Chapter 2 – Before the Sirens Stopped
The first sheriff's cruiser screeched into the driveway just as Alex lifted me from the kitchen floor.
"Easy... easy," he whispered.
His hands were steady.
Mine weren't.
Every bump of movement sent another wave of agony through my abdomen.
I clutched his jacket with trembling fingers.
"The baby..."
"I know."
His voice cracked for the first time.
"I've got you."
Behind us, Trent struggled beneath Alex's restraint.
"You crazy bastard!" he shouted. "She's my wife!"
Alex didn't even turn around.
"No," he said quietly. "She's your victim."
The front door burst open again.
"Sheriff's Department! Nobody move!"
Four deputies flooded into the house with flashlights drawn.
Their beams swept across the destroyed entryway before freezing on the kitchen.
Blood.
A shattered phone.
A wooden club.
A pregnant woman barely conscious.
A man pinned face-down on the floor.
Deputy Sarah Collins immediately dropped to one knee beside Alex.
"What happened?"
Alex answered without emotion.
"My sister activated Emergency SOS. I arrived approximately four minutes ago and found her like this."
Sarah's eyes traveled to my swollen belly.
Then to the blood spreading across the tile.
"EMS! NOW!"
Outside, paramedics rushed in carrying trauma bags and a stretcher.
One of them—a middle-aged woman named Denise—knelt beside me.
"My name is Denise. Can you tell me your name?"
"Lena..."
"Good."
"How many weeks pregnant?"
"Twenty-six..."
She looked at her partner.
"We've got significant abdominal trauma."
My heart nearly stopped.
"No..."
I reached for her wrist.
"Please... save my baby."
She squeezed my hand gently.
"We're going to do everything we can."
Across the kitchen, deputies handcuffed Trent.
"You have the right to remain silent..."
"I didn't do anything!"
He jerked against the cuffs.
"She fell!"
No one answered.
The blood on the club answered for him.
Helen suddenly burst into tears.
"This is all a misunderstanding!"
Deputy Collins looked at her.
"Did you witness the assault?"
Helen hesitated.
"We were only trying to help her become a better wife."
Silence filled the room.
The deputy blinked once.
"I'm sorry."
Helen nodded eagerly.
"Exactly."
"No," Collins replied.
"I'm trying to understand why you thought that sentence would help you."
Richard quietly lowered his head.
Nicole stared at the floor.
No one defended Helen.
As paramedics lifted me onto the stretcher, I caught a glimpse of Nicole.
She wasn't crying.
She was terrified.
Not for me.
For herself.
Then I remembered.
The livestream.
She had recorded everything.
If the video still existed...
It could destroy all of them.
She realized I remembered.
Our eyes met.
For one second.
Then she quietly slipped her phone into her hoodie pocket.
Alex noticed.
He followed her gaze.
Then looked at the deputy beside him.
"Don't let anyone leave this house."
Outside, dawn was beginning to color the eastern sky.
Blue.
Gray.
Cold.
Rain still fell lightly as they loaded me into the ambulance.
Alex climbed inside beside me.
The doors slammed shut.
The sirens wailed.
As we pulled away, I watched Trent through the rear window.
He stood in handcuffs on the front lawn.
For the first time since I had met him...
He looked afraid.
Inside the ambulance, monitors beeped around me.
Denise placed an oxygen mask over my face.
My blood pressure kept dropping.
"Stay with us, Lena."
"I'm trying..."
The baby's heartbeat echoed through a portable fetal monitor.
Fast.
Uneven.
But there.
Alex leaned closer.
"You remember when Dad taught us to fish?"
I blinked weakly.
"What?"
"You were eight."
"You fell into the lake."
A tiny smile touched my lips.
"You... laughed..."
"I did."
"You hit me with a bucket afterward."
Despite everything, he smiled.
"You deserved it."
The medic looked between us.
"Keep talking to her."
Alex nodded.
"You survived that."
"You survived Mom's cancer."
"You survived losing Dad."
His eyes filled with tears.
"You're going to survive this too."
Then the fetal monitor changed.
Beep...
Beep...
Beep-beep-beep.
The medic's expression hardened.
"Heart rate's dropping."
Another medic grabbed the radio.
"Mercy General, this is Unit Twelve."
"We're incoming with a twenty-six-week pregnant trauma patient."
"Possible placental abruption."
"Activate OB trauma and neonatal surgery."
Alex's face lost all color.
"What does that mean?"
The medic answered honestly.
"It means we have to move very, very fast."
The ambulance raced through empty streets.
Red lights blurred past.
Inside, every second felt heavier than the last.
I reached for Alex's hand.
"If..."
His grip tightened.
"No."
"If something happens..."
"No."
"Promise me..."
He shook his head.
"You don't get to say goodbye."
A tear slid down my cheek.
"I love you."
He leaned close enough for his forehead to touch mine.
"And you're going to tell me that again tomorrow."
The ambulance doors burst open as they arrived at Mercy General Hospital.
A trauma team was already waiting.
Doctors.
Nurses.
An obstetric surgeon.
A neonatal specialist.
They wheeled me through automatic doors at a run.
Questions flew over my head.
"Blood type?"
"O-negative."
"Estimated blood loss?"
"Severe."
"Fetal heart rate?"
"One-ten and falling."
A doctor looked directly at me.
"Lena, we're taking you straight to surgery."
I tried to answer.
No words came.
Everything became blurry.
The last thing I saw before the operating room doors closed was Alex standing alone in the hallway, his hands covered in my blood.
May you like
Then the doors shut between us.
And the red SURGERY IN PROGRESS light switched on.
