PART 5

The paramedic pressed the oxygen mask over my face.
“We are having trouble finding it.”
The words echoed louder than the ambulance siren.
“No,” I gasped beneath the mask. “Try again.”
“We are trying.”
He moved the portable monitor across my abdomen, searching from one side to the other.
Static crackled.
Then a rapid rhythm filled the ambulance.
One heartbeat.
Strong.
Fast.
Alive.
The paramedic shifted the sensor.
The rhythm disappeared.
He moved it again.
Nothing.

My hand shot out and gripped his wrist.
“Please.”
His eyes met mine.
There was compassion in them.
And fear.
“We need to keep your blood pressure stable.”
“I don’t care about my blood pressure. Find my baby.”
“Sarah,” Mia said beside me, holding my hand. “Let him work.”
Another wave of pain tore through my stomach.
I screamed.
The paramedic glanced at the blood pooling beneath me.
“We’re three minutes out.”
“Three minutes is too long.”
“It’s not.”
“What if my baby is already—”
“Don’t say it,” Mia ordered.

Her voice broke.

I looked at her.

The woman who had faced Derek, corrupt officers, and armed kidnappers without flinching was crying.

“Both babies are still here,” she said. “Until a doctor tells us otherwise, both babies are still here.”

The paramedic pressed the monitor low against my left side.

Static.

My own ragged breathing.

The vibration of the road.

Then—

A faint flutter.

So quiet I thought I had imagined it.

The paramedic froze.

He adjusted the angle.

The sound returned.

Weak.

Uneven.

But there.

“There,” he said.

I sobbed.

“That’s the second baby?”

“I believe so.”

“Believe?”

“It’s faint, but I have a rhythm.”

Mia squeezed my hand.

“You hear that?”

I nodded, tears running into my hair.

Both of my children were fighting.

So I fought too.

I breathed when the paramedic told me to breathe.

I stayed still when every instinct demanded that I curl around my stomach.

I counted the flashes of light passing across the ambulance ceiling.

One.

Two.

Three.

Then the rear doors opened.

Cold air rushed inside.

A medical team surrounded me.

Questions flew over my head.

“Twelve weeks and one day.”

“Twin gestation.”

“Blunt trauma.”

“Possible placental injury.”

“Blood pressure dropping.”

“Prepare ultrasound.”

I was rushed beneath white lights that passed too quickly.

Mia ran beside the stretcher until a nurse stopped her.

“You can’t go farther.”

“I’m her attorney.”

“You still can’t enter the operating room.”

Mia leaned over me.

“I am not leaving this hospital.”

“Find Emily.”

“I will.”

“Find Jessica.”

“I will.”

“And Derek—”

“Derek is in custody.”

The stretcher kept moving.

I looked back at her.

“What?”

“The SBI arrested him when they found you.”

The doors swung shut before I could ask anything else.

The emergency room became a blur of voices and pressure.

A doctor cut through the side of my dress.

Another nurse inserted an IV.

Someone pressed hard against my abdomen.

I cried out.

“Sarah, I’m Dr. Patel. You have significant bleeding, and we need to determine the source.”

“My babies.”

“We are checking them now.”

A machine rolled beside me.

Cold gel touched my skin.

The screen flickered.

I searched it desperately, but all I saw were shifting shadows.

Dr. Patel’s expression remained focused.

“Baby A has cardiac activity.”

“And Baby B?”

He moved the transducer.

Seconds stretched into years.

Then he pointed toward a tiny flutter.

“Baby B also has cardiac activity.”

The sob that escaped me was almost a scream.

“Both?”

“Both.”

“Then why couldn’t they find the heartbeat?”

“The second baby is positioned farther back. Your bleeding and movement made detection difficult.”

I closed my eyes.

Both alive.

Both still inside me.

Both fighting.

Then Dr. Patel’s tone became serious.

“You have a large subchorionic hemorrhage and signs of internal bleeding that may be related to trauma from the fall.”

“Am I losing them?”

“We are going to do everything possible to prevent that.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

“No,” he said gently. “It isn’t.”

Another doctor appeared.

“We need consent for an emergency procedure.”

“What procedure?”

“A laparoscopy to identify and control the internal bleeding. We will avoid disturbing the uterus, but there are risks.”

“To the babies?”

“Yes.”

“What happens if I don’t do it?”

Dr. Patel looked at me directly.

“You may continue losing blood.”

“And then?”

“You could die.”

My babies fluttered faintly beneath the doctor’s hand.

Two lives depending on mine.

I signed.

When I woke, the first thing I noticed was the silence.

No siren.

No shouting.

No gunfire.

Just the soft mechanical beeping of a hospital monitor.

My throat burned.

My abdomen ached.

For a few terrifying seconds, I did not remember where I was.

Then everything returned.

The old house.

Evelyn.

Lewis.

The blood.

The missing heartbeat.

