Chapter 3 - The Doctor's Confession
Sarah rushed to the office door and rattled the heavy brass handle.
It was completely jammed from the outside.
Doctor Evans collapsed back into his leather chair, holding his head in his trembling hands.
Sarah turned around and furiously demanded to know why David would fake his own son's death.
The doctor explained that David owed massive gambling debts to a dangerous underground syndicate.
He said Victoria had offered to pay off the debts in exchange for the newborn baby boy.
Victoria had always been infertile and desperately wanted a child to secure her husband's massive inheritance.
David had callously traded his own infant son for a clean financial slate.
They had bribed the medical staff to present Sarah with a random deceased infant from the morgue.
Sarah felt completely sick to her stomach as the horrifying truth shattered her entire world.
The man she slept next to every night was a monster who had sold their child.
Smoke suddenly began pouring through the air conditioning vents in the ceiling.
Someone had deliberately started a fire in the clinic lobby to trap them inside.
The fire alarm blared with a deafening shriek, drowning out the doctor's panicked screams.
Sarah grabbed a heavy metal chair and smashed it through the large glass window facing the alley.
She ignored the sharp pain of broken glass cutting her arms as she climbed through the frame.
She reached back and tried to pull Doctor Evans out with her.
He shook his head, coughing violently as the thick black smoke filled the small room.
He handed her a small silver key and told her it unlocked a safety deposit box at the downtown bank.
He promised that all the original birth documents and financial wire transfers were hidden inside.
Before Sarah could save him, a burning wooden beam collapsed from the ceiling, completely blocking the window.
Sarah dropped to the alley floor, tears streaming down her face as she ran back to her car.
Emily and Thomas were coughing from the smoke drifting into the parking lot.
Sarah started the engine and sped away from the burning medical clinic just as the fire trucks arrived.
She knew David and Victoria would stop at nothing to eliminate her and reclaim Thomas.
They needed a secure place to hide for the night before she could access the bank vault in the morning.
She drove to a cheap, anonymous motel on the very edge of the city limits.
She paid in cash and ushered the children into a dingy room that smelled like old cigarettes.
She locked the flimsy door and pushed a heavy wooden dresser in front of it for protection.
Emily hugged Thomas tightly, promising her new brother that their mother would keep them safe.
Sarah sat on the edge of the lumpy bed, staring at the silver key in her hand.
Her cell phone vibrated violently in her pocket, shattering the tense silence.
The caller identification displayed a private, blocked number.
She cautiously answered the phone, keeping her voice completely silent.
May you like
David’s cold, menacing voice whispered through the speaker.
He told her she looked beautiful climbing out of that broken window.
