Chapter 8 - The Struggle in the Dark
The patient monitor switched to emergency power.
A dim green glow filled the room.
Shelby heard Jared move before she saw him.
His polished shoes struck the floor hard as he lunged toward the bed.
“Give me the phone.”
Shelby twisted away.
Pain tore through her surgical wound.
She cried out but kept the phone clutched behind her hip.
Erin grabbed Jared’s arm.
He shook her off.
She stumbled into the chair.
Melissa pushed the medication cart between Jared and the bed.
The wheels slammed against the frame.
“Back away from her!”
Courtney screamed from near the window.
Dr. Mercer remained frozen at the door.
Jared reached over the cart.
Shelby braced her elbow against the mattress and held the phone beneath her body.
“You’re hurting her!” Erin shouted.
“She’s destroying our lives!”
The words escaped Jared before he could control them.
Our lives.
Not Shelby’s life.
Not their marriage.
His life with Courtney.
The emergency lights flickered on.
Jared stood over Shelby with one hand gripping the bedrail.
His expression was no longer charming.
It was naked fury.
Shelby looked directly into his eyes.
“You planned to lock me away.”
“You were never supposed to wake up this soon.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Jared realized what he had said.
Shelby’s phone was still recording.
Melissa slowly pulled her own phone from her pocket.
“I’m calling security.”
Jared pushed the medication cart aside and moved toward her.
Dr. Mercer finally stepped in front of him.
“No.”
Jared stared at the doctor.
“Move.”
“No.”
“You think confessing will save you?”
Mercer’s shoulders trembled.
“No. But maybe telling the truth will save her.”
Jared struck the wall beside Mercer’s head with his palm.
Courtney recoiled.
The sound echoed into the hallway.
Footsteps approached.
Jared looked toward the door.
Hospital security.
He grabbed the blue folder and rushed toward the bathroom.
Erin shouted, “He’s taking the records!”
Mercer blocked the bathroom entrance.
Jared shoved him hard enough to send him against the doorframe.
Before Jared could enter, Courtney stepped between them.
“Give me the folder.”
He stared at her.
“What?”
“You said there was nothing else in it.”
“There isn’t.”
“Then give it to me.”
Jared’s silence answered her.
Courtney reached for the folder.
He pulled it away.
The metal clasp opened.
Documents spilled across the floor.
One page slid beneath Shelby’s bed.
Another landed beside Courtney’s heel.
She bent down.
At the top was a laboratory report.
PATERNITY ANALYSIS.
Courtney’s face changed as she read the result.
May you like
The baby she carried was not Jared’s.
👉 Courtney had believed she was carrying Jared’s heir—but the paternity report revealed she had been used in a far darker scheme.
