Chapter 13 — The Last Attempt
Chapter 13 — The Last Attempt
Samuel knocked the syringe from the woman’s hand.
Hospital security tackled her before she reached Emma.
The syringe contained a powerful sedative.
The fake nurse was an actress Claire had hired months earlier to impersonate medical staff in videos supporting the false psychiatric diagnosis.
But Claire was already in custody.
Someone else had activated the plan.
Victoria.
Police searched the actress’s phone.
The final instruction had been sent from a burner device less than twenty minutes earlier.
The signal came from inside the hospital.
Lockdown procedures began immediately.
Doors sealed.
Elevators stopped.
Officers searched every floor.
Emma was moved to a protected surgical wing.
Ryan remained outside with a detective.
Then the fire alarm sounded.
For one terrible second, Emma thought of the Carter Group building.
Another diversion.
Smoke began drifting from a utility room.
Nurses prepared to evacuate.
Samuel grabbed Emma’s hand.
“We stay with security.”
But a ceiling panel crashed nearby.
Patients screamed.
The hallway filled with confusion.
Through the smoke, Victoria appeared.
She wore dark glasses and a medical coat.
In her hand was a small pistol.
Ryan stepped between her and Emma.
“Mom.”
Victoria pointed the weapon at him.
“Move.”
Ryan did not.
“You tried to drug my wife.”
“She is not your wife anymore.”
“You tried to take my child.”
“I tried to save this family.”
“No. You tried to own it.”
Victoria’s hand trembled.
“You were mine before she came along.”
Ryan’s voice broke.
“I was your son. That was supposed to be enough.”
Emma stood behind him, one arm wrapped around her belly.
Victoria looked past Ryan.
“You think you won because an old man gave you my house?”
Emma met her eyes.
“No. I won the moment I stopped needing your approval.”
Victoria’s face twisted.
“You took everything.”
“You destroyed everything.”
Sirens echoed down the hallway.
Victoria raised the gun.
Ryan moved.
The shot struck the wall.
A detective fired once, hitting Victoria in the shoulder.
She fell.
The gun slid across the floor.
Officers rushed forward and restrained her.
Victoria screamed Ryan’s name.
He stood motionless.
She reached toward him with her uninjured arm.
“Help me.”
For most of his life, Ryan had answered that command.
This time, he stepped back.
“No.”
Victoria stared at him as if he had struck her.
Then officers carried her away.
Emma’s knees weakened.
A sharp pain tore across her abdomen.
Warm fluid ran down her legs.
Samuel caught her before she fell.
“Emma?”
She looked at him, terrified.
“The baby.”
Nurses rushed forward.
Emma was taken into emergency delivery.
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Outside the operating room, Ryan sat alone with blood on his shirt that was not his.
For the first time in his life, there was nobody left to blame.
