Chapter 5
Hannah grabbed the metal IV pole like a weapon.
Rebecca stepped in front of my bed.
Agent Monroe drew her badge and moved to the door.
“Julian Vance, you are violating a protective order.”
His voice came through the hall.
“I need to see my wife.”
“You need to step back.”
“She’s carrying my child.”
My whole body went cold.
Not our child.
My child.
The handle moved.
Security arrived before he could open it.
Julian shouted as they pulled him away.
“Olivia, you think you won? Ask Chloe what she knows about your doctor.”
Then silence.
Agent Monroe turned slowly.
“My doctor?”
Rebecca was already dialing.
“Who is your OB?”
“Dr. Elaine Porter.”
Hannah frowned.
“She’s been with you since the fertility treatments.”
Exactly.
Since before Julian started coming home late.
Since before Chloe got pregnant.
Since before every Vance woman began asking too many questions about my appointments.
Rebecca’s call went to voicemail.
Agent Monroe requested hospital access logs.
Within an hour, we learned Dr. Porter had visited Chloe’s room before checking on me.
My hands shook.
“She knows Chloe?”
The charge nurse looked uncomfortable.
“Apparently Ms. Bennett was referred to her six months ago.”
“By who?”
The nurse looked down.
“Julian Vance.”
Rebecca shut her folder.
“We need a different doctor immediately.”
A new maternal-fetal specialist came in.
Dr. Maria Ellis.
Calm voice.
Sharp eyes.
She reviewed my chart.
Then she stopped on a medication order.
“I did not approve this.”
My heart slammed.
“What is it?”
“A sedative. Mild, but unnecessary. Scheduled for tonight.”
Hannah stepped toward the chart.
“Why would she need that?”
Dr. Ellis looked at me.
“She doesn’t.”
Agent Monroe took a photo.
Rebecca said, “Who ordered it?”
The answer came back ten minutes later.
Dr. Porter.
I felt my daughter move under my hands.
A slow, strong kick.
Like she was warning me too.
Police arrested Julian in the hospital garage for violating the order.
Dr. Porter was suspended pending investigation.
Chloe disappeared from her room.
Her hospital gown was found on the bathroom floor.
The window was locked from inside.
So she had walked out with help.
That evening, Agent Monroe returned with Victor’s drive decrypted.
She played one clip.
Arthur’s study.
Margaret’s voice.
“Olivia’s girl is a problem.”
Arthur answered, “Then we make Olivia the problem.”
Julian said, “After delivery?”
Margaret laughed.
“No. During.”
The room blurred.
Rebecca paused the video.
I whispered, “They were going to hurt me during labor.”
Agent Monroe’s face was grim.
“Not if we find everyone first.”
Then the hospital went into lockdown.
A fire alarm flashed red.
Nurses started moving patients.
Through the chaos, I saw Chloe at the end of the hallway.
May you like
She was wearing scrubs.
And walking straight toward my room.
