Chapter 7 - REMISSION AND JUSTICE
“How much sooner?”
A pause.
“Ten days.”
Ten days.
In childhood cancer, ten days can be a continent.
Marissa covered her mouth.
Not to silence grief.
To keep from screaming in a hospital where Holly was trying to sleep.
Calvin’s voice came through the tablet.
“Marissa.”
She looked up.
“I failed to move faster,” he said.
That startled her.
Calvin Rhodes did not seem like a man who admitted failure easily.
He continued.
“I built structures. Structures still require vigilance. I am sorry.”
Marissa closed her eyes.
“I don’t need apologies. I need Holly to have the review.”
“It is already being scheduled.”
The phrase did something strange inside her.
Not hope.
Not yet.
Hope was too dangerous when spoken too quickly.
But motion.
Motion mattered.
Derek was removed from the hospital floor that night after refusing to leave voluntarily.
Not arrested.
Not yet.
Security escorted him out while he kept saying, “I am her father,” as if repeating the title could restore the authority he had spent months poisoning.
Vanessa left separately.
She cried in the elevator, according to the nurse.
Marissa did not care.
That surprised her.
Vanessa was her sister.
She had held Vanessa through breakups, bad birthdays, debt spirals, panic attacks, and every crisis Vanessa turned into proof that no one loved her enough.
Now Vanessa was pregnant with Derek’s child and had helped delay Holly’s treatment pathway.
There are betrayals grief cannot metabolize quickly.
Marissa set that one aside for later.
Holly came first.
The next week became a blur of transfer documents, outside review, new scans, lab work, ethics interviews, trust authorizations, and legal filings.
Marissa barely slept.
But this exhaustion felt different.
Before, she was exhausted from being trapped.
Now she was exhausted from movement.
The independent medical team confirmed Holly qualified for a targeted trial review—not a miracle, not a promise, but a legitimate option. The delay caused by Dr. Avery’s failure to upload materials was reported. The hospital opened an internal investigation.
Derek tried to stop the transfer.
His attorney filed an emergency motion arguing that Marissa was making irrational decisions under emotional distress and that Derek, as Holly’s father, had equal say in major treatment decisions.
Calvin’s response was devastating.
He produced Derek’s communications.
Overfunded relative to her prognosis.
Bad investment.
Trust redistribution inquiry.
Draft petition language referring to “post-treatment asset preservation.”
Messages to Vanessa:
Once the fund is not locked to Holly’s active care, we can argue sibling equity.
Vanessa’s reply:
Marissa will fight. Make the doctor slow the review until the decision feels already made.
Then Derek:
Avery understands risk. He owes you.
Marissa read those messages in her attorney’s office and felt something in her go quiet.
Not numb.
Precise.
Her attorney, Bethany Crowe, asked, “Do you want a break?”
“No.”
“This is a lot.”
“My daughter didn’t get a break while they delayed her file.”
Bethany nodded once.
“Then we continue.”
The court denied Derek’s emergency motion, temporarily restricted his medical decision involvement pending investigation, and appointed an independent guardian ad litem for Holly’s medical interests. Derek was allowed supervised visitation only if clinically appropriate and only without discussing money, treatment decisions, Vanessa, or the unborn child.
He violated that condition during the second visit.
Not dramatically.
Subtly.
Holly was drawing in bed when Derek came in with the social worker present. He looked smaller without a lawyer beside him. He brought a stuffed fox, which Holly accepted politely but did not hug.
For five minutes, he behaved.
Then he said, “Daddy is just trying to make sure everyone is taken care of.”
May you like
Holly looked at him.
“Everyone?”
