Page 139 of Break Me

“They caught it late,” I continue quietly.

“Stop.” His voice cuts through the room sharp enough to make the air feel brittle.

“Stop talking like that.” His gaze moves to Sam, searching for confirmation. “Tell her to stop.”

Sam doesn’t move.

Knox’s hand slowly curls into a fist at his side. “Tell her to fucking stop, Wolf.”

"It's ovarian cancer," Sam continues, his voice calm, steady in a way that makes the words impossible to dismiss.

Knox's face drains of color. "No." He surges to his feet so fast the chair tips backward, crashing onto the floor. “That’s impossible.”

A hand drags over the back of his neck as he paces once across the office, then back again.

"What did they actually say?"

"They found a mass," Sam answers. "The pathology confirmed it's ovarian cancer."

Knox looks from Sam to me. "Okay, so they operate."

I don't answer.

"Rae..."

"They can't."

His head snaps to me. "Why the hell not?"

Sam answers this time. "It's already spread."

The room goes quiet.

Knox stares at him for a long second, trying to force those words into something that makes sense.

"Spread where?"

"It's not just the ovary anymore," he says quietly. "It's spread through her abdomen and around her organs."

His jaw tightens. "So they do chemo first. Shrink it. Then surgery."

"The doctor said surgery isn't an option."

"Then we’ll find another doctor."

The answer comes so fast it almost overlaps mine.

Knox reaches for his phone, already unlocking it. "We'll find somebody else. Pittsburgh. Philly. New York. I don't care where they are." His thumb flies across the screen. "Somebody out there has another answer."

Sam nods once. "I've already sent everything to a specialist in California."

Knox looks up. "And?"

"I left a message and am waiting to hear back."

“A second opinion isn’t enough.” His mind is already somewhere else. “We’ll get as many sets of eyes on this as we can.”

I shake my head. "They're not going to tell us anything different."