Chapter 7 - The Woman Behind the Smoke
The door opened six inches.
A hand reached through the smoke.
I grabbed a metal water pitcher and swung.
Someone cursed.
The door slammed shut.
Lily began crying against my chest.
“Sorry,” I whispered. “Sorry, baby.”
I wrapped her in a wet hospital blanket.
The smoke detector screamed overhead.
The emergency lights flashed red.
My legs still felt weak, but fear moved faster than pain.
I opened the bathroom window.
Eight floors below, fire trucks crowded the street.
Too far.
The room door opened again.
This time, a woman stumbled inside.
Vanessa.
Blood ran from her temple.
“Don’t hit me,” she coughed.
I raised the pitcher anyway.
“What are you doing here?”
“Saving your life.”
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t clap.”
She locked the door behind her.
Someone rammed into it from the hallway.
Vanessa shoved a chair beneath the handle.
“They cut the cameras,” she said.
“Who?”
“Richard.”
“Adrian’s father?”
“He knows the trust transfers permanently in seventy-two hours.”
Another impact shook the door.
“Why would he attack his own son?”
“Because Adrian changed sides.”
“He hasn’t changed. He’s injured.”
“To Richard, that’s the same thing.”
Vanessa opened the bathroom door and pointed toward the maintenance hatch above the shower.
“There’s a service corridor.”
“You know a lot about this hospital.”
“I scheduled Richard’s private treatments here for years.”
“What treatments?”
She hesitated.
The door shook again.
“Vanessa.”
“Cancer.”
I stared at her.
“He’s dying.”
“How long?”
“Maybe three months.”
Richard wasn’t protecting a legacy.
He was racing death.
Vanessa climbed onto the sink and pushed open the hatch.
“Give me the baby.”
“No.”
“You can’t climb with her.”
“I’m not handing you my daughter.”
The chair slid an inch beneath the door handle.
Vanessa looked at Lily.
For once, there was no jealousy in her face.
Only fear.
“Emma, I did terrible things to you.”
“That’s not exactly news.”
“I changed your medical records.”
“I know.”
“I slept with your husband.”
“I know.”
“I also sent Richard copies of your pregnancy reports.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“You knew before the divorce ended?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“Yes.”
The door frame cracked.
Vanessa reached for Lily.
I pulled away.
“Don’t.”
“I’m trying to help.”
“You already had a chance.”
Her face tightened.
“I know.”
The door burst inward.
A masked man stepped through the smoke.
Vanessa shoved me toward the bathroom.
“Go!”
The man grabbed her hair.
She screamed once.
I climbed onto the sink, holding Lily with one arm.
Vanessa struck him with the metal pitcher.
“Move, Emma!”
I pulled myself into the service hatch.
Below me, the man slammed Vanessa against the wall.
She looked up.
Our eyes met.
Then she kicked the chair away from the door.
Smoke flooded the room.
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The last thing I heard before crawling into darkness was Vanessa shouting:
“Tell Adrian his father killed his first child too!”
