Chapter 732

Norah’s suspicions were growing. Pharaoh’s strange behavior—like saying he was too “busy” to watch Reina—didn’t sit right. Sure, elders had their own lives, but this felt off. Still, she didn’t show it on the phone.
“Reina’s napping. How about we come visit this weekend when Cooper’s free?”

“Sounds good,” Pharaoh said before hanging up with a tired sigh.

His hospital room door opened, and the attending doctor walked in. “Time for your IV. Have you decided on treatment yet?”

Pharaoh shook his head. Logically, he knew he should fight the advanced liver cancer—treatment could give him years, not just months. But chemo would leave him weak, bald, and frail. He didn’t want Norah to see him like that.

“You want to live,” the doctor said. “It’s not a cure, but it gives you time. Why turn that down?”

Money wasn’t the issue—his hospital account had more than enough. But when he was first diagnosed, Pharaoh had stayed in denial, wasting time on test after test. Now, he had finally accepted reality. Birth, aging, illness, and death—no one could escape them. He’d rather spend what time he had with Norah and the kids, creating memories, than wasting it fighting a battle he couldn’t win.