Chapter 2 - The Heartbeat
Inside the ambulance, every bump in the road felt like a threat.
"Her heart rate is elevated," one paramedic said.
"What about the baby?" I asked.
"We're monitoring both of you. Stay with me, Emily."
I wanted a promise.
I wanted someone to tell me my daughter was safe.
No one did.
Maya rode in the front while I lay strapped to the gurney, staring at the ceiling lights flashing over me.
I kept thinking about Ryan asking Vanessa if she was okay.
Nine years together.
Seven years married.
Twenty-eight weeks pregnant.
And when I was bleeding inside my own marriage, he had checked on the other woman first.
At the hospital, nurses moved around me quickly. Monitors were attached. Blood was drawn. A doctor pressed carefully along my abdomen while I fought not to cry out.
"We need to watch for placental abruption," she said. "You're having contractions."
Maya gripped my hand.
"Is the baby alive?" I asked.
The doctor looked toward the monitor.
Then a rapid sound filled the room.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
My daughter's heartbeat.
I broke.
I covered my face and sobbed until my ribs hurt.
Maya leaned over me and whispered, "She's here. She's fighting."
But the doctor did not smile.
"The heartbeat is there, but we're not out of danger. We need to keep you overnight, possibly longer."
A nurse entered with a police officer.
"Ms. Bennett? I'm Officer Grant. I need to ask you a few questions when you're able."
"Now," I said.
Maya looked at me. "Em, you can rest first."
"No. Now."
I told him everything.
The messages.
The affair.
Vanessa blocking the door.
Her following me onto the porch.
The shove.
Ryan telling me I had fallen.
Officer Grant took notes without interrupting.
"You mentioned a camera?"
"Yes. Above the porch. It points directly at the steps."
His pen stopped.
"Who controls the security system?"
I knew the answer before I said it.
"Ryan."
Officer Grant stood.
"We'll need to preserve that footage immediately."
My phone buzzed on the bedside table.
Maya picked it up.
Her eyes narrowed.
"It's Ryan."
"Read it."
She hesitated, then unlocked the screen.
The message was short.
Emily, before you say anything else to police, you need to understand that the cameras haven't worked in months.
I stared at the words.
Then another message appeared.
May you like
And this one was from an unknown number.
I saved the footage before he deleted it.
