Chapter 147

• The hospital ward hummed with beeps and whispers, but in Max's room, storm clouds gathered. The nine-year-old sat rigid in his bed, arms crossed defiantly, pills scattered like fallen soldiers on his tray. "No medicine!" he shouted at the nurse, eyes blazing with a nine-year-old's fierce conviction. "Call Daisy! Only Daisy!"
• The nurse sighed, knocking softly on Charlotte's office door down the hall. Though not pediatric cardiology, Charlotte was Max's anchor—the one voice that pierced his walls. She rose without hesitation, scrubs crisp, stethoscope swinging like a lifeline.
• Inside the room, Max spotted her and scowled deeper, cheeks streaked from tears, his lanky frame tense under the thin blanket. "You lied again! Every time I ask for Daisy, you say, 'Soon!' I don't trust you anymore. I don't want to see you—go away!"