Chapter 1 - The Surgeon’s Fury
The kitchen door swung open, and the bright California sunshine spilled across the horrific scene on the floor.
Ethan stepped inside, still holding the keys to his car in one hand and a stack of baby shower gifts in the other.
He was smiling, ready to tell me about a joke our elderly neighbor had made.
Then his eyes fell on me.
His smile vanished instantly, replaced by the terrifying, hyper-focused stare of a seasoned trauma surgeon.
He dropped the boxes.
They crashed onto the hardwood, but none of us jumped.
“Maddie,” he breathed, his voice barely a whisper before his medical training took over completely.
He sprinted across the room, sliding to his knees beside me in the puddle of blood, water, and milk.
“Ethan,” I sobbed, clutching the velvet jewelry box to my chest like a shield.
“She burned me. She threw it on me.”
Ethan did not look at my mother or my sister.
He looked at my stomach, analyzing the bright red, blistering skin of my abdomen where the fabric of my dress had melted away.
“Call 911 right now!” he roared, a sound so loud and primal it made the windows rattle.
My father finally jolted out of his paralyzed state, fumbling for the phone in his pocket.
“Ethan, it was an accident,” Vivian lied, her voice dripping with fake panic.
“The pot slipped from my hands, I swear I didn’t mean to.”
Ethan ignored her completely, pulling his clean undershirt off to create a sterile barrier over my burns.
“Maddie, look at me, keep your eyes on me,” he commanded softly, brushing my sweaty hair from my forehead.
“Is the baby moving?”
“She stopped,” I cried, the absolute worst terror of my life choking my throat.
“She kicked once and then she stopped moving.”
Ethan’s jaw locked so hard I thought his teeth might shatter.
He pressed two fingers to my neck, checking my pulse while simultaneously assessing the blood loss pooling beneath my legs.
“You are going into shock, sweetheart, but I have you,” he promised, his voice shaking just a fraction.
Kelsey tried to step around us, edging toward the back door like a coward.
“I need to go get help,” Kelsey stammered, still holding my designer purse.
Ethan finally looked up, and the absolute rage in his eyes froze her in her tracks.
“If either of you takes one step out of this house, I will personally break your legs,” Ethan snarled.
He pointed a blood-stained finger at my father, who was weeping into the phone with the emergency dispatcher.
“Tell them we need an immediate transport for full-thickness thermal burns and a placental abruption,” Ethan shouted.
Vivian took a step back, finally realizing that her golden facade was entirely shattered.
She looked at the empty silver pot on the stove, then at the diamonds in my hand, calculating her next move.
But there was no way out, because the sirens were already wailing in the distance, screaming down the coastal highway.
My vision began to blur, the edges of the kitchen fading into a terrifying, fuzzy gray.
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“Stay with me, Maddie,” Ethan pleaded, pressing his forehead against mine.
I closed my eyes, praying to a God I hadn't spoken to in years, begging Him to take me instead of my little girl.
