Chapter 4
I screamed Ryan’s name.
His hand found mine in the dark.
“I’m here.”
Metal struck the floor near the window.
Detective Torres switched on her flashlight.
A figure in hospital scrubs ran out of the room.
“Stop!”
The detective chased the intruder into the hallway.
Emergency lights came on seconds later.
Susan stood pressed against the wall.
Ryan checked my IV, the monitor, and the locks on the bed.
“Did they touch you?”
“I don’t know.”
A nurse rushed in.
She examined the IV tubing and pulled the medication bag from its hook.
“There’s a puncture in this port.”
Ryan’s face drained of color.
“What does that mean?”
“Someone may have injected something into the bag.”
The nurse disconnected it immediately.
Doctors moved me to another room and ordered blood tests.
The fire alarm had been triggered manually on a different floor.
There was no fire.
The security cameras covering our hallway had gone offline thirty seconds before the alarm.
The intruder disappeared down a stairwell.
Detective Torres returned with a plastic bag.
Inside it was an empty syringe.
“We found this near the emergency exit.”
Ryan looked ready to tear the hospital apart.
“What was in it?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“You let someone walk into my wife’s room.”
The detective stepped closer.
“This person had a valid hospital badge and knew the camera system. That means we may be dealing with someone who has access from the inside.”
Jack Sullivan entered behind her.
“This hospital is part of my company.”
Ryan turned on him.
“Then start explaining.”
Jack dismissed his driver and closed the door.
“I received a call two weeks ago from Margaret.”
Ryan’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“You still talk to her?”
“Not regularly.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“Yes. She contacted me.”
“What did she want?”
“She wanted the trust documents.”
“Why?”
“She said you were about to have a son.”
Ryan stared at him.
“She knew our baby was a girl.”
“She told me your doctor had made a mistake.”
I remembered Margaret demanding a second ultrasound.
She had accused my obstetrician of incompetence.
Then she had insisted we visit a private clinic recommended by a friend.
I refused.
“She wanted someone to change the records,” I said.
Jack nodded.
“I believe she intended to claim the baby was male until birth so I would sign over temporary authority.”
“That makes no sense,” Ryan said.
“It does if she expected the baby not to survive long enough for the truth to matter.”
My heart seemed to stop.
“No.”
Ryan grabbed Jack by his jacket.
“What are you saying?”
Jack didn’t fight him.
“I’m saying Margaret asked what would happen to the shares if the first eligible child died shortly after birth.”
Ryan shoved him against the wall.
“You knew this and said nothing?”
“I didn’t believe she would hurt anyone.”
“You knew what she did to Susan!”
“I knew what Susan accused her of.”
Susan stepped forward.
“You watched me bleeding on our kitchen floor.”
Jack’s eyes closed.
“I was a coward.”
“You were worse than a coward. You protected her.”
Ryan released Jack in disgust.
Detective Torres ordered everyone to calm down.
My blood tests showed no dangerous substance.
The nurse believed the intruder had been interrupted before enough could enter the IV.
That should have comforted me.
It didn’t.
Someone had come into a hospital to reach my unborn child.
Someone with access to Sullivan Medical Group.
Someone connected to Margaret.
Detective Torres called the station.
Margaret was still being questioned.
She hadn’t made a phone call.
Her attorney had arrived before the fire alarm, but officers had not allowed them to meet yet.
“Who is her attorney?” Susan asked.
“Benjamin Cross.”
Ryan stared at the detective.
“My supervisor?”
“He identified himself as counsel for your mother.”
“That’s impossible. Ben runs regional operations at my company.”
Jack looked toward the window.
“What company?”
“Cross Logistics.”
Jack gripped his cane.
“Cross Logistics is owned by a Sullivan holding corporation.”
Ryan laughed, but there was no humor in it.
“So my job belongs to you too?”
“I didn’t know you worked there.”
“Stop lying.”
“I swear.”
“Did you arrange my promotions?”
“No.”
“Did Margaret?”
Jack said nothing.
That silence was enough.
Ryan moved away from him.
“My entire life has been managed by people who refused to tell me the truth.”
“Ryan,” I said.
He came back to my bedside.
I touched his arm.
“Don’t let them separate us.”
His eyes met mine.
“I won’t.”
Detective Torres’s phone rang.
She listened, asked two questions, and ended the call.
“Margaret has been arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault.”
Relief lasted less than a second.
“But,” she continued, “the district attorney hasn’t approved the hospital incident as part of the charge. We can’t connect her to the intruder yet.”
“She knew someone would come,” I said.
“How?”
“When Ryan threatened to call the police, she became terrified before Susan arrived. She wasn’t afraid of being arrested. She was afraid the police would find something.”
Detective Torres nodded.
“We’re requesting a warrant for her house and devices.”
Ryan looked at Jack.
“Where is Ben?”
“No one knows,” the detective answered. “He left the station after being denied access to Margaret.”
My phone vibrated.
A video message had arrived from an unknown number.
Ryan took the phone and played it.
Our six-year-old daughter, Lily, appeared on-screen.
She was sitting in Margaret’s kitchen.
Her face was wet with tears.
My mother had been watching her while Ryan and I were at the hospital. At least, that was what we believed.
Then Margaret’s voice came from behind the camera.
“Tell Mommy you’re safe.”
Lily swallowed.
“I’m safe, Mommy.”
A man’s voice whispered something.
Lily looked toward him.
Then she said, “Please give Grandma what she wants.”
The video ended.
I tried to get out of bed.
“Where is my daughter?”
Ryan caught me.
“You can’t leave.”
“My baby is with her!”
He called my mother.
She answered after three rings, crying so hard she could barely speak.
“Someone came to the house dressed like a police officer,” she said. “He told me you had been attacked and Lily needed to come to the hospital.”
“When?” Ryan demanded.
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“Did you see his name?”
“No. He had a badge. He knew your names.”
Detective Torres issued an alert.
Officers rushed from the room.
Jack took out his phone.
“I have security teams across Dallas.”
Ryan knocked the phone from his hand.
“No private teams. No more secrets.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
“I suggest you tell us what Margaret wants.”
Jack stared at the frozen image of Lily.
“The original trust was placed inside Robert’s estate file.”
“Robert’s estate was settled years ago.”
“Not all of it.”
Jack looked at Susan.
“Robert hid an amendment before he died.”
Susan’s face changed.
“You said it was destroyed.”
“I lied.”
Ryan gripped the bed rail.
“What does the amendment say?”
Jack took a breath.
“It doesn’t give the Sullivan shares to a grandson.”
“Then who gets them?”
“You do, Ryan. All of them.”
My phone vibrated again.
May you like
This time the message contained an address and one sentence.
BRING ROBERT’S AMENDMENT, OR YOU WILL NEVER SEE LILY AGAIN.
