Prologue
The Year 2045 AD
Darius dragged his chair closer to his daughter’s bedside. “How are you feeling, Cass?”
“Tired.” She gave a brittle smile that shattered before it could reach her eyes—vivid blue eyes, the color of a cloudless sky.
Darius nodded and let out a shaky breath. “Doctor Allister should be back with your test results soon. You can sleep if you want. I can talk to him.” Darius shrugged. “I’m sure it’s nothing anyway. People get headaches, headaches can make you dizzy, and dizziness can make you sick.”
Cassandra laid a hand on his knee, and it was only then that he realized he’d been bouncing it uncontrollably ever since he sat down. “Dad, stop.”
“I had too much coffee. I can’t help it.”
“No, not that. Don’t lie and tell me I’m fine. I know I’m not fine. I know, and it’s okay.”
Darius felt an angry knot form between his eyes. “No, it’s not okay. You’re twelve. You don’t get to be okay with this—and besides, I’m not lying. I’m hoping for the best, and you should too. I read somewhere that being positive can help your body fight, and even prevent, major diseases.” Cassandra’s cheeks flushed and bulged with a reply, but Darius raised a finger to stop her. “No backtalk, young lady.”
She winced and subsided, gasping for air.
“What’s wrong?” Darius asked quickly.
Cassandra shook her head. “It hurts.”
“Where?”
She touched the side of her face, as if she had a toothache.
“Probably the headache. Pain can radiate like that.”
Cassandra raised one eyebrow and fixed him with a meaningful look.
A new idea occurred to him that could explain her symptoms. Darius chewed his lower lip. “You’re not, uhh... going through any changes lately, are you?”
Cassandra gave him a blank look. “Like what?”
“Like... you know, girl stuff.”
Cassandra looked horrified. “No, Dad.”
Darius arched an eyebrow. “Well, that can cause headaches, and mood swings, and—”
“Dad, it’s not my period. It’s the cancer. It’s back.”
Darius threw up his hands. “They removed your kidney. Doctor Allister said you were cancer-free.”
“He also said that cancer-free is a misnomer.”
Darius frowned. “Yeah, well, maybe we should get you a new doctor.”
“No, I need to hear the truth. I can take it.”
Darius frowned.
A knock came at the door, drawing their attention away from each other. “Come in,” Darius said.
The door swung wide, and in walked Doctor Markus Allister. He was a tall man with wavy black hair, dark, deep-set eyes, a heavy brow, and a drooping mouth and mustache that made him look like he was always frowning. He’d definitely chosen the right specialty.
Darius rose to his feet, wielding a smile like a shield to ward off any bad news. “You have her results?”
Doctor Allister stopped at the foot of the bed and nodded. “Yes,” he said quietly, and his face twitched with sorrow. “I’m sorry.”
A sharp spike of dread went through Darius’s heart, and his whole body grew cold. Suddenly his legs wouldn’t hold him, and he had to sit back down.
“It’s back, isn’t it,” Cassandra asked, but there was no hint of a question in her voice.
Darius grabbed his daughter’s hand in a tight fist.
“We’ll fight it,” he said. “Drakes never say die, remember?”
Cassandra’s mouth quirked into a lopsided smile. “Can’t kill a rock,” she added, nodding slowly.
“That’s the spirit.” Darius gave his attention back to the doctor. “What are our treatment options?”
Doctor Allister’s gaze flicked to Cassandra and then back to him. “Perhaps we should step outside for a minute to discuss that.”
Darius felt some of the fight leave him as he noticed the grim look on the doctor’s face and the tone in his voice. He let out a breath and released Cassandra’s hand to rise on numb, wooden legs that didn’t feel like they belonged to him anymore.
“Our treatment options?” Cassandra asked in a loud voice. “Don’t you mean my treatment options?”
Darius turned to look at her and saw the fire burning in her eyes. “Cass—”
“No, Dad. Whatever this is, I need to hear it too. This is my fight, and I’m not running from it.”
Darius stared at his daughter, his heart aching and swelling with pride at the same time.
“Very well,” Doctor Allister said, and let out a sigh of his own. “Your cancer is back, and it’s spread to your brain, liver, and bones. There’s a tumor in your brain that is likely the cause of your headaches and nausea—possibly the mood swings too.”
“How do you treat that?” Darius demanded.
“We can operate to remove the tumors and use drugs to target the cancer in her bones.”
“What are my chances of survival?” Cassandra asked.
Doctor Allister looked uncomfortable. “There’s really no way to say for sure... response to treatment varies, but we should be able to significantly slow the growth of the cancer.”
“But not cure it?” Cassandra pressed.
The doctor’s mustache twitched. “No.”
Darius scowled. “What do you mean, you can’t cure her?”
“We can extend her life significantly, and new advances are being made all the time.”
“So how long can you give me?” Cassandra asked.
“As I said, it’s impossible to say. We need to see how you respond to treatments.”
“How. Long.” Cassandra insisted quietly.
