Chapter 13 - The Fire
The hospital filled with smoke and shouting.
Nurses rushed patients toward the emergency stairwell.
Nora tried to stand, but dizziness forced her back.
Maya grabbed the wheelchair beside the bed.
“We’re getting you out.”
Celeste helped Daniel into another chair.
Grant checked the hallway.
“The fire is coming from the west wing.”
“That’s where the federal evidence team is,” Evelyn said.
Nora looked through the glass.
Ethan’s chair was empty.
The chain from his handcuff lay broken on the floor.
“He did this,” Maya said.
Nora wanted to deny it.
She couldn’t.
Grant pushed the door open.
A figure emerged through the smoke.
It was Ethan.
He carried a small unconscious child in his arms.
“Stairwell B is blocked,” he coughed. “Use the maternity elevator.”
Maya stared at him.
“You escaped.”
“The agent uncuffed me when the alarm started.”
“Where is he?”
“Helping evacuate the records wing.”
Nora looked at the child.
“What happened?”
“Her room filled with smoke.”
Ethan handed the girl to a nurse.
Then he turned toward Nora.
“You need to move.”
A federal agent appeared behind him.
“The fire was deliberate. Vivian’s attorney used a maintenance badge to enter the records room.”
Nora exhaled.
Ethan had not started it.
But suspicion had come so easily.
That was what betrayal destroyed.
Not only love.
The ability to believe anything good without evidence.
They reached the maternity elevator.
As the doors opened, Celeste’s phone rang.
Julian’s name appeared.
She answered.
“Where are you?”
His voice came through beneath loud wind.
“On the roof.”
“Why?”
“Vivian’s attorney ordered a helicopter.”
Celeste stared upward.
“Are you leaving?”
“I was.”
She closed her eyes.
Julian continued.
“But I have the original clinical trial ledger.”
Nora looked toward the phone.
“Bring it downstairs.”
“I can’t. Vivian’s attorney is armed.”
A gunshot cracked through the call.
Celeste screamed his name.
The line remained connected.
Heavy breathing filled the speaker.
Then Julian said, “He’s down.”
“Did you shoot him?”
“No. Grant’s security officer did.”
Grant looked surprised.
Julian continued.
“The helicopter pilot is refusing to take off.”
Nora pressed the elevator button.
“Stay where you are.”
“No.”
“Julian—”
“I’m bringing the ledger to the press.”
“There’s a fire in the hospital.”
“I know. Reporters are outside.”
The elevator doors closed.
Celeste looked at Nora.
“He wants to play hero now.”
“Maybe he wants a lighter sentence.”
“Does the reason matter if he does the right thing?”
Nora considered it.
“Yes.”
Celeste frowned.
Nora continued.
“But the right action still matters too.”
When they reached the lobby, cameras crowded behind police barriers.
Julian entered through a side stairwell holding a thick black ledger.
His coat was torn.
He walked directly toward the reporters.
“My family has committed crimes,” he announced.
“And I helped hide some of them.”
Celeste stared at him.
Julian lifted the ledger.
“This contains the names, dates, payments, and patient records.”
Federal agents surrounded him.
He did not resist.
As they handcuffed him, he looked at Celeste.
“I’m sorry.”
She removed the wedding ring she had put back on during the evacuation.
Then she placed it in his hand.
“This marriage lasted six hours,” she said. “That was five hours too long.”
Julian closed his fingers around the ring.
Outside, cameras flashed.
Nora’s abdomen suddenly tightened.
Warm fluid ran down her legs.
She looked at Maya.
“My water just broke.”
The reporters began shouting questions.
The company scandal was exploding in public.
May you like
And Nora was going into labor five weeks early.
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