Chapter 13 - Fifteen Minutes Before the Push
Lena brought a laptop to the hospital.
Detective Chen sat on my left. Thomas sat on my right.
No one spoke as the security footage loaded.
The timestamp read 2:41 p.m.
Twenty-six minutes before I fell.
Margaret and Ethan stood in the upstairs hall.
The camera was hidden inside a smoke detector. The picture was grainy, but the audio was clear.
Margaret said, “She won’t sign while she thinks she has choices.”
Ethan paced. “I need time. The lenders are already calling my office.”
“Then stop acting weak.”
“I’m not asking you to hurt her.”
“You’re asking me to fix what you created.”
He stopped pacing.
“What if she goes to the police?”
Margaret laughed. “With what? Her feelings?”
My hands began to shake.
On screen, Ethan lowered his voice.
“Just scare her. Make her think the pregnancy is fragile. She’ll sign anything if she thinks stress could hurt the baby.”
Thomas made a broken sound beside me.
Margaret replied, “And if she falls?”
Ethan stared at her.
Then he said, “Make sure nobody sees.”
The recording ended two minutes later.
No one in my hospital room moved.
Detective Chen finally closed the laptop.
“That changes things.”
Thomas covered his face.
“My son,” he whispered.
I felt strangely calm.
Not healed. Not safe. Just finished wondering.
The man I married had not been manipulated by his mother.
He had given her permission.
Maybe not for the exact violence she chose, but for the terror behind it.
Lena took my hand.
“We can use this.”
Detective Chen stood. “And we will.”
My monitor suddenly began beeping faster.
A contraction tightened across my stomach, harder than any before it.
Then another came less than three minutes later.
Renee rushed in, looked at the monitor, and called for Dr. Patel.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
Renee’s face stayed calm.
May you like
Too calm.
“You may be going into labor.”
