Chapter 2 - The Shocking Interruption
The voice from the back of the chapel cut through the suffocating tension like a jagged blade.
Standing near the heavy mahogany double doors was a tall man wearing a dark trench coat and holding a sealed yellow envelope.
It was Dr. Alan Vance—Trevor’s estranged uncle and the former chief medical examiner for Harris County.
"Stop everything right now!" Dr. Vance commanded, his boots echoing sharply across the marble floor as he marched down the center aisle.
Victoria’s face drained of what little color remained, her mouth freezing half-open mid-confession.
Trevor stumbled over his own feet, catching himself against the wooden pew as his uncle approached the altar.
"Alan, what are you doing here?!" Victoria shrieked, her voice cracking into a desperate, panicked pitch.
"You were banished from this family six years ago! Get out of my grandbabies' service!"
Dr. Vance ignored her completely, walking straight up to the pastor and handing him the yellow envelope.
"Pastor, do not let anyone touch those coffins or alter this scene," Dr. Vance declared loudly.
"I conducted an independent preliminary tissue toxicology screening on the twin boys forty-eight hours ago."
My chest gasped for air as I pulled Emma tightly against my ribs, my heart slamming wildly against my sternum.
"An independent screening?" I whispered, my voice shaking uncontrollably.
"The hospital told us they died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome!"
Dr. Vance turned his heavy, pitying gaze toward me, his jaw clenching with suppressed rage.
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"The hospital pathology report was falsified, Sarah," Dr. Vance revealed.
"Someone paid off the night pathologist fifty thousand dollars to list SIDS on their death certificates before the toxicology panel was completed."
