Colton doesn't look up from his phone.
I know this because Anaya tells me later. She tells me everything later. How she walked into his office with the printed lab results. How she perched on the arm of his leather couch, crossed her legs, and slid the paper across his desk.
'She's pregnant,' Anaya said.
Colton glanced at it. Kept scrolling.
'Did you hear me?'
'I heard you.' His thumb moved across the screen. 'Inconvenient timing.'
Anaya leaned forward. 'She's doing this on purpose. To trap you. To keep you from going public with us.'
He set the phone down then. Not because he was angry. Because he was bored.
'Handle it,' he said.
Anaya smiled. 'Of course.'
She didn't tell me that part until after. But I felt it anyway. I felt it in the memo that arrived in my hospital inbox the next morning.
**INTERNAL NOTIFICATION – OB/GYN DEPT**
**Patient: Phillips, Rosie**
**Procedure: Prenatal assessment and consultation**
**Time: 14:00**
**Location: Procedure Room 7B**
**Authorization: Dr. A. Roberts, Dept. Head**
I stared at the screen. I hadn't scheduled a prenatal visit. But the letterhead was correct. The authorization looked legitimate. And I was six weeks pregnant with a history of complications. Maybe Dr. Patel had flagged something. Maybe this was standard.
I told myself that all the way down the hall.
Procedure Room 7B is in the old wing. We use it for minor outpatient work—biopsies, IUD placements, things that don't need a full OR. When I push through the door, the first thing I notice is the setup. It's wrong. No ultrasound machine. No fetal monitor. Just a gurney, stirrups, and a steel tray covered with a surgical drape.
Two orderlies stand near the wall. I don't recognize them.
'Dr. Phillips?' one of them says.
'Yes. I'm here for—' I glance at the gurney again. 'Is Dr. Patel running late?'
'Please lie down.'
'I'm sorry?'
He steps forward. The other one moves to block the door.
My stomach drops.
'There's been a mistake,' I say carefully. 'I'm going to step out and clarify with—'
The first orderly's hand closes around my upper arm. I jerk back, but the second one is already there, gripping my other side. They're not rough. They're efficient. They've done this before.
'Let go of me.'
They don't.
They walk me to the gurney. I twist, plant my feet, try to use my weight against them, but I'm five-foot-six and a hundred and twenty pounds and my ribs are still healing from the lobby. One of them pushes my shoulder. My knees buckle. I'm on the gurney.
Leather restraints snap across my wrists.
'No. No. Stop—'
My ankles next. Then a strap across my hips.
I scream.
The door opens.
Anaya walks in wearing surgical gloves.
She doesn't look at me. She moves to the steel tray, lifts the drape, and inspects the instruments beneath with the calm focus of someone checking a grocery list.
'Anaya.' My voice cracks. 'Anaya, please—'
'You should have left when you had the chance,' she says quietly.
She picks up a speculum.
'Please. Please don't do this. I'll leave. I'll sign anything. I'll disappear. Just please—'
She finally looks at me. Her face is smooth. Empty.
'You're right,' she says. 'You will.'
She moves to the foot of the gurney.
I thrash against the restraints. The leather bites into my wrists. My surgeon's hands—steady, trained, the hands that have saved lives—are pinned flat and useless.
'Anaya, I'm begging you—'
The speculum is cold.
I know what comes next. I've performed this procedure. I know the instruments. I know the sequence. I know what it feels like from the other side of the table, gloved and sterile and humane, with anesthesia and consent and care.
This is none of those things.
I scream until my throat tears.
It takes eleven minutes.
When it's over, I'm shaking so hard the gurney rattles. There's blood pooling beneath me, warm and spreading. My body doesn't feel like mine. My mind doesn't feel like mine.
Anaya strips off her gloves. Drops them in the biohazard bin.
Then she leans close. Her breath is warm against my ear.
'Colton gave me a name for my baby,' she whispers. 'Nola. Isn't that beautiful? He said it was special. He said it meant something.'
I stop breathing.
'I thought you'd want to know,' she says.
She straightens. Smooths her coat. Walks to the door.
'Clean her up,' she tells the orderlies. 'And make sure she signs the discharge paperwork.'
The door closes.
I lie there, strapped down, bleeding, and I feel something inside me break that will never be whole again.
Not my body.
Something deeper.
