Chapter 86 Nu

Chapter 86 Nu
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE — AN OFFER SHE CAN'T REFUSE

Richard calls Thursday evening, voice smoother than I've ever heard it.

"I've had my people research your mother's oncologist. There's a treatment protocol two states over. Better outcomes. Full coverage, no cost to your family whatsoever."

"What's the catch?"

"In exchange, you sign a real contract. Not sixty days. Binding through Caleb's draft. One full year. Guaranteed presence, regardless of complications."

I don't answer right away, the phone heavy in my hand.

"Think about it, Ms. Lin. I'm not an unreasonable man when the terms are right."

He hangs up before I can respond, leaving me standing in my kitchen with an offer that could save my mother's life sitting right alongside a price tag I don't know if I can pay.

I find Caleb in the weight room after practice, still sweating from his last set.

"Your father made an offer."

He sets the weights down slowly. "What kind of offer?"

"Treatment for my mom. Somewhere better. Fully covered." I fold my arms. "In exchange for a full year, guaranteed, no matter what happens between us."

His jaw tightens. "He's not offering to help your mom. He's using her illness as leverage."

"I know. I still have to think about it seriously."

"That's not a business arrangement, Mia. That's a hostage situation with better paperwork."

"I know that too. Doesn't make the offer any less real, though. Or any less tempting."

He pulls me into a hug, tight, like he's trying to hold both of us together at once. "We'll figure out another way. Insurance appeals. Second opinions. Grants. I have resources too, Mia, even without his money attached to them."

"It's not that simple."

"I know it's not. But I refuse to let my father turn your mother's life into a bargaining chip if there's any other option left to try first." He pulls back to look at me. "Give me a little time before you decide anything. Please."

"Okay," I tell him, quieter now, the weight room humming faintly around us. "A little time. That's all I can promise right now."

He kisses my forehead, steady, and we stand there together a long moment, Richard's offer still sitting heavy between us, neither of us with a clean answer yet for how far either of us is willing to go before this is over.

I tell my mom about the offer that night, watching her face carefully for a reaction.

"He wants me to sign a full year in exchange for your treatment."

Her expression hardens in a way I rarely see from her. "Absolutely not."

"Mom, it's a real protocol. Better outcomes. Fully covered."

"I don't care what it is, Mia. I will not let you sign your whole life away to that man for my sake." She takes both my hands, gripping tighter than her strength usually allows lately. "I've fought this disease as hard as I can, and I'll keep fighting it. But I won't let you become collateral in the process. Not for anything."

"Caleb said something similar. Called it a hostage situation with better paperwork."

"That boy's smarter than his father gives him credit for." She squeezes my hands once more. "We'll find another way, Mia. Insurance, grants, whatever we have to do. But not this. Never this."

"Okay."

"Promise me."

"I promise." I lean my head against her shoulder, the offer still sitting somewhere in my chest, unresolved but no longer quite so tempting now that she's said the words out loud herself. "We'll figure it out. Together."

"Together," she echoes, quieter, and we sit there a while longer, the kitchen light humming softly overhead, Richard's offer already starting to feel like exactly what Caleb called it.

Caleb calls before I go to bed, voice careful.

"Did you decide anything?"

"My mom decided for both of us, actually. Absolutely not, no negotiation."

"Good. That's the right call, even if it means the harder road."

"She said something about you being smarter than your dad gives you credit for."

He laughs, quiet and a little surprised. "I'll take that as a compliment, coming from her."

"She meant it as one."

"For what it's worth, I already called a few contacts about grants. Nothing definite yet, but there are options that don't come with strings attached to a full year of my father owning your life."

"Thank you. For actually trying instead of just saying you would."

"Always." His voice softens. "We're going to get through this, Mia. Just not the way he wants us to."

I believe him, mostly, the weight of Richard's offer finally starting to lift now that there's a plan forming underneath it, even an uncertain one, even one that doesn't have every answer worked out yet.

Chloe calls after I hang up with Caleb, already having heard some version of the story from Eli.

"Richard tried to buy a whole year of your life. That's insane, even for him."

"My mom shut it down before I even had to decide anything."

"Good for her. That woman's tougher than half the adults I know." A pause. "How are you feeling about it now?"

"Scared, honestly. Insurance appeals and grants aren't guaranteed the way Richard's offer was."

"No. But at least this way, whatever you build with Caleb isn't built on a contract his father wrote to control you both." Her voice softens. "You'll find another way, Mia. You always do."

"I hope so."

"I know so. Get some sleep. Tomorrow you get to keep fighting, same as every day before it, except now you've got backup you didn't have a month ago."

I hang up, the apartment quiet around me, Richard's offer finally starting to feel like exactly the trap it always was, replaced instead by something harder but far more honest: the two of us, figuring it out together, no strings or contracts required.

Danny finds me in the kitchen the next morning, uncharacteristically serious over his cereal.

"Mom told me about the offer. That's messed up, what his dad tried to do."

"It really is."

"You're not gonna take it, right?"

"No. We're not taking it."

"Good." He goes back to his cereal, then looks up again. "Is Mom gonna be okay? Without the fancy treatment thing?"

"We're going to find another way, Danny. Insurance appeals, grants, whatever it takes. I promise you that."

"Okay." He seems to accept this, young enough to trust my promise completely, old enough to still worry underneath it. "Caleb's helping too?"

"Caleb's helping too."

"Good. Guess he's actually one of the good ones, then." He shrugs and finishes his cereal, and I watch him a moment longer, grateful he still has enough innocence left to worry about our mom without carrying the full weight of exactly how uncertain the road ahead actually is.

I head to school that morning with the whole family's fear tucked quietly behind my normal routine, Richard's offer still looming somewhere in the background, but for now, at least, not something any of us have to face completely alone.