Chapter 3
The ambulance ride blurred into sirens and pain.
Claire rode beside me, holding my hand so tightly my fingers went numb.
“I’m sorry,” she kept saying.
“No.”
“I should have known.”
“You came.”
That was all that mattered.
Mara checked the fetal monitor.
Her face stayed calm, but her eyes moved too quickly.
“What?” I asked.
“The baby’s heart rate is dipping. We’re moving fast.”
Fear swallowed the room.
I had survived hunger.
Cold.
Nathan.
Evelyn.
But the thought of losing my child after all of it made me shatter.
“Please,” I whispered.
Claire leaned close.
“She’s going to be okay.”
“She?”
Claire smiled through tears.
“You always said girl.”
At the hospital, doctors rushed me into labor and delivery.
Police followed.
So did Claire.
Nathan was not allowed in.
For the first time in months, a closed door protected me from him.
The doctor examined me.
“We may need an emergency C-section.”
“Do it.”
Claire bent over me.
“I’ll stay.”
Pain came in waves.
Between them, Detective Nolan Reed entered.
“I know this is a terrible time, but we found the phone.”
My eyes opened.
“The old one?”
He nodded.
“It was still recording when officers entered.”
“Battery?”
“It died after we removed it.”
A strange laugh escaped me.
Even the phone had held on until help arrived.
Reed’s expression darkened.
“Olivia, there are files about more than your confinement.”
“What files?”
He glanced at Claire.
“Financial transfers. Guardianship papers. Medical documents.”
My contraction hit hard.
I screamed.
The doctor shouted orders.
Claire held my face.
“Look at me. Stay here.”
I looked at my sister.
Then I heard my baby’s heartbeat falter on the monitor.
Everything became urgent.
Everything became white.
May you like
Before they wheeled me away, Reed leaned close.
“Nathan and Evelyn were planning to declare you dead after delivery.”
