Chapter 3

It was already four in the afternoon when I arrived at Sunnyside Care Center.

This so-called care center was a dilapidated residential building. The hallways reeked of a nauseating mix of bleach and stale urine. Peeling paint hung in strips from the walls. Fluorescent lights flickered ominously above.

I pushed open the door to Grandma's room.

Eight beds were crammed into a single stifling room.

Grandma was curled up into a tight ball on the bed closest to the damp wall.

She looked entirely too frail. When I visited her three months ago, she could still walk around the gardens on her own. She could still smile and call me Daisy.

Now, her cheekbones jutted out sharply. The backs of her hands were covered in dark purple bruises—likely from repeated, careless IV insertions.

"Grandma." I walked over, crouching by the bed, and took her icy hand.

Her hollow eyes stared at me blankly. Her dry lips trembled.

"Who... are you?"

An invisible hand violently wrenched my heart.

"Grandma, it's me. Daisy. Your Daisy."

She tilted her head, studying me. A deep frown of confusion etched across her weathered face.

"Daisy?" she muttered. "Daisy is still little... You're not..."

Suddenly, she gripped my hand. Her frantic strength was startling.

"Where's Chase?" she asked breathlessly. "Chase said he was taking me to a nice place. Why did he send me here? The people here won't give me dried persimmons... Chase promised to bring me persimmons..."

My tears crashed heavily onto her frail, withered hands.

"Grandma, I'm taking you away. We're leaving right now."

I marched to the nurse's station to handle the discharge paperwork. The aide told me I couldn't do it at night. I had to wait for the director tomorrow morning.

"I am her legal guardian." I stared the aide down. "I am taking her right now, and none of you can stop me."

After signing a mountain of liability forms, I gently lifted Grandma into a battered wheelchair.

By the time I pushed her downstairs, it was already seven in the evening.

The night was bone-chilling. The temperature hovered in the low teens.

Grandma wore nothing but a thin, inadequate padded jacket.

I stripped off my heavy down coat and wrapped it tightly around her as we waited for a taxi on the curb.

But the street was far too desolate. Fifteen minutes passed without a single pair of headlights in sight.

Grandma began to shiver violently.

I dialed Chase's number.

It rang six agonizing times before he finally picked up.

Clinking glasses and raucous laughter drifted through the background. Lacey giggled right next to the receiver.

"What now?" His voice was laced with utter impatience.

"Chase, what kind of hellhole did you transfer my grandmother to?" My voice shook violently, but I bit out every single word with venom.

"She's right beside me, freezing and shivering. She doesn't even recognize me. You need to call a car for us right now."

"Huh?" He sounded like he just heard a hilarious joke. "You went to get her? Didn't I tell you I'd handle that side of things after the Brooklyn project wrapped?"

"Chase!" I screamed into the freezing wind. "She's eighty-three years old! She lived in that dump for three months! You used her care money to buy necklaces for another woman! Order a damn car right now!"

The line went dead silent for a second.

Then Lacey's voice drifted through, dripping with annoyance. "Chase, what is her problem this time? We haven't even finished eating."

Chase's voice returned, colder than the winter air cutting through my skin.

"Daisy, call your own damn cab. Don't bother me with every little thing. She's an old woman with dementia. What does it matter where she stays? If you're so capable, take care of her yourself. Stop spending my money all day long."

"What did you swear to my grandmother back then?" My throat went completely raw. "You said you'd treat her like your own flesh and blood. You—"

"Those were just polite words for the wedding," he cut me off flawlessly. "She can't even recognize people anymore. What's the difference between a nursing home and a five-star hotel? Be a good girl and stop making a scene. I'm hanging up."

"Chase—"

The dial tone buzzed harshly in my ear.