"Stop talking! The cleaner usually passes by around this time. If she hears anything, we'll be in trouble."
"Caleb Adams, why are you yelling at me? You don't love me anymore, do you? I told you I didn't want to go through childbirth again, but you still had Isabelle conceive a child to save Theo without hesitation. What now? Are you regretting it?"
Before she could finish, a suspicious voice came from outside the door. "Is someone in there? Who is it?"
Caleb lowered his voice. "The cleaner is here. Don't make a sound!"
They were afraid of drawing attention, but for me, this was the only chance to survive.
I tried to move my toes and was delighted to find that I could barely control my body.
Strangely, I could feel the anesthetic wearing off much faster than it should. How could a doctor of Caleb's caliber administer such a weak dose?
However, there was no time to think.
The knocking on the door grew louder, continuing for several minutes. Then, just as it abruptly stopped, I gathered all my strength and shouted, "Murderer! Call the police!"
The words were not loud, but in the eerie silence, they echoed several times over.
I forced my eyes open and rolled off the operating table.
My strength had not fully returned and I did not dare rush to the door, fearing Caleb would overpower me and inject me with another dose of anesthetic.
His and Juliette's faces twisted in panic, but they quickly regained composure.
"Juliette, hold her down! Don't let her make another sound!"
"Got it!"
Just as the door that was the only thing standing between me and salvation was about to be forced open, Caleb rushed out.
At the same time, Juliette shoved me behind the operating table, clamping a hand over my mouth. From the outside, we were completely hidden.
"It's okay, I have a relative with a mental illness who somehow escaped from the psychiatric hospital and came looking for me. When she has an episode, she becomes violent, so she might attack people or even kill them. I had to restrain her for now. I just gave her a sedative and the hospital staff will be here soon to take her back."
"But the voice I just heard sounded familiar... It sounded a lot like Isabelle."
I had met and greeted her several times before and she remembered me.
Caleb's voice remained steady. "How is that possible? She's at home right now."
I struggled to stand, but Juliette landed a hard punch to the back of my head.
A wave of dizziness hit me, pain pulsing through my temples. My vision blurred, making her face indistinct.
She then chuckled apologetically. "Maybe I misheard. Alright then, I'll be on my way."
Her words felt like a bucket of ice-cold water pouring down my spine, extinguishing any last sliver of hope.
The door to the operating room shut once again.
Caleb's footsteps echoed as he approached, each step pressing against my chest like a slow, suffocating weight.
Then, my sister's phone rang.
Her face twisted with urgency as she answered. "Mom, I'm in the middle of something. What? Theo is in a coma again? Is his condition critical? Tell the doctor the umbilical cord blood is on its way!"
The moment she hung up, she lunged at me, wrapping her hands around my throat, her eyes burning with desperation.
"Stop wasting time and cooperate, or I'll kill you!"
She was furious and dug her nails into my skin, making it hard to breathe. Instinctively, I pried at her fingers.
Caleb's furious voice thundered above me. "What are you waiting for? Get her on the operating table!"
In that split second, while they were distracted, I slipped my hand into my pocket and pulled out a pill, shoving it into my mouth.
Hazel, my best friend, had given it to me.
As a traditional medicine doctor, she had taken my pulse while I was preparing for pregnancy and warned me that my body was too weak to carry a child. If I insisted on going through with it, she urged me to terminate the pregnancy at the first sign of trouble. It might be the only way to save my life.
