Page 49 of It’s Me, but Different

“It's acute peritonitis. The appendix has perforated and shows generalized infection in the abdominal cavity. We need to take him to surgery immediately,” he informs.

“Where's the mother?” a younger doctor asks.

“She's on her way,” I lie.

Dr. Harrison nods.

“Every minute we lose increases the risk of sepsis. We operate under the doctrine of implied consent. Prepare an operating room immediately,” he orders.

“Will you stay with me until Mom comes?” Ana Sofia asks, remaining unusually quiet.

“Of course I will. I won't go anywhere,” I assure her with a wink.

They take Theo through double doors while they lead the girl and me to an enormous VIP room the hospital has prepared for his recovery.

I remain silent, occasionally shifting my gaze toward a wall clock, as if time could move faster every time I look at it. Ana Sofia snuggles against my side and plays distractedly with one of my bracelets.

“How much longer?” she asks for the tenth time.

“A little more, kiddo. Operations take time.”

“Are you sure he's going to be okay?”

“Absolutely sure.”

But inside I'm scared to death.

And we still have no news from Esme.

Chapter 21

Esme

I leave the meeting at seven in the evening, exhausted but satisfied. Everything went better than expected, and the bosses are happy. We have good chances of winning this case or at least reaching an agreement, and that will mean a good bonus at the end of the year.

And when I turn on my phone, thirty-seven missed calls from my daughter pop up.

Suddenly, a wave of panic hits me.

“Ana? What happened? Why did you call me so many times?” I ask fearfully.

“MOM!” her scream pierces my eardrums. “WHERE WERE YOU?”

“In a very important meeting, I couldn't talk. Can you tell me what's so urgent?”

“They just operated on Theo! He's in the hospital! He almost died, and you weren't there!” she shrieks again, and the world collapses around me.

“How… how do you mean they operated on him?” I murmur with the phone about to fall from my hand.

“His stomach hurt terribly, and he had a high fever, and you wouldn't answer the phone, so I called Sloane, and she came and organized everything, and…”

“Sloane?” I sigh.

“She's here with me, at the hospital.”

Each word hurts as if it's piercing my heart.

“What hospital are you at?”