Chapter 2 - Twenty Hours Earlier
The previous evening, Daniel had been told his wife died from a sudden pregnancy complication.
He was in Los Angeles attending a construction conference when Helena called.
Her voice shook perfectly.
“Daniel, there’s been an emergency.”
He remembered standing beneath the hotel lights, unable to understand the words that followed.
Clara had collapsed at her mother’s home.
An ambulance had arrived too late.
Dr. Hale, the family’s private physician, had declared her dead.
Daniel demanded to speak with the hospital.
Helena hesitated.
“There was no reason to move her after the doctor confirmed it.”
“You didn’t take her to a hospital?”
“Clara was gone.”
“She was pregnant.”
“I know.”
“What about the baby?”
Silence.
Then Helena whispered, “The baby was gone too.”
Daniel drove through the night.
By the time he reached Santa Barbara, Clara’s body had already been transferred to Helena’s private funeral chapel.
The funeral was scheduled for ten the next morning.
The cremation would follow immediately.
Everything had been arranged in less than twelve hours.
Too quickly.
But grief crushed Daniel’s ability to think.
Helena met him at the chapel entrance wearing black and pearls.
She embraced him.
“I know this is unbearable.”
Daniel looked past her.
“Where is Clara?”
“She’s been prepared.”
“I need to see her.”
Marcus stepped into the doorway.
Clara’s older brother had never liked Daniel.
“She looks peaceful,” Marcus said. “Don’t make this harder.”
Daniel pushed past him.
Inside the viewing room, Clara lay in the coffin.
Her skin was pale.
Her eyes were closed.
One hand rested above her pregnant abdomen.
Daniel touched her cheek.
Cool.
But not as cold as he expected.
He looked at Dr. Hale.
“When exactly did she die?”
“Shortly after six.”
“What caused it?”
“An embolism. Sudden and catastrophic.”
“Was there an autopsy?”
Helena answered before the doctor could.
“No.”
Daniel turned.
“She was thirty-two years old.”
“She was pregnant,” Helena said. “You know how dangerous that can be.”
Daniel looked back at Clara.
There was a faint mark near the inside of her elbow.
A puncture.
“What is that?”
Dr. Hale adjusted his glasses.
“Medication from the emergency attempt.”
“What medication?”
“A standard intervention.”
Daniel looked at him.
“That isn’t an answer.”
Marcus stepped between them.
“My sister is dead. Stop interrogating everyone.”
That night, Daniel sat alone beside Clara’s coffin.
He noticed something folded beneath her hand.
A corner of paper.
When he carefully pulled it free, he found part of a medical directive bearing Clara’s signature.
The final page was missing.
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And beneath her wedding ring was a thin smear of blue ink.
👉 Someone had placed a document in Clara’s hand after she became unconscious—and the missing page would determine who controlled her body.
