Her mind spun: the man was alive.
Had she not reached for the ring, he would have been mistaken for d3ad, and tomorrow the scalpel would have opened his body. Every second dragged unbearably. Anna knew that her thieving instinct had just preserved a life.
She dashed for help, summoning the doctor.
Later it was revealed: the man had suffered a rare att:ack of profound lethargy. His heartbeat slowed almost to nothing, his breathing nearly disappeared, so even skilled doctors announced him gone.
Yet because of Anna—because of her unlawful but fateful impulse—the man survived. And only she knew the strange truth: his salvation was not born of virtue, but of greed.