I tried to sit up.

Pain stopped me.

A nurse hurried toward the bed.

“Mrs. Collins, please stay still.”

“My babies.”

“They are alive.”

I stared at her.

“Both?”

“Both.”

The relief was so intense that it hurt.

I began crying.

The nurse adjusted my blanket.

“The surgeon controlled the bleeding. You are stable.”

“Are the babies okay?”

“They both have heartbeats. One is showing signs of stress, so your obstetric team will monitor you closely.”

“Which one?”

“Baby B.”

The second heartbeat.

The faint one.

I placed a hand over my stomach.

“I need to see them.”

“The doctor will perform another scan soon.”

“What time is it?”

“Almost six in the morning.”

I had lost the entire night.

“Where is my sister?”

“In the waiting room.”

“Mia?”

“With her.”

“Jessica?”

The nurse hesitated.

“Another patient was brought in from the same location. I don’t have permission to discuss her condition.”

“Is she alive?”

Before the nurse could answer, the door opened.

Emily rushed inside.

Her face was swollen from crying.

A bandage covered one side of her forehead.

“Sarah.”

She crossed the room and wrapped her arms around me carefully.

“You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding.”

“It’s a scratch.”

I touched the bandage.

“What happened?”

“When Lewis fired in the stairwell, a piece of concrete hit me. I thought they took you because of me.”

“Nothing was your fault.”

“I was right there.”

“You couldn’t stop them.”

“I should have.”

“You came for me when everyone else abandoned me. That was enough.”

Emily bent over the bed and cried against my shoulder.

I held her as tightly as my body allowed.

After a while, she pulled back.

“The babies?”

“Both alive. One is struggling.”

“They’re Millers.”

I managed a weak smile.

“What?”

“Stubborn. Just like Dad.”

The mention of my father brought back the recording.

The trust.

The wine bottle.

The birth certificate.

“Did the DNA results come?”

Emily’s expression changed.

“Not yet.”

“Did they arrest Derek?”

“Yes.”

“For kidnapping?”

“Conspiracy, obstruction, financial crimes, unlawful surveillance. The prosecutors are still deciding the full list.”

“He was on the phone with Mia.”

“That was part of the rescue.”

“Tell me.”

Emily pulled a chair beside the bed.

“When the fire alarm started, Marcus realized the alert had been manually triggered. Building security found that someone had entered using a maintenance credential linked to a company Derek hired.”

“Lewis.”

“Yes. While Marcus was searching the stairwell, Mia called the SBI. Then your phone stopped moving with us.”

“How did they find me?”

“Jessica’s livestream.”

I remembered the blinking green light on the camera.

“She sent the link to Rachel before Lewis found her,” Emily continued. “Rachel was already working with the SBI. The video stream showed part of the road and the inside of the house.”

“But Mia was with Derek.”

“They knew Derek had been coordinating the kidnapping. Agents went to his apartment before they went to the house. Mia asked to be present because she hoped hearing her voice would keep you talking.”

“It did.”

“Derek had your live location on a laptop.”

My skin crawled.

“How?”

“One of the cameras from the house had connected to your old cloud account. Even after the devices were removed, he still had access to location history from your phone.”

“I changed the passwords.”

“He had recovery codes.”

Of course he did.

Derek had prepared for every lock I might change.

Every door I might close.

Every attempt I made to escape.

“He watched them take me?”

Emily nodded.

“He knew where the van was going. He knew Evelyn planned to force you to sign. He claims he believed they were only going to frighten you.”

“He asked if it was done.”

“The agents recorded it.”

I closed my eyes.

Derek had spent years telling me that I misunderstood him.

That I was too sensitive.

That his cruelty was concern.

That his control was protection.

But now there was a recording.

His own voice.

Is it done?

No explanation could soften that.

No charming smile could erase it.

“Where is he now?”

“County detention.”

“Evelyn?”

“Same.”

“Lewis?”

“Under guard at this hospital.”

I opened my eyes.

“He was shot?”

“In the leg and shoulder. He survived.”

A cold anger settled inside me.

“Good.”

Emily looked surprised.

“I want him alive,” I said. “Dead men don’t testify.”

Dr. Evans arrived shortly after sunrise.

The moment I saw her, I started crying again.

She took my hand.

“You scared all of us.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t cause this.”

“I fell.”

“You were attacked.”

She performed another ultrasound.

The room darkened.

The screen came to life.

Baby A appeared first.

A tiny form.

A steady heartbeat.

Then Baby B.

Smaller on the screen because of the position.

The heartbeat was slower, but stronger than it had been in the ambulance.

Dr. Evans measured carefully.

“Both are still with us.”

I exhaled.

“Will Baby B survive?”

“I cannot promise anything.”

The words cut through me.

“But?”

“But the heartbeat has improved since surgery. The bleeding has slowed. Those are good signs.”