CHAPTER 2 — THE HUSBAND WHO HESITATED
The fetal monitor sounded too slow.
Khloe lay inside the emergency examination room with oxygen beneath her nose and cold gel spread across her abdomen.
She watched the screen.
“Why isn’t the baby moving?” she whispered.
Dr. Adrian Hale kept his eyes on the ultrasound.
“The heart rate dropped after the trauma. We’re trying to stabilize it.”
“Is my baby dying?”
“No.”
His answer came too quickly.
Khloe knew him well enough to recognize fear in his voice.
Outside the glass doors, Marcus paced the hallway.
Isabella sat in a chair ten feet away, wrapped in a hospital blanket she didn’t need. Elaine stood near the nurses’ station, staring at the floor.
A security officer guarded the elevator.
Marcus stopped in front of Isabella.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
“I already did.”
“Tell me again.”
Isabella looked up with wet eyes.
“Khloe confronted me about those photographs.”
“What photographs?”
“The ones from Milan.”
Marcus’s face tightened.
Months earlier, a tabloid had published pictures of Marcus and Isabella leaving the same hotel in Italy. Marcus claimed they had attended separate business meetings.
Khloe had never fully believed him.
Isabella lowered her voice.
“She said I destroyed your marriage. Then she slapped me.”
Elaine looked up.
“I didn’t hear a slap.”
Isabella turned toward her.
“You were outside.”
“I heard raised voices through the door.”
“What did you hear?” Marcus asked.
Elaine hesitated.
“I heard Mrs. Thorne tell someone to leave.”
“Then?”
“A crash. A cry. Then another impact.”
Isabella’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re confused.”
Elaine hugged her clipboard closer.
“No. I’m not.”
Marcus rubbed a hand across his face.
The elevator opened.
Two uniformed police officers stepped out.
Behind them came hospital security chief Daniel Reyes carrying a tablet.
Isabella stood.
“Why are the police here?”
Adrian emerged from the examination room.
“Because my niece has bruising consistent with multiple impacts.”
Marcus moved toward him.
“How is the baby?”
“Unstable.”
The word hit Marcus like a punch.
He placed one hand against the wall.
Adrian did not soften.
“If the heart rate drops again, we may have to deliver tonight.”
“She’s only seven months.”
“I’m aware.”
Marcus looked through the glass at Khloe.
She had turned her face away from him.
Daniel Reyes approached.
“We secured the camera footage.”
Isabella’s fingers tightened around the blanket.
Marcus noticed.
“There’s footage from inside the suite?”
Daniel nodded.
“The camera records continuously for patient protection. Audio included.”
Isabella stepped forward.
“That’s impossible. I was told the private donor suites didn’t record.”
Everyone looked at her.
The hallway became silent.
Daniel raised one eyebrow.
“How would you know that?”
Isabella’s lips parted.
“I—I assumed.”
Adrian extended his hand.
“Show me.”
Daniel unlocked the tablet.
Isabella suddenly pressed a hand to her chest.
“I feel faint.”
A nurse moved toward her.
Isabella stumbled backward and knocked the tablet from Daniel’s hand.
It hit the floor.
The screen cracked.
Marcus stared at her.
“That was an accident,” she said quickly.
Daniel picked up the device.
“The recording is stored on a secure server. Breaking the tablet changes nothing.”
The color disappeared from Isabella’s face.
One of the officers stepped beside her.
“Ms. Rossi, please remain where you are.”
Inside the examination room, an alarm began to beep.
Adrian spun around.
A nurse shouted, “The baby’s heart rate is dropping!”
Khloe screamed Marcus’s name.
He ran toward the doors.
But before he reached them, the medical team pushed him back.
May you like
Then Adrian shouted the words no parent wanted to hear.
“Prepare the operating room.”
