Chapter 2: Code Blue
The ambulance lights reflected across the windows of downtown Chicago as we raced toward Lakefront Memorial Hospital.
Dad sat beside me, still wearing his uniform.
His hand never left mine.
Nicole attached monitors to my stomach while another paramedic checked my blood pressure.
“Emily, stay with me,” she said. “Tell me when you last ate.”
I struggled to remember.
“Yesterday morning.”
Dad looked at me sharply.
“Yesterday?”
“Ryan said I was gaining too much weight.”
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
Dad closed his eyes for one second.
When he opened them again, his expression was controlled.
But his grip on my hand tightened.
Nicole frowned at the monitor.
“The baby’s heartbeat is irregular.”
My chest went cold.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we’re moving quickly.”
At the hospital, a team was already waiting.
They pushed me through the emergency entrance while Dad followed until a nurse blocked him near the double doors.
“You’ll need to wait here, sir.”
“That’s my daughter.”
“And we’re going to take care of her.”
The doors closed between us.
For the first time since he had entered the apartment, Dad was forced to let go.
Doctors surrounded me beneath bright white lights.
Questions came from every direction.
Had I fallen?
Had I been struck?
Was I taking medication?
Had I experienced bleeding?
I answered as honestly as I could, though shame kept catching in my throat.
A doctor named Sarah Patel stood beside the bed.
She had kind eyes and a firm voice.
“Emily, I need you to understand something. Nothing you tell us will be shared with your husband without your permission.”
I stared at her.
For months, Ryan had answered every medical question before I could speak.
He insisted on attending every appointment. If I said something he disliked, Linda punished me after we returned home.
Dr. Patel leaned closer.
“Did your husband hurt you?”
My eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
The word felt enormous.
It was only one syllable, but it broke through months of silence.
“Did his mother hurt you too?”
“Yes.”
“Did either of them strike your abdomen?”
I looked down.
“Ryan did. Two nights ago.”
Dr. Patel immediately turned toward the medical team.
“Prepare imaging. Notify obstetrics. We may need an emergency delivery.”
“No.”
My hands flew to my belly.
“She’s too early.”
“We will do everything possible to keep her safe.”
Her.
The baby was a girl.
I had known for months, but Ryan refused to let me tell Dad. He said daughters were disappointments and that maybe the next child would be worth celebrating.
I began shaking.
“My father doesn’t know.”
Dr. Patel placed a hand over mine.
“You can tell him when you’re ready.”
Minutes later, a monitor alarm sounded.
The room changed instantly.
Nurses moved faster. A mask was placed over my face. Someone called for the operating room.
Dr. Patel looked into my eyes.
“Emily, your baby is in distress. We need to deliver now.”
“Will she live?”
“We’re going to fight for both of you.”
As they wheeled me down the hall, I saw Dad standing behind a glass partition.
For the first time in my life, Colonel James Bennett looked helpless.
He pressed one palm against the glass.
I lifted mine weakly toward him.
“Dad,” I mouthed.
He could not hear me.
But he understood.
Then the operating room doors closed.
Outside, my father stood alone beneath the hospital lights while police detectives searched the apartment where his daughter had nearly lost everything.
And inside that apartment, behind a loose panel beneath the kitchen sink, they found a second phone.
May you like
A phone containing messages that proved Ryan had been planning far more than abuse.
He had been planning my death.
