Chapter 14 - THE WOMEN BEFORE ME
The investigation expanded overnight.
Police contacted all seven women.
Three responded immediately.
One refused to speak.
Two had moved overseas.
One was dead.
Her name was Jenna Price.
Daniel had dated her during college.
He remembered her suddenly ending the relationship.
What he didn't know was that she had been hospitalized days before the breakup.
Her medical records showed severe dehydration and unexplained abdominal pain.
No one could prove Margaret had caused it.
But another woman, Megan Shaw, had a story that sounded familiar.
"Your mom told me you were cheating," Megan told Daniel on the phone.
"I wasn't."
"I know that now."
"She showed me pictures."
"They were fake."
"I figured that out years later."
Another woman said Margaret had called her employer and spread rumors until she lost her job.
Another said Margaret had paid her five thousand dollars to leave Daniel alone.
Every relationship had been manipulated.
Controlled.
Sabotaged.
Daniel listened to all of it.
Then he went into the hospital chapel alone.
I found him sitting in the last row.
"I don't know which parts of my life were mine," he said.
I sat beside him.
"Your life is yours now."
"What if I'm like her?"
"You're not."
"You don't know that."
"I do."
"How?"
"Because when I was on that kitchen floor, you didn't protect your family name."
He looked at me.
"You protected me."
His eyes filled.
"I almost lost you."
"But you didn't."
"And Noah."
"He's still here."
Daniel leaned forward.
"I should have stopped her earlier."
"We both thought words were just words."
"I knew she hated you."
"You didn't know she'd hurt me."
"I should have."
I touched his hand.
"Daniel, guilt is useful only if it teaches you something. After that, it becomes another prison."
He looked at me.
"Since when did you become wise?"
"Since somebody kicked me into emergency surgery."
He laughed.
For the first time in days, I did too.
Then my phone rang.
NICU.
My heart jumped.
I answered immediately.
"Hello?"
The nurse's voice was urgent.
"Emily, we need you and Daniel to come upstairs."
I stood too quickly.
"What happened?"
"Noah had an episode."
Daniel was already on his feet.
"What kind of episode?"
The nurse paused.
"His oxygen dropped."
We ran.
Every fear I'd been holding back came rushing in at once.
When we reached the NICU, three doctors stood around our son's incubator.
I saw his tiny chest moving.
Barely.
May you like
Dr. Patel turned toward us.
And the expression on her face told me our fight wasn't over yet.
