Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WITH THE SYRINGE
Dr. Lauren Vale did not look surprised to find me locked inside an animal cage.
That told me everything.
Mr. Bennett remained outside, arguing with Daniel through the partly closed door. Lauren crouched beside me and examined my pupils through the bars.
“She’s more alert than expected,” she said.
Daniel’s jaw tightened. “She skipped the evening dose.”
I backed into the corner of the cage.
“What have you been giving me?”
Lauren held up the syringe. “Something to help you rest.”
“You knew.”
Her expression stayed professionally blank.
“I know you’ve been experiencing severe prenatal delusions.”
Daniel leaned close to the bars. “Hear that? Even a doctor says you’re crazy.”
My hands trembled around my belly, but anger began burning through the fear.
Lauren reached through the bars.
I slapped the syringe away.
It struck the concrete and rolled beneath a shelf.
Mr. Bennett heard the movement.
“I’m calling the police,” he said outside.
Daniel rushed toward the door, but Lauren caught his sleeve.
“Let him,” she whispered. “We have the paperwork.”
Paperwork.
Daniel stared at her for a moment, then smiled.
He opened the side door and invited Mr. Bennett inside.
Harold stepped into the garage with his phone in his hand. His face went pale when he saw the cage.
“Oh, my God.”
Daniel moved between us.
“Emily had a violent psychiatric episode. She tried to hurt herself and the baby. We restrained her until Dr. Vale arrived.”
“That’s a dog cage.”
“It was the safest enclosure available.”
Mr. Bennett looked at Lauren.
She nodded.
“I’m supervising the situation.”
I gripped the bars. “They drugged me.”
Daniel sighed like a patient husband.
“She says that every night.”
Harold lifted his phone.
“I’m taking a picture.”
Daniel lunged.
The phone slipped from Harold’s hand and struck the floor. Before either man could reach it, the screen lit up with a recording timer.
Harold had been filming since the driveway.
Lauren saw it too.
Her calm expression cracked.
Daniel stepped on the phone.
The screen shattered beneath his heel.
Harold shoved him backward.
“You’re going to jail.”
Daniel’s eyes went flat.
“No,” he said. “You’re going home.”
Lauren pulled a folder from her medical bag. On the cover was my full name and a county court seal.
She showed Harold a signed emergency guardianship order granting Daniel control over my medical decisions.
At the bottom was my signature.
I had never signed it.
Harold looked at me through the bars.
“Emily, is this real?”
“No.”
Daniel held up another page.
A statement describing my alleged hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, and violent behavior.
Two witnesses had signed it.
Daniel Carter.
And Harold Bennett.
Harold’s face drained of color.
“I never signed that.”
Daniel smiled.
“You did now.”
Before Harold could respond, Lauren’s phone buzzed.
She read the message and looked toward the street.
“Police are coming.”
Relief surged through me.
Then she whispered, “Your brother called them.”
My relief vanished.
I had not spoken to my brother, Michael, in seven months.
Daniel had told me Michael wanted nothing to do with me.
May you like
The garage filled with distant sirens.
And Daniel quietly picked up the broken pieces of Harold’s phone.
