Chapter 3 - The Desperate Defense
The sound of the flatlining heart monitor pierced my brain like a needle.
Nurses surrounded Ethan's tiny bed, moving with frantic, terrifying precision.
"Charge to fifty!" a doctor yelled, pressing the paddles to my son's pale chest.
"Clear!"
Ethan's small body jerked upward off the mattress, but the monitor continued its relentless, high-pitched beep.
I tried to run to him, but two orderlies grabbed my arms and dragged me backward into the hallway.
"You can't be in here, sir!" one of them yelled, shoving me through the doors.
I collapsed against the wall, sliding down to the floor as Sarah rushed over and held me.
We sat there in the hallway, listening to the agonizing sounds of our son fighting for his life.
Ten minutes later, the flatline sound finally stopped, replaced by a slow, weak rhythm.
Dr. Evans stepped out of the room, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"We got his pulse back, but the barbiturate has shut down his respiratory system."
"He is in a coma, and his organs are struggling under the strain of the ruptured appendix."
"We have to operate to clean out the infection, but his body is too weak for the surgery."
My world went entirely dark.
"What do we do?" I begged, grabbing the doctor's sleeve.
"There has to be something you can do."
"We are running a desperate dialysis protocol to filter the poison out of his blood," Dr. Evans explained.
"But he needs time, and time is exactly what the infection isn't giving us."
Back in the waiting room, Megan was causing a massive scene.
Instead of showing remorse, she was screaming at the police officers.
"You can't arrest me!" she shrieked, kicking at the officer's shin.
"I know my rights!"
"I am a mother, and I have a child who needs me at home!"
Arthur stepped right up to her, his face as hard as carved stone.
"You have a child who needs protection from you," my father said coldly.
"I just got off the phone with my lawyer."
"I am cutting you out of the family trust, Megan."
"Every dime you thought you were getting is going to Ethan's medical bills."
Megan's eyes widened in sheer panic, realizing that her money and status were vanishing in seconds.
She looked frantically around the room until her eyes landed on a woman in a sharp gray suit walking through the entrance.
"There she is!" Megan yelled triumphantly, pointing her cuffed hands at the woman.
The woman flashed a badge at the police officers.
"Child Protective Services," the woman announced, holding a thick file.
"I received an emergency hotline call from a Mrs. Megan Davis."
The CPS worker looked directly at Sarah and me.
May you like
"She claims that you two are the ones who drugged your son and forced him to attend a party to frame her."
"Until this is sorted out, you are both banned from seeing the child."
