Chapter 6 - The Heart Gives Out Two days later, Adrian was building a tower of wooden blocks with Lily.
The afternoon sunlight filled the conservatory.
Lily placed the final block.
“Daddy! Look!”
Adrian smiled.
Then his hand froze.
A crushing pressure seized his chest.
His vision vanished.
He collapsed.
“Daddy!”
Sarah screamed.
Doctors rushed into the room.
His heart was in ventricular fibrillation.
No pulse.
No breathing.
Nothing.
“Clear!”
The defibrillator discharged.
Adrian's body jerked.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Sarah held his hand.
“You promised me!”
Another shock.
The monitor remained silent.
Then—
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
“He's back!”
Sarah collapsed against the wall, sobbing.
But Dr. Elena Maren was already shaking her head.
“He doesn't have time.”
Sarah looked up.
“What do you mean?”
“He needs an ICD immediately.”
Adrian was rushed into surgery.
For forty-two seconds, he had technically died.
And while surgeons fought to restart his life, Lily sat upstairs clutching Mr. Buttons.
She stared at the blank face in her old drawing.
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For the first time, she colored it.
Just a little.
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