Chapter 4 - The Interrogation
An hour later, the doctors finally allowed me to enter Elena's recovery room.
She was lying under a pile of warm, white hospital blankets, looking so fragile that I was afraid to even touch her.
An IV drip was steadily flushing the remaining toxins from her bloodstream, and some color had finally returned to her pale cheeks.
I pulled a chair right to the edge of the bed and gently took her hand, kissing her raw, dishwater-chapped knuckles.
"Lily is safe, Elena," I whispered, anticipating her first question before she even had the strength to ask it.
"She is in the pediatric wing, her fever broke, and the nurses are watching her around the clock."
Elena closed her eyes, and a single, heavy tear rolled down the side of her face, soaking into the pristine hospital pillow.
"I'm so sorry, Marcus," she sobbed weakly, her voice barely more than a raspy whisper.
"I tried so hard to be strong, but my brain felt like it was wrapped in heavy fog, and my body just stopped working."
"You have absolutely nothing to apologize for, sweetheart," I reassured her fiercely, wiping the tear away with my thumb.
"My mother was secretly drugging you with muscle relaxants; that is why you felt so exhausted and helpless."
Elena’s eyes snapped open, widening in sheer, unadulterated horror as the reality of my words washed over her.
"She... she poisoned me?" Elena gasped, her breathing instantly becoming rapid and panicked.
Before I could calm her down, a gentle knock echoed from the doorway, and Detectives Ramirez and Hayes stepped quietly into the room.
"Mrs. Vance, we know you have been through an unimaginable trauma, but we need to ask you a few questions," Detective Ramirez said softly.
Elena gripped my hand tighter, nodding weakly to signal that she was willing to speak to them.
"Can you tell us exactly what your mother-in-law has been saying to you for the past few months?" the detective asked, clicking her pen.
Elena swallowed hard, her eyes darting nervously toward the door as if she expected Patricia to suddenly burst into the room.
"She told me that Marcus was disgusted by me," Elena began, her voice shaking with residual fear.
"She said he was having an affair with a younger architect at his firm, and that he was only staying because of the baby."
My heart shattered into a million pieces hearing the cruel, calculated lies my mother had weaponized against my vulnerable wife.
"She told me that if I didn't earn my keep by cleaning the house and cooking for her guests, she would convince Marcus to throw me out on the street," Elena continued, crying freely now.
"Whenever I tried to leave the house, she would force me to drink this bitter herbal tea that made my legs feel like lead."
"Then she would lock me in the basement laundry room for hours while Lily cried upstairs, telling me I was too mentally unstable to hold my own baby."
Detective Hayes stopped writing, looking up with a deeply disturbed expression on his hardened face.
"She actively isolated you, broke down your self-esteem, and chemically disabled you so you couldn't fight back or seek help," he summarized grimly.
"Did she ever threaten to call the authorities on you, Mrs. Vance?"
Elena nodded vigorously, a fresh wave of panic washing over her face.
"She told me she had secretly recorded videos of me crying and dropping things because my hands were shaking so badly from the weakness."
"She promised me that if I told Marcus the truth, she would give the videos to Child Protective Services and have Lily permanently taken away."
Detective Ramirez exchanged a dark, knowing look with her partner before turning back to us with a sigh.
"I'm afraid she already tried to make good on that threat, Mr. Vance," the detective revealed, her tone turning urgent.
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"We just got word from the precinct that Patricia filed an emergency CPS report claiming your wife was actively neglecting the infant."
"A social worker is on her way to this hospital right now to evaluate the situation."
