Page 73 of Little Did You Know

"Police found him dumped on the streets downtown." Anthony's fingers raked through his hair, leaving furrows like freshly plowed fields. "They think—they think someone jumped him. Left him there to—" He swallowed the rest of the sentence.

My fingernails bit into my palms, the sharp pain anchoring me to reality. "Who?" The word came out like a blade. "Who would—" I couldn't finish. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, counting endless seconds. "I need to see him."

Anthony's mouth opened, ready to object.

"Please." The word held all the force of a command. All the desperation of a prayer.

"Follow me," he said, and I did, with Nick following closely behind me.

Anthony led me through a doorway into Room 712. The privacy curtain scraped against its metal track as he drew it aside, revealing my brother. Emmett lay suspended in a web of medical technology—a ventilator forcing mechanical breaths, IV lines threading his arms like puppet strings, monitors casting a sickly green glow across his skin. The cardiac monitor chirped its steady rhythm, each peak marking another borrowed heartbeat. Above the bandages, Emmett's face was covered in purple and yellow bruises, his right eye swollen shut, his jaw distorted to an angle that made him look like a stranger wearing my brother's hair.

A knock sounded on the door, and I twisted around.

A tall, dark man with dark hair and a long white coat stepped through the door.

The look on his face said everything. My heart pounded against my chest. He was about to tell me my brother was brain dead.

"You must be Olivia Ryan. Mr. Ryan's sister?" The doctor shifted his weight, his attempt at a reassuring smile not quite reaching his eyes.

I nodded, my throat too tight for words.

The doctor's clipboard dropped to his side. His adam's apple bobbed. The monitor's steady beeping filled the silence between us, counting down to words I couldn't bear to hear.

"Unfortunately, there was no—" The walls of the room collapsed inward, the ceiling pressing down. Each beep of the heart monitor stretched into an endless tone. My fingertips went numb first, then my legs, as if my body was preparing to dissolve completely. The floor rushed up to meet me, tile by cold tile.

The world tilted sideways, the hospital room dissolving into a blur of beeping monitors and antiseptic white. Nick's hands caught me, callused palms warm against my cheeks. Through the fog of tears, his face swam into focus—the worry line between his brows, the coffee stain on his collar from our rushed airport breakfast, the flutter of his throat as he said my name.

"Olivia," Nick's hands cupped my face. "Olivia, look at me." My gaze slowly finds his. "Breathe, Olivia." Sucking in a slow deep breath and then slowly blowing it out, I swallowed hard as I came back.

"I'm okay." My gaze flicked around. I was on the floor with everyone, including the doctor, kneeling around me. How did I get on the floor? "I'm okay." I pushed off the ground with Nick's help.

"Have a seat." Nick's hand found the small of my back, gentle but insistent.

"Ms. Ryan." The doctor glanced at his watch, then back to my face. "I can come back later if you'd like."

"No, please." My fingers dug into the armrests until my knuckles went white. "Please."

The doctor removed his glasses, polishing them. "Your brother is brain dead, and the machines are the only thing keeping him alive." He replaced his glasses, his eyes softening with sympathy. "Since you are his next of kin, you are the one to make his medical decisions for him."

"There's no chance he can recover from this?" Nick asked the question I wanted to.

"With zero brain activity," he shook his head, "it's highly unlikely."

"But possible," I said.

"I don't want you to get your hopes up." The doctor sighed. "Miracles do happen, but more often than not, they don't happen." I nodded. "I will let you guys have some time with him and discuss your options, and I will check back later. If you need me before then, have a nurse page me."

The first tear landed on my hand with a silent splash. I tried to blink away the others, but they came anyway, hot and relentless, blurring Emmett's bruised face.

"Olivia," Anthony said. "We don't have to make any decisions right this second." I nodded, wiping away my tears with the back of my hand. "Why don't we give you a few minutes with your brother? I'll take Nick down to get a coffee."

"Thank you." The words dissolved in my throat, thin and watery.

Nick hovered by my shoulder, his presence warm and solid. "Call me if you need me." His fingers brushed my arm. "I won't be far."

"I'll be fine." I stared at the tiles between my feet.

Anthony's hand clamped around Nick's elbow, tugging him toward the door. Their footsteps faded down the hall.

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