“Doctor Altman, I just wanted to say thank you for doing this. I wanted the best of the greatest and you were it. I’m counting on you.” The young man in the suit was rather calm for someone in his situation. It was a bit unnerving to the doctor.

“However I feel I should warn you…” The man’s gaze turned cold. “If anything happens to her outside the expected risks that come with this operation I will hold you personally accountable. And we both know what that means.”

Doctor Altman felt a chill travel up his spine. He knew that the man’s words were no empty threat. He nodded his head and ran towards the staff area where his assistants usually were pre-surgery to warn them of the consequences.

The man in the suit watched as the doctor ran off and pulled out his phone. As he sat down in one of the seats outside of the Operating Room he started to play a puzzle game on his phone. He was going to be waiting for almost twelve hours, might as well be entertained.

However he couldn’t concentrate on his puzzle game. His mind kept wandering off to the past. Thinking of nothing except her. He remembered the first time he had met her, all those years ago, and the series of events that led to their meeting. And he also remembered, both fondly and sadly, the set of events that led them to this moment.

-

As the heir to a billion dollar empire, Daniel West was set for life in every way imaginable. The best food, health care, cars, parties, and anything else he could want when he wanted it. But where a spoiled, pretentious pretty boy with the perfect smile and rancid attitude might have arisen, a proud, kindhearted young man with soaring intellect and quick wit stood in his place.

Like his father and his father before him, Daniel was quick to the take about where he stood in life. And where he stood was above the rest of the world. But unlike his predecessors, Daniel thought himself to be, not the one who stands laughing at the struggles of the common man, but as the guiding hand that shepherds their ascension.

Daniel was all too aware of the sins his family had committed to get to where they are. Underhanded tricks, lies, bribery, threats, and although he had no evidence: murder. The West family name has been synonymous with the word criminal for nearly a hundred and fifty years.

Daniel had been seventeen when he graduated high school. Except that in the seventeen years he had been alive, he had never been more unsure of where he was headed.

Yes, he was going inherit the Oil company once his father died, the rest of his family was nothing compared to him in the eyes of his father. Yes, he’s intelligent enough to explore almost any field he could possibly have an interest in. And yes, none of this mattered because in the end he’d still be filthy rich.

At his graduation only his mother and his baby brother bothered to show up. His father never had any interest in things besides business, his two older brothers were away on an emergency trip to attend the funeral of a close friend of theirs, and his sister was too disgusted with the family to even consider celebrating with them. However she did meet with him for lunch the previous day to celebrate with him personally, and they were also meeting that day to have dinner.

-

His thoughts, as he rode home with his mother and toddling brother, had shifted to his foolish older sister. His sister Isabel had shown early on in life her shame of her family, sans Daniel who she knew shared in her beliefs but in a more subtle manner, and what they had done and what they allowed to happen. From middle school to high school she had grown from rebellious to out of control.

From parties to drugs and to almost haphazardly selling her body if not for Daniel’s intervention. And one day after her own graduation she had vanished into the night. No word was heard from her until about four years after she left, which was, much to his relief, roughly six months ago.

Daniel had hired a private detective, three actually, to look for her and it took all of five days to find her. Turns out she had never even left the city. Isabel had been squatting in an abandoned warehouse near the West family penthouse the entire time. He’d often wonder in the years to come if she was just waiting for one of them, her family, to go looking for her.

From what the detective said after he found her, she was in pretty bad shape. She was skinny, pale, and walked with a noticeable limp. “She looked like living death.” This terrified Daniel to no end.

See, the fact of the matter wasn’t that Daniel never bothered to look for his sister, it was that his father had assured them that he had his own people looking into it. And for three years he had bought into it. Until he didn’t. Until he began to realize that the chances of his father even batting an eye at his daughter’s disappearance were slim to none. Four years ago, Daniel had been thirteen. A kid who could barely leave his room without anyone noticing or questioning his motives.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

However once he had started his senior year he had more breathing room. The ever watchful eyes of his mother and father had lessened with his high school career beginning to end. The money he had saved up for emergencies, his rather large allowance, had come in handy with both hiring the private investigators and guaranteeing their absolute discretion and silence.

When he had finally ventured to the hideaway of his runaway sister, after a few days of planning it just right, he nearly cried. He had to restrain himself from just breaking down right then and there. He felt sick to his stomach looking at the scene the private investigator had failed to mention.

