Chapter 12 - THE DELIVERY ROOM
Dr. Price disconnected the IV and called for an emergency toxicology screen.
My body shook uncontrollably.
The baby’s heartbeat recovered, then dropped again.
“We need to deliver now,” he said.
Rachel squeezed my hand.
“Do it.”
Daniel had wanted my child born while I was unconscious and legally powerless.
I refused to let that happen.
As nurses prepared the operating room, Rebecca arrived with a police officer.
“Lauren was arrested at the airport,” she said. “She’s asking for immunity.”
“What about Evelyn?”
“Still free.”
Lauren had offered to testify that Daniel designed the confinement videos. She claimed Evelyn knew nothing.
It was an obvious lie meant to protect the person who controlled the money.
Rebecca showed me a scanned page from Providence’s files.
A maternal death contingency plan.
If I died during delivery, Daniel would retain the trust and Rachel would receive custody.
If the baby died, the trust reverted to a foundation controlled by Evelyn.
Either outcome enriched them.
“They poisoned the IV,” I said.
Ortiz entered holding a small vial recovered from a trash bin outside my room.
The fingerprints belonged to a hospital orderly named Marcus Dean.
Marcus confessed that he had been paid through Providence for two years. He believed he was administering medication approved by Lauren.
He also admitted changing my patient status to deceased.
The network extended inside the hospital.
Dr. Price ordered every staff member removed except Priya and a surgical team he personally trusted.
As they wheeled me away, Rachel received a text.
She read it and went pale.
FROM: MOTHER
Leave the hospital now, or Emily learns what you did to the first baby.
I grabbed Rachel’s wrist.
“What first baby?”
She began crying.
Three years earlier, before my current pregnancy, I had miscarried at twelve weeks.
At least, that was what Daniel told me.
Rachel had been present at the clinic.
“There was no miscarriage,” she whispered. “Lauren said the pregnancy was dangerous. They ended it while you were sedated.”
The hallway blurred around me.
“My baby was healthy?”
Rachel could not answer.
She handed the phone to Ortiz.
Another message appeared.
THE SECOND CHILD WILL NOT LEAVE THAT ROOM ALIVE.
The operating-room doors opened.
Inside, one nurse wore a surgical mask.
May you like
But I recognized her eyes.
Evelyn was standing beside the instrument table.
