Chapter 4 - The Severing
The security guards at Chicago General did their job.
When Alex tried to force his way into the elevator lobby of the OB/GYN wing, three guards—men who knew Lucy, men who had worked security shifts alongside her when she was a nurse—stood in a solid wall of blue uniforms.
“Lieutenant Davis, you need to step back,” the lead guard, Marcus, said. His voice was polite, but his hand was resting on his utility belt.
“You don't understand,” Alex pleaded, his hands raised, his eyes bloodshot. He had rushed over in his department-issue shirt, not even stopping to wash the soot from his skin. “My wife is in there. My baby. I need to see her. Just let me talk to her for five minutes!”
“The patient has requested no visitors,” Marcus said. “Specifically you. If you don't leave the floor, we will have to escort you from the premises.”
“She’s my wife!” Alex roared, the frustration and terror finally boiling over. “You can’t keep me from my wife!”
“Actually, we can,” Dr. Sarah Jenkins said, stepping through the double doors. Her coat was spotless, her expression icy. “And we will, Alex. If you make a scene in this hallway, I’ll personally call the Chief of Department and have you suspended before the shift ends. Don't think I won't.”
Alex froze. He knew Sarah. He knew she didn't bluff.
“Sarah,” he begged, his voice cracking, the proud lieutenant reduced to a desperate boy. “Please. Just tell me they’re okay. Is the baby... is my girl okay?”
Sarah looked at him for a long, silent moment. The contempt in her eyes was a physical blow.
“The baby is stable for now,” she said. “No thanks to you. Lucy’s body is exhausted. She’s on a magnesium drip, which means she feels like her blood is boiling. She is fighting for her daughter’s life. And she doesn't need the man who abandoned her in a dark box to be standing over her bed.”
“I didn't know she was in there,” Alex whispered, his head bowing. “I swear to God, Sarah, I didn't see her. Valerie was—”
May you like
“Stop,” Sarah cut him off, her voice like a scalpel. “Don't say her name. Not to me. And definitely not to Lucy. Go home, Alex. Or go back to Valerie. But get out of my hospital.”
She turned and walked back through the doors, the lock clicking shut with a finality that sounded like a gunshot.
