Chapter 15 - The Family That Owed Him Everything
The ambulance doors remained open while detectives continued gathering statements.
Then another vehicle stopped behind the police cars.
It wasn't marked.
A dark blue SUV.
A middle-aged couple hurried toward the bus.
The moment they stepped inside, the woman burst into tears.
"Ethan!"
He looked up in surprise.
"Mrs. Alvarez?"
She rushed to his side before anyone could stop her.
Without hesitation, she hugged him gently, careful not to disturb his injuries.
"I've been looking everywhere for you."
Detective Harris stepped forward.
"Do you know Mr. Cole?"
The woman's husband answered first.
"We owe him everything."
The detectives exchanged curious glances.
Mrs. Alvarez wiped away tears.
"Our son..."
She pointed toward Ethan.
"...saved him."
Several passengers assumed they had misunderstood.
Another rescue?
The husband nodded.
"Two years ago."
"Our son Lucas needed a bone marrow transplant."
"No donor could be found."
"We were preparing for the worst."
The little girl listened quietly.
"Then Ethan volunteered."
The mother frowned.
"But... they weren't family."
"They'd never met."
The husband smiled sadly.
"That didn't matter to him."
"He joined the national donor registry when he turned eighteen."
"When the hospital called..."
"He said yes immediately."
Ethan looked embarrassed.
"It wasn't a big deal."
Mrs. Alvarez shook her head.
"It was everything."
"Our son is alive because of you."
The passengers looked at Ethan differently once again.
The tattoos.
The scars.
The surgeries.
The donor procedures.
Each revelation painted a picture completely different from the one they had imagined when he first boarded the bus.
The elderly woman quietly whispered,
"I called him disrespectful."
The office worker who had hidden behind his phone looked ashamed.
The mother lowered her head.
Her daughter reached for Ethan's hand again.
"You help lots of people."
Ethan smiled faintly.
"I've been lucky enough to meet them."
Before anyone could speak again, Detective Collins' phone vibrated.
He listened for several seconds.
Then he looked toward Harris.
"They identified fingerprints."
"On the damaged brace."
"Whose?"
Collins swallowed.
"They belong..."
May you like
"...to someone who officially died five years ago."
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