Chapter 1 - The Detective
I stared at the glowing screen of my phone while my heart pounded against my bruised ribs.
The silence in the sterile hospital room felt absolutely suffocating.
On the security feed, Daniel was staring at his dropped phone as if it were a venomous snake.
Evelyn’s aristocratic composure had completely shattered into a million pieces.
Olivia pulled my ivory silk robe tightly around her body, her eyes wide with sudden terror.
I wanted to scream at them, but my throat was painfully dry.
They had murdered my unborn child, and they had laughed about it in my own bed.
The heavy wooden door to my hospital room suddenly clicked open.
I scrambled to hide my phone beneath my thin cotton blanket.
Dr. Patel walked in, followed closely by a tall man in a rumpled gray suit.
He flashed a silver police badge that caught the harsh fluorescent light of the room.
“Mrs. Mercer, I am Detective Harris,” he said in a deep, gravelly voice.
“I know this is a terrible time, but I need to ask you a few questions about your fall.”
I looked at Dr. Patel, who gave me a sympathetic, encouraging nod.
I decided to play dumb immediately, knowing my survival depended entirely on my silence.
“It was just an accident,” I whispered, forcing my voice to tremble with fake emotion.
“I lost my footing on the top step because I was wearing slippery socks.”
Detective Harris pulled a small, worn notebook from his breast pocket.
“The toxicology report shows a remarkably high dose of a powerful sedative in your system, Mrs. Mercer.”
“I haven't taken any medication at all during my pregnancy,” I replied honestly.
Harris leaned closer to my bed, his dark eyes narrowing with sharp intuition.
“We also sent an evidence technician to your home to photograph the staircase.”
He pulled a glossy photograph from a manila folder and held it up for me to see.
It was an extreme close-up of the wooden landing where my life had been destroyed.
“Someone did not just drug you tonight, Claire,” the detective said quietly.
“We found a thick layer of industrial silicone lubricant sprayed directly onto the edge of the top stair.”
My breath caught in my throat as the sinister, premeditated reality washed over me.
Evelyn had not just watched me fall by sheer coincidence.
She had set a lethal, inescapable trap to ensure I would break my neck.
Before I could process the horror, a loud commotion erupted in the hallway outside my room.
The heavy door violently swung open and crashed against the wall.
Daniel rushed inside, his handsome face stained with fake, theatrical tears.
“My darling, I came as quickly as I could!” he cried out in a panicked voice.
But as Daniel reached for my uninjured hand, Detective Harris stepped directly into his path.
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“Mr. Mercer, you are exactly the man I need to see right now,” Harris stated coldly.
“Because that industrial lubricant we found on the stairs was purchased with your corporate credit card yesterday morning.”
