Chapter 2 - The LieThe ambulance arrived within minutes.
But those minutes felt endless.
My abdomen burned. My vision blurred. Every sound seemed distant, as if I were underwater.
Lila held my hand.
"Stay with me, Sarah."
I tried to breathe.
But my eyes remained fixed on Vanessa.
Security guards had pinned her against the hood of her car.
She wasn't struggling.
She was smiling.
Then she shouted something.
The guard holding her looked toward me.
"She says your husband told her to do it!"
Lila's face went pale.
"She's lying."
Vanessa screamed again.
"Daniel promised me!"
The crowd grew larger.
Phones came out.
People recorded everything.
And I realized with horror that my private nightmare was becoming public.
At the hospital, doctors rushed me into an examination room.
My baby was alive.
But the impact had triggered contractions.
Too early.
Too fast.
I lay beneath fluorescent lights while nurses moved around me.
Then Daniel arrived.
Twenty minutes later.
Not breathless.
Not disheveled.
Perfect.
Fresh shirt.
Perfect hair.
Calm eyes.
He walked to my bedside and took my hand.
"I heard what she said."
I stared at him.
"She hit me."
"I know."
"She said you told her to."
His expression barely changed.
"Would I risk my children?"
He didn't say, I didn't do it.
He asked me a question.
And somehow that frightened me more.
"She knows where I go," I whispered. "She knows my doctor. She knows Noah."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"You said Noah knows her?"
"You take him to see her."
Silence.
Then Daniel looked away.
"I never meant for him to find out."
My heart sank.
"So it's true."
"I was going to tell you."
"Tell me what?"
He didn't answer.
The door opened.
Lila stepped inside.
"Get out."
Daniel looked at her.
"This is my wife."
"Exactly," Lila said. "And she doesn't need you poisoning her mind while she's fighting to keep your baby alive."
Daniel looked back at me.
"I love you, Sarah."
I wanted to believe him.
God help me, I wanted to.
But the mother inside me remembered Noah's words.
May you like
Dad knew she was coming.
And suddenly love felt like a trap.
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