“With cancer this aggressive and this advanced, you could get anywhere from six months to a year. Maybe two.”
Darius felt the room closing in around him. The air grew thick, making it hard to breathe, and his ears started ringing. Two years. Best case, she’ll be fourteen when she dies. She wouldn’t even have a chance to get married. Have kids. “I don’t understand,” he said slowly. “A year ago you said she was cancer-free. We did everything you told us to do, and we came back for all the tests! How the hell did you miss this?”
“I’m sorry. I really am. If you need a moment to process the—”
“What if I don’t treat it? How long will I have?” Cassandra asked.
“A few months. Maybe only one before you’d have to be admitted to hospice. But if we remove the tumors and start treatments soon, that outcome improves significantly.”
“Yeah, you mentioned that,” Cassandra said dryly.
“What about the surgery?” Darius asked. “You’d have to operate on her brain and liver. Isn’t that risky?”
“There are always risks, but I see no reason to expect adverse outcomes from surgery.”
Darius nodded slowly.
“No,” Cassandra said.
Darius looked at her. “Cass, you don’t get to make these decisions. Drakes never say die, remember? You’re not giving up.”
“It’s my body, and I didn’t say I was giving up, but there has to be some other option, some way to cure me.”
“There are no cures for stage four metastatic, renal cancer,” Doctor Allister said.
Darius looked to him. “What about alternative therapies? Experimental drugs?”
“The Mayo Clinic has the top oncology center in the country. I assure you that if you opt for treatment, we’ll give you access to all of the best treatments currently available. You could easily extend her life by a few years.”
Darius shook his head. “That’s not good enough. What’s it going to take? A million? Two? How about ten?”
“Mr. Drake, it’s not a question of the money.”
Darius licked his lips and jerked his chin to the door. “Let’s go talk outside.”
“Of course.”
“Dad, I told you I need to hear this.”
“We won’t be long, honey.”
“Dad...”
But he wasn’t listening. He followed Doctor Allister out into the corridor and shut the door behind them. Darius looked around quickly to make sure no other doctors were around.
There weren’t. Turning back to Doctor Allister, he said, “You have kids?”
“One,” Allister replied, frowning.
“How old?”
“Five.”
“Okay, so what would you do if someone told you you’d never get to see her—him?”
“Him.”
Darius went on, “What would you do if someone told you you’d never get to see your son get married, or graduate, or even go on his first date? What would you do if someone told you he only had a few months to a few years to live?”
“I understand this is difficult, Mr. Drake, but—”
“Don’t tell me you understand!”
Doctor Allister flinched at the volume and tone of Darius’s voice.
Darius peripherally noted that nurses and orderlies had stopped what they were doing to stare at him. “Unless you’ve stood where I’m standing, you don’t understand. You don’t know what it’s like to have everything, and then wake up one day to have it all suddenly ripped away. Money means nothing without the people you love. So, what would you do?” Darius insisted.
“I’d look for the best treatments available and buy as much time as I could.”
“Right,” Darius said, nodding. “And what if your doctor neglected to mention an important treatment option that might change everything? How would you feel?”
“Mr. Drake, I assure you, I’m not withholding any information.”
Darius held up a hand. “But you are. What about Cryo?”
Doctor Allister’s eyes widened. “Cryo... storage?”
Darius nodded. “We press pause and wake her up when a cure becomes available.”
“There are no guarantees in the future, Mr. Drake.”
“How far are we from a cure to cancer? Maybe fifty years? A hundred?”
“There are risks associated with cryo. She could wake up paralyzed or brain dead.”
“Ten percent,” Darius replied.
“I’m sorry?”
“I’ve done my research. Ten percent. Those are the chances of serious complications. Compared to a hundred percent chance that my daughter will die from the cancer. I think that’s an improvement, don’t you?”
“If we only wake her when a cure is found, you might not even be around anymore, Mr. Drake.”
Darius smiled. “I will be if you put me in cryo with her.”
“Mr. Drake, I’m sure you know that cryo storage is only an option for terminal patients.”
Darius nodded slowly. “And what if I were terminal?”
“You’re not. You’re healthy.”
“You don’t know that. I used to smoke. I’ve been tired and short of breath lately.”
“Mr. Drake...”
“What’s it going to take?”
“Mr Drake, are you suggesting—” Doctor Alliston looked around quickly, then went on in a whisper, “Are you asking me to falsify medical records?”
“I’m asking you to run some tests, and to pick a number that you like. Six figures. Name yours.”
Doctor Alliston frowned, but Darius could see the wheels turning in his head. He was considering it.
“What were your symptoms again, Mr. Drake?”
“Chest pain, fatigue. Shortness of breath.”
“I believe you also mentioned a persistent cough?”
Darius nodded, and coughed obligingly into his hand.
“And you mentioned you noticed blood in your sputum?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
We hope you are enjoying the book so far. To continue reading...
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Please log in to recommend or discuss...
