She shoved the phone back into her pocket and pushed herself up off the wall, swaying on her feet.
Her head spun so badly the whole world tilted around her.
Once she was out of the complex, Erica flagged down a cab to the hospital.
In the car, she closed her eyes, and the image kept coming back to her, Carter carrying Laura into the elevator.
He'd been so frantic, so afraid, as if Laura were the only thing in his life that mattered.
And she counted for nothing.
She lost track of how long they drove before the car stopped.
The driver glanced back. "We're here, miss."
Erica opened her eyes, paid the fare, and pushed the door open.
She hadn't even reached the ER lobby when two tall men in black suits stepped into her path.
She froze.
One of them spoke, his face blank.
"Miss Butler, Mr. Maddox told us to wait for you here."
Her heart gave a hard jolt.
A flicker of something almost absurd rose in her chest, a small hope. Had Carter's conscience finally caught up with him?
"He sent you... to take me to get my head looked at?"
The two bodyguards traded a glance.
"Mr. Maddox says his wife urgently needs a transfusion. Your blood type matches hers. Please come with us."
Erica stood there rooted to the spot, like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her head.
"For Laura?"
"Yes, Miss Butler. Please come with us."
Erica took a step back. "No."
"I'm not going. I'm a patient too. I need to see a doctor myself. Get out of my way."
The two bodyguards exchanged another look and didn't move.
"Miss Butler, please don't make this difficult for us."
"Mr. Maddox said it's because of you that his wife needs the blood. You brought this on yourself."
"I already told you, I'm not going." Erica stepped around them and headed toward the ER lobby. "He wants blood, he can figure it out himself. The hospital blood bank is full of it. Why does it have to come out of my arm?"
She'd taken two steps when a strong arm caught her from behind by the elbow.
"Sorry about this, Miss Butler."
The next second she was hauled clean off her feet.
One on each side, the two bodyguards lifted her whole body without effort, ignoring how she thrashed, and carried her in long strides across the hospital lobby toward the inpatient wing.
"Let go of me! Let go!" Erica kicked her legs wildly. "Help! Somebody help me!"
People in the corridor turned to look, but not one of them stepped forward.
She was carried into the transfusion room and forced down into a chair.
The nurse took one look at her and sucked in a sharp breath.
"What... what is going on here? Her head is injured. We need to treat the wound first—"
"Leave it." Carter's voice came from the doorway. "Draw the blood first."
Erica lifted her head and looked toward the door through blurring eyes.
Carter stood there, arms crossed over his chest, his face dark.
"Carter, I'm a person too. I'm hurt. Can't you even look at me?"
Carter didn't answer.
He tipped his chin at the nurse. "Do it."
The nurse bit her lip, picked up the tourniquet, and tied it around Erica's arm.
Bright red blood ran down the tube into the bag, one bag, then another.
Her face went whiter and whiter, her lips fading from pale pink to gray, her body shaking beyond her control, her vision blurring, a ringing filling her ears.
The nurse looked at the reading on the blood pressure monitor, and her expression changed.
"We can't take any more! Her pressure is too low. If we keep going, she could die!"
Carter walked over and looked down at Erica.
She sat in the chair looking like one gust of wind could scatter her bones.
He reached out and touched her cheek.
"Do something wrong, and you have to be punished."
"Consider this a lesson in what you should and shouldn't say from now on. Behave, and I'll let you stay by my side."
He bent down and said, gently,
"It's not as if a barren woman like you will ever find a man willing to marry you anyway. Isn't that right?"
Erica's lashes trembled.
Her heart felt like a knife had split it down the middle, then kneaded it, torn it, ground it down, until she couldn't breathe.
Whose fault was it that she couldn't have children?
She'd lost the right to ever be a mother saving Carter, and now he was throwing it in her face.
Ungrateful animal.
Carter straightened, glanced at the blood bag, and said to the nurse, "Keep going."
The nurse gritted her teeth and drew another half bag.
At last Erica's head dropped, and she lost consciousness entirely.
The blood pressure monitor let out a piercing alarm, and the mood in the transfusion room snapped tight.
A doctor rushed in, took one look at Erica, and went pale. "Stop the transfusion now! Get ready to resuscitate! We're losing her!"
Carter stood off to the side, watching the medical staff scramble to lift Erica onto a gurney and wheel her out of the transfusion room.
He hesitated a moment, then didn't follow. He turned and walked into Laura's room.
