Chapter 13 - Five Days
Richard did not intend to wait for my due date.
That changed everything.
Hale assigned round-the-clock protection.
Dr. Shaw recommended moving my care to another hospital under a restricted identity.
Only five people knew the location.
Daniel.
Dr. Shaw.
Maya.
Detective Hale.
And me.
Not Rachel.
Not Margaret.
Not my parents.
We left our house before sunrise.
No announcement.
No visible luggage.
Security drove us through three vehicle changes.
It felt absurd.
I was a pregnant marketing consultant, not a government witness.
Yet somebody in my family had already drugged me, attacked me, stolen my medical information, fabricated DNA evidence, and planned to interfere with my daughter’s birth.
Nothing felt absurd anymore.
The new hospital placed me in a private maternal monitoring unit.
My records were locked.
Staff used a pseudonym.
Daniel slept in a chair beside me.
On August 18, prosecutors charged Victor with conspiracy, fraud, and several medical-related offenses.
He began cooperating immediately.
Victor admitted supplying the medication used in my tea.
He claimed my father asked for “something mild.”
Richard selected the additional drug.
My mother poured the tea.
I stared at Hale.
“Mom knew?”
“Victor says she knew you would become dizzy.”
“Did she know it could hurt the baby?”
“He claims Richard told her the dosage was safe.”
That did not absolve her.
She poisoned me.
Maybe she did not intend the worst outcome.
But she chose the plan.
Victor also confirmed Rachel’s kick had not been planned.
Rachel truly had lost control.
In a twisted way, her violence exposed everything too early.
If she had not kicked me, nobody would have tested my blood.
Nobody would have discovered the medication.
My parents might have continued quietly.
Then Victor revealed Richard’s final preparation.
Richard had obtained credentials belonging to three medical staff members.
One was a nurse.
One an anesthesiologist.
And one a transport coordinator.
All worked at my original hospital.
Hale asked how Richard intended to trigger early delivery.
Victor said he did not know.
But he knew one phrase Richard used.
Make the mother unstable and the body will do the rest.
Dr. Shaw hated that sentence.
She ordered additional tests.
Everything looked normal.
That should have reassured me.
Instead, I began questioning everything I touched.
Food.
Water.
Medication.
Daniel checked every sealed bottle himself.
Then August 20 arrived.
One day before Richard’s circled date.
Nothing happened.
At 9:30 p.m., Hale called.
Police had located Richard’s vehicle at an airport parking garage.
He appeared to have fled.
Daniel finally relaxed slightly.
“Maybe he ran.”
I wanted to believe that.
At 11:46 p.m., a nurse entered with my scheduled medication.
She scanned my wristband.
Something beeped.
She frowned.
“That’s strange.”
“What?”
“This order was entered ten minutes ago.”
Dr. Shaw had ordered no medication.
The nurse immediately stepped back.
Security locked down the floor.
The pharmacy checked the order.
It had been entered under Dr. Shaw’s account.
Her password had been compromised.
The medication itself was harmless.
A vitamin injection.
A distraction.
While everyone investigated the computer breach, a fire alarm activated three floors below.
Patients began moving.
Staff rushed into emergency procedures.
Daniel grabbed my hand.
Then the lights switched to emergency mode.
A hospital transport worker appeared in our doorway with a wheelchair.
“We need to evacuate.”
Daniel asked for identification.
The man turned.
And ran.
Security chased him.
Hale’s officers found the abandoned wheelchair near the stairwell.
Under the seat was a syringe.
May you like
Inside it was a drug capable of stimulating uterine contractions.
Richard had found us.
