DEAR EX-WIFE: IT'S PAYBACK TIME

CHAPTER 7

RYAN

Time slowed at her words.

"She needs you." This was the only words my brain registered fully before I sped out, not caring about what Aiden would say or feel.

Heck!!! My mind went pitched blank, all I knew was my little angel, all I wanted was her, to be with her.

I ran through the streets, ignoring the cars which blasted their horns at me; some screamed, asking if I was mad.

I was.

I dashed into the hospital, running frantically up the stairs and dashing through the halls till I reached the room. I burst in, and my gaze met an empty ward.

"Sir." I turned staring at the same nurse.

"Where is my daughter?"

"She..." tears rolled down her face.

My heartbeat slowed down. "Where is she??. Answer!!."

"She is in the coma ward."

~~~~

The world around me stilled as I stared at her, my little angel. She looked barely alive and was encased in a cold medical pod. Her breathing was so faint it was almost inaudible. I stroked the icy machine that encased her fragile body.

My heart was ripped apart with every second, self-blame made it mad into my gut, stabbing it repeatedly.

I ..

Doctor Nelson glared at him furiously. “What kind of parent are you? Your child is already this sick, and you still had the nerve to divert her medicine to someone else? In your eyes, what is this child to you?!”

I froze unable to comprehend a thing. "I...I didn't give the medicine to anyone else. The moment I received it, I sent a nurse to deliver it right away." I stuttered. " The drug was important, how could he possibly hand it to anyone else?!"

Doctor Nelson let out a bitter laugh. “Easy for you to say now. I had just put the medicine away when her mother barged in with a group of people and snatched it right out of my hands."

Rachael??.

"...The bodyguards filled the hallway, like they were collecting a debt. In my twenty-plus years of practice, I’ve never suffered such humiliation!”

I watched the doctor adjust the pod’s settings. Pointing a trembling finger at me, his voice cracked. “It’s one thing for me to be insulted, but this child..." he paused, biting back his tears. "She’s only five! Don’t you want to save her at all? Are you even human? She’s such a sweet and innovative kid. In my twenty years of practice, I have never seen a child like her, no matter the pain she faces every time she bites it back, never cries, never complains, she is always smiling, hiding her pain. She is such an innocent and angelic child!. How could you be so cruel? How could you deny her a chance to live, to see this world? That man’s kid downstairs just scraped his hand—since when does a scratch deserve a miracle drug like the one you bought!”

I stilled, my mind blanked.

"I.... what... did you say??..I."

I tried hard to reason, to understand how a mother could rob her own daughter of life-saving medicine for another child.

A stranger who barely hurt himself.

"I....I.." I gulped, the bile clogging my throat. "I ..I....I could make another one, it would take a few hours, but I can... we.. can save her..." I shook, fighting the tears that stained my gaze. "I can...I can make one and...."

Doctor Nelson shook his head, letting out a heavy sigh. “Too late. Her condition has already led to 70% brain tissue necrosis. She’s no different from a vegetable now. The drug can no longer help her.”

He spoke as the world came crashing down on me, I staggered, holding the pod for support.

"I....."

"I'm sorry, Mr Ryan, but it's too late." He said. I gripped the pod in my brain trying to process what had happened.

I fell, crumbling to my feet as a loud cry broke through my lips.

I stared at my little angel who lay half dead, she... She was never going to open her eyes again, and she wasn't going to call me daddy again.

I slammed against the ground, squeezing in the cry that threatened to spill from my lips.

Doctor Nelson patted my shoulder, his expression complicated. “If only you’d thought of this sooner.” Then he turned and left.

I struck the ground again and again and again, my hoarse, muffled sobs filled the ward.

I..I couldn't save her. I..

My heart clenched tightly as I grasped for air.

"No..no!!."

Suddenly, my phone rang, shattering the silence.

It was her, the devil who snatched away my child's life.

I declined the call, but it rang again, and again and again till it irritated my bone.

I slid the answer button and slapped the phone to my ear.

"Why the hell weren't you picking up my calls!!!." She screamed. "Forget it, Leo needs blood, come down and donate to him"

I gripped the floor, letting my tears wet the ground. "Taking the drugs wasn't already enough to treat a tiny scratch." I brawled, my gaze blurred while I forced out the rest of my words. "You...."

“Stop being so petty. It’s just one dose! What’s the harm if Leo needs it? Why are both of you so damn fragile? Skipping one dose and suddenly it’s life or death?”

It is!!. It was fucking life and death, and she chose the latter for their child.

Agonized, I tried to tell her. "Haven't you heard from Doctor Nelson, our daughter is....."

"Can you stop!!!." She interjected. “She’s got doctors and nurses all over her, what could possibly happen? You’ve spoiled her into being so much trouble! Quit fussing and get down here. Leo is waiting!”

Any ounce of hope I had for her shattered into a billion pieces.

"Leo is....."

"Shut it, Rachael!!!!!." I barked and she went mute. "I...I need a divorce."

Silence reigned for a second before she spoke, in rage. “Say that again if you dare!”

"I....need...a divorce!!." I repeated and flung the phone aside.