Chapter 5 - The Syringe
The betrayal was complete and absolute.
Nolan was not just helping Sabrina; they had conspired to steal the company and eliminate Harper to trigger the legal clause.
I put the documents back into the safe and locked it, leaving no trace that I had been there.
I had to get back to the hospital and protect my daughter before they finished the job.
I drove like a madwoman, running two red lights and swerving around slower traffic.
When I burst back into the ICU waiting room, Nolan was nowhere to be found.
"Where is my husband?" I screamed at the receptionist behind the glass.
"He said he was going to get coffee from the cafeteria, ma'am," the young woman stammered.
I did not wait for permission.
I pushed past the double doors and sprinted down the sterile white hallway toward Harper's private room.
Through the glass window of her room, I saw a nurse in blue scrubs standing over Harper's bed.
The nurse was not checking monitors or adjusting blankets.
She was holding a large syringe filled with a thick, milky liquid, pressing the needle directly into Harper's IV line.
"Hey!" I screamed, throwing my entire body against the heavy wooden door.
The door crashed open, startling the nurse.
She dropped the syringe on the floor and scrambled backward toward the window.
The milky liquid spilled onto the linoleum tiles, immediately hissing and burning a small hole into the floor.
It was acid.
I threw myself across the bed, shielding Harper's unconscious body with my own.
The nurse did not try to fight me.
She yanked the heavy window open and climbed out onto the low fire escape.
Security guards rushed into the room seconds later, guns drawn and flashlights shining into the night.
"She went out the window!" I yelled, pointing to the open glass.
The guards leaped through the window, tackling the woman to the metal grating outside.
They dragged her back into the harsh fluorescent light of the hospital room and pinned her to the floor.
One of the guards reached down and ripped the surgical mask off the woman's face.
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I stopped breathing entirely.
The woman who had just tried to inject acid into my daughter's veins was my own mother.
