Chapter 20
No.1
chapter20
The cold night air hit Elisa's face as she walked out of the museum.
She didn't get into the Aethel corporate van. She hailed a yellow cab.
"New York Presbyterian Hospital," she told the driver.
She had to know the boy was stable. Epinephrine wore off. Biphasic reactions-a second wave of anaphylaxis-could hit within hours. She couldn't trust the ER staff to know his exact timeline.
She walked into the chaotic emergency room,keeping her head down. She slipped past the triage desk and walked down the corridor toward the pediatric observation wing.
No.2
She found the boy's room. Through the glass, she saw him sitting up in bed, drinking apple juice.
Elisa let out a long, shaky breath. The tension in her shoulders finally released.
She turned to leave.
"Wait."
Elisa stopped. The boy's mother was rushing down the hallway toward her. Her mascara was smeared,her expensive gown wrinkled.
The mother grabbed Elisa's left hand,squeezing it tightly.
No.3
"I saw," the mother whispered, her voice thick with tears. "I saw what happened. That other woman didn't do anything. You saved my son. You brought him back."
Elisa offered a small, tired smile. "Just make sure he keeps an EpiPen in every jacket he owns. And watch him for the next four hours."
The mother nodded frantically. She looked at Elisa's face,her eyes softening.
"You're so young," the mother said gently. "But the way you held him... the way you fought for him.You have the hands of a mother. Do you have children of your own?"
The word children hit Elisa like a high-voltage shock.
Her smile froze. Her heart slammed against her ribs.Down the corridor, the heavy double doors to the hospital's exclusive VIP wing had swung open moments ago. August was walking through, his thumb swiping aggressively across his phone screen as he fired off a text to his PR team. He wasn't here for a simple doctor's note; he was here to personally manage the crisis, to meet with the hospital's board-of which he was a mnajor donor-and the boy's powerful family. He had to cement the narrative that Allena was a hero, not a liability.He stopped walking, lingering in the shadows about twenty feet away. He was looking directly at Elisa and the mother.
No.4
He had heard the question.
Panic seized Elisa's throat. If August even suspected she had a child, he would tear the city apart. He would find Kayden. He would use his wealth and power to take her daughter away just to punish her.
Elisa forced her facial muscles to relax. She killed the warmth in her eyes.
She pulled her hand out of the mother's grasp.
"No," Elisa said. Her voice was loud, harsh, and completely devoid of empathy. "I'm an ER nurse.I've just seen more dead kids than you've seen live ones. It's just muscle memory."
The mother gasped, taking a step back as if Elisa had slapped her. The warmth in her eyes turned to horrified shock.
No.5
Down the hall, August heard every word.
The slight curiosity in his eyes vanished, replaced instantly by pofound,absolute disgust.
He sneered. He shook his head, muttering something under his breath about her being a cold -blooded psycho. He turned on his heel and walked away, disappearing into the VIP wing without a second glance.
Elisa watched his broad back disappear.
Her knees nearly buckled. Cold sweat dripped down her spine.
She muttered a quiet, desperate "I'm sorry" to the
No.6
terrified mother and practically ran out of the hospital.
She collapsed into the back of a taxi.
Her hands were shaking violently. She pulled out her phone and opened the hidden folder.
She stared at a photo of Kayden sleeping,clutching a stuffed rabbit.
The sheer terror of almost losing her daughter morphed into a cold, calculated rage.
August was a threat. As long as he was legally her husband, he had rights. If he ever found out about Kayden,he would destroy them both.
No.7
A simple divorce wasn't enough anymore.
Elisa stared at the dark city rolling past the window.
She needed to set a trap. A legal snare so perfectly disguised that August's massive ego would blind him to it.
She was going to make the great, arrogant August Chambers sign a legally binding document terminating all his parental rights to any existing offspring.
And she was going to make him think it was his own brilliant idea.
The cab sped toward Long Island. The game had changed. It was no longer about survival. It was about execution.