Chapter 3

The calm in the ICU was short-lived.

A few hours later, the door creaked open. Not Mark.

Chloe.

She slipped into the room, a smug smile on her young face.

"Heard you signed," she said, her voice a purr. "Smart girl."

She walked towards the bassinet where Lily slept.

My heart pounded. I was still weak, stitches pulling with every tiny movement.

Chloe reached for Lily. "She's small, isn't she?"

She picked Lily up. My Lily.

Then, she walked towards the open window, the city lights distant and cold below.

"It would be so easy," Chloe mused, holding Lily a little too close to the edge. "An accident. A grieving mother, distraught..."

"Get away from her!" I tried to sit up, pain shooting through me.

Chloe just laughed, a light, cruel sound.

At that exact moment, Mark walked in.

Chloe gasped, stumbling back from the window, clutching Lily. "Sarah! She tried to... she tried to hurt the baby! She's crazy!"

Mark rushed to Chloe' s side, taking Lily. He didn't even look at me.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Sarah?" he yelled, his face contorted with rage. "She' s just a baby! Chloe was just looking at her!"

"Mark, she..."

"Shut up!" he spat. "You' re unhinged."

He turned to a nurse who had followed him in. "My wife is clearly unstable. She needs to leave. Now."

The hospital was a private one. Innovatech had made large donations. Mark had influence.

"Sir, she just had a C-section," the nurse stammered.

"I don't care," Mark said, his eyes like ice. "Get her out."

Two security guards appeared.

They pulled me from the bed. I was bleeding, the pain was immense, but the pain of his betrayal, his blindness, was worse.

They dragged me out, into the cold hospital corridor, in nothing but a thin gown.

My baby was in there, with them.