters, I need to inform you that we're filing for liquidation proceedings this morning. Your father's company is insolvent. Assets will be seized by court order."
Evangeline's voice came out small. "There has to be another way."
"Unless you can produce significant capital injection within the next eight hours, or find an investor willing to take on the company's debt and the FDA investigation, there is no other way. Your father's company is finished."
The lawyer hung up.
Evangeline looked at her father sleeping in that hospital bed and felt something break inside her. Not crystallize this time. Actual break.
She'd failed him.
She'd had one job. Keep the company running. Keep her father safe. Keep their family legacy alive.
And she was failing at all of it.
Her father's eyes opened.
They were confused at first, searching for reality in that drug-addled haze between sleep and consciousness. Then they focused on her face.
"Evangeline?" His voice was weak. Barely a whisper.
"I'm here, Dad. I'm right here."
His hand moved against hers. Trying to squeeze but not having the strength.
"I'm sorry," he said. Each word seemed to cost him everything. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I'm leaving you alone. With the company. With the debts. With everything."
"Don't say that. Don't you dare say that."
"I should have been stronger. Should have seen the sabotage coming. Should have protected what we built."
Tears streamed down her face now. She wasn't even trying to stop them.
"You're going to be fine. The doctors are taking good care of you. You're going to recover and we're going to fix this together."
But even as she said the words she knew they were lies.
Her father's eyes closed again. "I love you. Promise me you'll be okay. Promise me you won't let this destroy you."
"I promise, Dad. I promise I'll fix everything."
She meant it with every fiber of her being.
She would fix this.
She would save him.
She would do whatever it took.
His grip on her hand loosened as the medication pulled him back under. Back into that safe darkness where none of this was real.
Evangeline sat there holding her father's hand and made a decision.
She was done waiting.
She was done hoping someone would help her.
She was done being the victim in her own story.
She pulled out her laptop right there in that hospital room and opened her proposal. The contract. The insane offer she'd written at three in the morning.
One year of marriage.
To a stranger.
To Sebastian Thornfield.
The Ice King who didn't believe in love.
The billionaire who honored his contracts absolutely.
She read through what she'd written. It was brilliant in its desperation. Smart in its proposal. But would it work? Would a man like that actually agree?
She had to try.
She had nothing left to lose.
Her father stirred in the bed again. This time his body went rigid.
His chest stopped moving.
Then it started moving wrong. Erratic. Panicked.
The heart monitor alarm went off.
Not a steady beep anymore. High pitched. Screaming.
Evangeline jumped up. "Dad? Dad?"
His eyes opened but they weren't seeing her. His body was seizing on that hospital bed.
"Someone! Someone help me!"
Doctors and nurses rushed in from everywhere. They moved with terrible purpose. Moving her out of the way. Pushing her back against the wall.
"We need to clear the room," someone said.
"No, no, I'm staying with him."
A nurse gripped her arm. Firm but not unkind. "You need to let us work."
"That's my father. That's my father."
They were doing things. CPR. Injections. Calling out numbers she didn't understand.
The machine was screaming.
And her father was gone somewhere deep inside his own dying body where she couldn't reach him.
Evangeline stood in that corner of the hospital room and watched the only person who'd ever really loved her slip away.
And she realized she was out of time.