Where she was living, wasn’t fit for even the maggots. There was trash and human waste everywhere and almost no visible floor in sight, the walls were covered in some sort of glistening yellow grime, and the smell, oh the smell, made his stomach churn something fierce.

He had expected it to be bad, but this was nothing at all like he’d imagined. His sister, his family living in this…this sickening hell…it was painful to think about.

He did his best to ignore the smell and continued to walk towards the backrooms. The closer he got, the worse the smell became. It was without a doubt he worst smell he had ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

He looked around in a narrow hallway filled with doors and noticed that one of them had the flicker of candlelight coming through the empty space at the base of the door. He pushed the door open and immediately lost the strength in his knees.

In the back corner of the room lay his sister curled up into a ball and covered with soiled newspaper. Unmoving and unblinking he almost thought her to be dead were it not for the slight movement of her shoulders from her shallow breaths.

He walked over to her and knelt down beside her not minding the sticky mess that now clung to the knees of his jeans. He hadn’t even spoken before she grabbed onto him and clung tightly as if he were going to disappear.

Daniel was taken aback, not at the hug but at the attempt to cling to him. She was so…weak. So tiny and frail. As if a gust of wind were enough to shatter her into tiny pieces.

They stayed in that dirty corner for forty-five minutes as Isabel cried and cried into his shoulder. No words, just tears and attempts to burrow herself deeper and deeper into his chest. At the first sign of her calming down he had positioned her to lift her up and began to head out of the building.

He brought her to his car and laid her across the back seat. He opened the trunk and took out two gym bags. One was full of several sets of clothing that she had left behind when she ran away as well as an extra set of clothes for him to change into and the other was full of food. All of which she desperately needed. But not before he made a phone call.

Quickly and with caution he drove to his friend Sherry’s house. Sherry’s parents were retired doctors that owed him a number of favors. And for his sister he would gladly use them all. He pulled up into the driveway where Sherry was waiting for him. She looked angry.

“Danny what the hell was so important that you needed both of my parents and me to come? I’m missing my classes because you said it was an emergency. And what is that smell!?” This is Sherry, Daniel’s best friend. She’s loud, brash, and quick to anger. But she’s also smart, caring, and reliable when needed to be.

“It’s why I’m here, and quiet down, will you? She’s over there in the backseat, get your parents. Quickly, there’s no time to waste!” Sherry went quiet at his anger and turned to get her parents. As she was running she thought to herself ‘If Danny’s being serious about this then so should I. What could possibly put Danny in such a bad mood?’

Soon after, Sherry and her parents came running down the driveway and towards Daniel’s car. The smell had hit them immediately. Doctor Michael Singer and his wife Doctor Loraine Singer were skilled in many fields of medicine. Most of which were exactly what Isabel needed at the moment.

“Before you say anything, I’m sorry for inconveniencing you like this but I trust you three with this far more than I do any hospital. I know you have a lab in your house equipped with an array of technologies and machines that could match any one of the world’s finest institutes. I need your help, she needs your help. Please.”

The Singers were confused. They looked to Sherry for an explanation but she had nothing to offer. Daniel saw their confusion and brought them to the car. “Brace yourselves.” He opened the door. Almost immediately Sherry turned and threw up on the lawn. The Singers were visibly disgusted by the smell but had seemed to be less affected.

Mrs. Singer was the first to speak. “Daniel, what- who is that? And what in God’s name is that horrendous smell.” Daniel was hesitant but “This is my sister, she’s been living like this for nearly four years. I just found her this morning. I came to you because you have the best equipment, the best and foremost experience and knowledge, and I trust you.”

Mr. Singer cut in before anyone could say anything else. “Sherry, go get three sets of scrubs and hazmat suits and get the quarantine room prepped. Hurry! Daniel, I need you to take me to where she’s been staying while my wife and daughter get her settled in quarantine.”

Seeing that leaving his sister was the last thing Daniel wanted, Mrs. Singer said “Don’t worry dear. Nothing’ll happen to her while we’re here. If you want to help your sister, we’ll need to know what kind of place she’s been living in. We’ll be able to check for specific illnesses and infections that way.”

Daniel lost any hesitation and readily agreed. Soon his sister would be better. He trusted the Singers to do as they promised. He wouldn’t be disappointed.