Chapter 2 - The Knock Brings Help Ryan Never Expected
Ryan stared at the apartment door.
The knocking came again.
Three firm strikes.
Vincent did not move toward Ryan.
He moved toward Emily.
“Stay with me.”
Then he called out:
“Come in.”
Ryan’s face changed.
“You invited someone?”
The door opened.
Dr. Elena Walsh entered first, carrying a medical bag.
Behind her stood Detective Marcus Hale and a uniformed officer.
Vincent had called them from the hallway before entering the apartment.
He had not known what he would find.
He only knew his daughter sounded afraid.
Vincent Moretti had spent enough of his life around frightened people to
understand one rule.
Fear needed witnesses.
Not vengeance.
Ryan backed away from the bed.
Linda immediately began talking.
“She falls. She’s clumsy. Her pregnancy has been extremely difficult.”
Dr. Walsh ignored her.
She knelt beside Emily.
“Emily, I’m a physician. May I examine you?”
Emily looked at her father.
Vincent did not answer for her.
That mattered.
Emily whispered:
“Yes.”
Dr. Walsh asked everyone except medical personnel to step back.
The handprint near Emily’s abdomen concerned her.
So did tenderness along her ribs.
An ambulance was called.
Ryan protested.
“She has a prenatal doctor.”
Emily’s eyes opened.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
Ryan froze.
Emily’s voice shook.
“That doctor isn’t mine.”
Vincent stared at his daughter.
“What do you mean?”
Emily swallowed.
“Ryan changed my doctor three months ago.”
Linda’s face went white.
Detective Hale noticed.
“So who has been treating her?”
May you like
Emily began crying.
“I don’t know.”
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