Chapter 1 - The Escape
I stared at the gray janitor uniform in my shaking hands as Elena’s warning echoed in my ears.
My husband was not dying.
My family did not love me.
They were going to cut out my heart and sell it on the black market.
The sound of Diego’s heavy footsteps echoed from the hospital hallway.
"Is Ana ready?" his voice called out, completely devoid of the weakness he had been faking for months.
I ripped off my hospital gown and scrambled into the oversized gray uniform.
Elena shoved my discarded clothes under the mattress and pointed toward the small service door in the corner of the room.
"Take the service elevator to the basement and do not stop for anyone," she whispered.
I pushed through the heavy wooden door just as the main door to my hospital room clicked open.
I held my breath in the dark maintenance closet, listening through the thin wall.
"Where is the merchandise?" my mother-in-law, Beatriz, demanded sharply.
"She was just here," Dr. Salgado replied, his voice laced with sudden panic.
"Find her immediately, the buyer is arriving in twenty minutes and he expects the heart on ice," Diego growled.
Tears burned my eyes as the man I loved referred to my life as merchandise.
I slipped out of the closet and sprinted down the dimly lit service hallway.
I reached the heavy metal door of the stairwell and threw it open.
I ran down three flights of stairs, my bare feet slapping against the cold concrete.
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Suddenly, a massive hand grabbed my shoulder and slammed me against the cinderblock wall.
I looked up into the cold, dead eyes of a massive security guard with a surgical scalpel in his hand.
