The Winter He Lost Her

Lisa went back to the hospital and spent three hours having every shard of glass removed from her body. After a few days of rest she was discharged, but she still had things to take care of.

She withdrew cash from the bank and contacted a tiny, little-known rehab clinic out in the country. She offered to fund repairs and buy a new ventilator if they would take her brother and treat him in strict confidence. The director agreed. Once she and her brother had new legal identities, they could sign the transfer papers.

Lisa knew she could not move him on her own, but she made sure he would never run out of money. She went back to the hospital to tell him the plan.

In the corridor outside his room she saw a caregiver struggling with a middle-aged couple. The woman stood with her back to the door, blocking it.

“Miss Winters, you finally came,” the caregiver cried. “These people are trying to take Mr, Winters’s machine.”

Lisa pushed through and demanded to know what they thought they were doing. “This is a hospital. Who gave you the right to come in here?”

The woman sneered and shoved Lisa away. “Who do you think you are? Everyone knows the Horden family threw you out. I had my son wait for a ventilator. My son needs that machine to live.”

Lisa stumbled and nearly fell. She looked up and met Susie’s triumphant gaze.

“You look pathetic,” Susie called, folding her arms. “You cannot stop my parents. That ventilator is mine.”

“Help them,” Susie ordered. Her hand went to Nick’s guard. The men moved in and began unhooking the tubes and lines from Lisa’s brother.

“No, stop, he will die,” Lisa shouted. She pushed through and threw herself between them and her brother, arms spread to shield him. “Get away. Don’t touch him.”

Susie’s mother suddenly dropped to the floor, clutching her chest and crying out. Susie rushed over, face full of concern, then turned angrily to Lisa. “Why did you push my mother?” she accused. “Mr. Horden sent us to move the equipment. If you have a problem, take it out on me not on my parents.”

“My chest hurts,” Susie’s mother moaned, holding her hand to her sternum.

Nick walked in at that moment and saw the commotion. He glanced at Susie. “What’s going on?” he asked, a note of annoyance in his voice.

Susie lowered her eyes and stepped back. “We do not need that machine after all,” she said, sounding regretful. “My brother’s injury is not that bad. We can manage without it.”

“Miss Winters has been aggressive. She pushed my mother twice,” Susie’s mother cried. “We cannot accept her behavior.”

Nick’s face went cold as everything clicked into place. He looked at his guards. “You couldn’t even hold one woman?” he asked, voice flat.

Some of the men had hesitated earlier and held back from hurting Lisa. Now, seeing Nick displeased, one of them grabbed her arm and dragged her aside.

“Nick, stop them, please!” Lisa screamed as the guards yanked the ventilator from her brother’s bedside.

Her voice broke, raw with desperation. “Nick, tell them to leave. Don’t touch him! Without that machine, he’ll die. Please!”

Nick’s face darkened. Her shouting grated on him. To him, she looked wild, hysterical—nothing like the composed wife he had once trained her to be.

“Lisa,” he said coldly, “you’re being disobedient again. Is this how you abuse the power I gave you? Maybe I haven’t disciplined you enough.”

The words hit her like a slap. She froze, trembling, unable to form a single sound as she watched Nick’s men carry the ventilator out of the room.

She stumbled to the floor but pushed herself up immediately, rushing to her brother’s side. His face had turned purple from lack of oxygen. She hit the emergency call button again and again, but no one came.

Then a horrifying thought struck her—Nick had ordered the doctors not to respond.

“Doctor! Please, help!” she cried. “Someone, please! I’ll pay… anything! Just save my brother!”

Her voice echoed down the empty hallway. No one answered. The elevator wouldn’t move, frozen on the first floor. She ran for the stairwell, tripping, tumbling down several steps, but she didn’t stop.

She ran down one floor after another. Five in total before she finally found someone.

By the time she brought a doctor back, it was too late. Her brother was gone.

Lisa stood beside his bed, staring blankly at his lifeless face. It felt as though her soul had been ripped from her body. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.

She finally understood that when pain reaches its limit, even tears won’t fall.

She regretted everything.

She regretted ever going home with Nick.

And most of all, she regretted ever loving him.