Chapter 2 - THE ACTIVE CALL
Claire forced the door open with a hospital security officer behind her.
Marcus stepped away from my IV.
Victoria folded the document beneath her purse.
Leo remained across my arm, breathing hard.
Claire saw the mark on his face.
“What happened?”
“He fell,” Marcus said.
Leo stared at him.
Security Officer Daniel Reed entered fully and ordered everyone away from the bed. A nurse unlocked the room from the central system and called the attending physician.
Marcus held up the phone.
“My son made an unauthorized call during a medical crisis.”
“You assaulted him during that call,” Claire replied.
The conversation had not disconnected.
She had heard everything.
Marcus’s confidence slipped.
Victoria claimed the slap was an accident caused when Leo grabbed the documents. Claire asked her to place every paper on the counter.
Victoria refused.
Reed positioned himself between her and the exit.
The attending physician, Dr. Helen Park, examined my pupils and checked my responses.
I gave her nothing obvious.
Not yet.
I did not know who inside the hospital Marcus had already reached.
Dr. Park inspected the IV pump.
Its alarm had been silenced manually.
The infusion rate had also been changed, then returned to the original setting.
“No one ordered an adjustment,” she said.
Marcus lifted his coffee.
“I haven’t touched it.”
Leo pointed toward his jacket.
“He had something in his hand.”
Security searched Marcus only after police arrived. They found no syringe or vial.
His pockets contained Leo’s phone, his wallet, coffee, and a pen.
Victoria finally surrendered the documents.
The top page was an authorization bearing my name.
Claire read only enough to request that it be sealed.
“No notary comes near Valerie,” she said.
Marcus laughed without humor.
“You represent the company. You do not control my wife’s treatment.”
“I represent Valerie personally under an agreement signed before this hospitalization.”
That was news to Marcus.
It was meant to be.
Leo was taken for medical evaluation. His cheek was bruised, but his jaw was intact.
The police separated everyone.
I waited until Marcus and Victoria were removed from the room.
Then I opened both eyes.
Dr. Park leaned over me.
“Valerie, can you hear me?”
I blinked once.
Claire reached for my hand.
I pressed one finger against hers.
Weakly.
Deliberately.
A nurse drew blood and sent it for urgent analysis.
Three hours later, the laboratory found a powerful sedative in my system.
It had not been ordered by any hospital physician.
May you like
The concentration should have been falling.
Instead, it had risen after Marcus entered my room.
