Chapter 28 - THE FINAL STANDOFF
The pain in my lower abdomen tore through me like a physical blade, but I pushed myself off the wheeled gurney.
"Nora, no! You can't stand!" Sarah pleaded, reaching to catch me as I stumbled forward onto the cold floor.
"Let me go," I told her, my voice low and dangerous, vibrating with a power I didn't know I possessed.
The federal agents lowered their weapons slightly, parting down the center of the hallway as I walked forward.
I pressed my bare palms against the cool glass window of Room 412, staring directly into Evelyn Vance’s soulless eyes.
Behind the glass, Ryan’s chest rose and fell beneath the plastic respirator tube, his eyelids fluttering weakly.
Brianna’s hand shook violently as she pressed the cold barrel of the revolver against the trembling nurse’s temple.
"Put the gun down, Brianna," I said through the open doorway, my voice echoing across the silent ICU wing.
"Look around you. There are thirty federal agents with sniper rifles aimed directly at your forehead."
"Shut up!" Brianna screamed, a tear of pure rage tracking down her makeup-smeared cheek.
"You ruined everything! You took my name! You took my family! You took my life!"
"I took nothing from you, Brianna," I said, stepping across the threshold into the room, ignoring the agents' warnings.
"Evelyn gave you a stolen life built on Arthur Vance’s murder and my exile."
"She didn't adopt you out of love. She adopted you as a legal puppet to keep Arthur’s fortune out of probate."
Brianna’s gaze flickered with sudden, agonizing confusion; she looked down at Evelyn, whose face remained an icy mask.
"Mother?" Brianna whispered, the gun wavering an inch from the nurse's head. "Is that true?"
"Did you... did you only adopt me to get the money?"
"Don't listen to her, Brianna," Evelyn said smoothly, not even turning around as she tapped the hypodermic syringe.
"She’s a gutter rat trying to divide us. Now hold that nurse steady while I finish this."
"She's lying to you, Brianna!" I shouted, taking another agonizing step forward as a contraction gripped my pelvis.
"Check your adoption decree! Arthur’s will explicitly stated the estate passed to Evelyn only if Arthur had no biological heirs."
"The day Harold and Martha took me to Ohio, Evelyn signed your adoption papers."
"You weren't her beloved daughter. You were her ninety-million-dollar tax loophole!"
Brianna stared at Evelyn, the horrifying realization finally shattering the delicate illusions of her entire spoiled life.
"You never loved me," Brianna choked out, her voice cracking into a ragged sob. "All those boarding schools... the trust fund..."
"You just needed a body with the Vance name on paper."
Evelyn let out a sharp, disgusted sigh, lowering the syringe and turning toward Brianna with pure contempt.
"You are so remarkably pathetic, Brianna," Evelyn snapped, her voice stripping away every shred of maternal warmth.
"For thirty years, I gave you private jets, designer clothes, and unlimited platinum cards."
"You couldn't even manage to punch Nora’s stomach properly to kill those twins in the nursery."
"You've been a useless, incompetent parasite from the day I bought you from that clinic."
Brianna’s face drained of all color, the revolver in her hand dropping toward the floor in sheer, paralyzing shock.
In that split second of distraction, the hostage nurse shoved Brianna’s arm away and scrambled out into the corridor.
"Move! Move! Move!" the FBI tactical leader roared, storming into the room with five heavily armed agents.
Two agents tackled Brianna to the linoleum, pinning her arms behind her back and snapping steel cuffs onto her wrists.
Brianna didn't fight back; she lay on the floor, weeping hysterically, staring blankly at the woman who had bought her.
Evelyn, however, didn't flinch.
With lightning speed, Evelyn lunged toward Ryan’s bedside monitor, raising the needle toward his central IV line.
"If I don't keep Arthur's empire," Evelyn hissed, her eyes blazing with demonic fury, "nobody gets it!"
I didn't think.
I didn't feel the tearing agony in my womb or the blinding dizziness in my head.
I hurled my entire body forward, slamming my weight into Evelyn’s shoulders with the ferocity of a mother protecting her family.
We crashed into the bedside medication cart, sending metal trays, scissors, and glass vials shattering across the tile.
The needle flew from Evelyn’s grip, skittering across the floor and rolling beneath the heavy hospital bed.
Evelyn clawed at my face with manicured nails, but two federal agents grabbed her by the coat collar, dragging her off me.
They slammed the billionaire matriarch against the concrete wall, wrenching her arms behind her back with brutal efficiency.
"Evelyn Vance, you are under arrest for attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and financial fraud," the agent barked.
Evelyn twisted her head around, her silver hair finally coming loose, hanging in wild, tangled strands across her face.
Her eyes bored into mine with venomous, undying malice.
"You think this is over, Nora?" Evelyn spat, blood trickling from her split lip onto her pearl necklace.
"Arthur’s secret didn't die with him thirty years ago."
"You have no idea what you've inherited. You have no idea what is coming for those babies!"
Before I could demand an answer, a blinding, tearing wave of sheer agony ripped through my lower abdomen.
My knees gave out, and I collapsed onto the hospital floor, crying out in raw, overwhelming labor pain.
"She’s crowning!" Sarah shouted from the doorway, rushing in with a team of emergency obstetricians.
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"Get the delivery cart in here right now! We can't move her to the OR!"
***
