Chapter 6: The Emergency Room
The clinic in the valley town was little more than a converted brick storefront with flickering fluorescent lights and a tired nurse at reception. My heart hammered against my ribs as I carried Ethan inside, his small body burning against my chest with every rattling breath. Victor had stayed behind at the truck, pulling his cap low over his forehead to avoid recognition from the local highway patrol. Every instinct screamed that we were exposed. Serena’s reach was long, and a high-society toddler in a beige romper with a chest infection was bound to set off alarm bells if any local pharmacist or nurse checked the regional missing-persons database.
The nurse, a middle-aged woman with tired eyes and a floral scrub top, looked up from her clipboard. “Name and date of birth?”
“Leo,” I lied, my voice cracking slightly before I cleared my throat. “Leo Miller. He’s fourteen months old. He’s got a bad cough, it started yesterday.”
She glanced at Ethan, who let out a weak, pitiful whimper, his small fingers clutching the lapel of my jacket. Without a word, she handed me a clipboard with intake forms. As I scribbled a fictitious address in the foothills, the heavy glass doors of the clinic swung open. The chime above the frame rang, and the familiar sound of sharp, clicking heels echoed across the linoleum floor.
My breath caught. I froze, pen hovering over the paper.
Standing in the doorway was Marcus, one of Serena’s private security contractors, wearing a sharp charcoal suit that looked entirely out of place in the dingy medical waiting room. He scanned the room with cold, calculating eyes, his gaze sliding past me and then snapping back. He had recognized the beige romper.
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“Excuse me,” Marcus said, his voice cutting through the hum of the old ceiling fan. He began walking toward the intake desk, his hand reaching instinctively inside his jacket.
Panic surged through my veins. There was no back exit, and Ethan was too weak to run. I scooped the toddler tighter against my chest, turned sharply, and darted through the swinging door marked Staff Only before Marcus could close the distance. Shouts echoed behind me as I sprinted down the sterile hallway, searching desperately for a way out.
