Chapter 3 - That’s My Sister
Liam caught Ethan by the collar before his hand came out of the jacket.
He drove him backward against the hospital wall.
The impact shook the medical cart.
Both nurses gasped.
I flinched on the bed, gripping the edge of the white sheet as pain tore across my ribs.
Liam’s gloved fist twisted into Ethan’s expensive suit.
His voice was low enough to be more frightening than a shout.
“Don’t you dare call this a fall.”
Ethan’s polished calm shattered for one naked second.
Then he forced a crooked smile and lifted one trembling hand to adjust his tie.
“Doctor,” he said sharply, “you’re making a very expensive mistake.”
Nurse Hannah stared at him differently now.
So did the younger nurse.
The threat had escaped its disguise.
Liam’s jaw tightened, but then he turned his head toward me.
The rage left his face.
Horror replaced it.
He had been prepared to see evidence.
He had not been prepared to see his little sister wrapped in bandages, barely conscious beneath hospital light.
My eyes opened only halfway.
I scraped my fingers weakly across the sheet.
Liam released Ethan just enough to move toward me.
“Claire?”
I raised one trembling hand and pointed toward my husband.
Ethan saw the gesture.
He lunged toward the bed.
Liam blocked him with his body.
My voice came out broken and thin.
“He locked the door.”
The room froze.
It was not the full story.
But it was enough to destroy the accident.
Ethan looked at me as though betrayal belonged to him.
“Claire, you’re confused.”
I shook my head.
He moved again, this time toward the small table beside my IV. His hand darted toward my belongings—the purse, the sealed evidence bag, anything he might be able to seize or contaminate.
Nurse Hannah snapped the tray backward so hard its wheels squealed.
“Step away from her,” she said.
Her voice shook.
Her hands did not.
The younger nurse covered her mouth and backed toward the hallway alarm.
Liam stepped close to Ethan again.
He was no longer shouting.
His face had become terrifyingly still.
“That’s my sister.”
Ethan’s eyes flicked toward the hallway.
Searching for an exit.
At the far end of the emergency corridor, a uniformed police officer appeared and began moving quickly toward the trauma room.
Ethan’s face drained of color.
I looked at Liam with desperate recognition.
Then my eyes shifted toward Ethan’s jacket pocket.
Liam followed my gaze but did not understand.
Ethan slowly closed his hand over the object hidden inside.
Not a weapon.
Something more valuable to him.
Something he had beaten me nearly unconscious to obtain.
The officer was still several yards away when Ethan leaned toward Liam and whispered:
“You have no idea what your sister has done.”
May you like
Then his hand tightened inside his pocket.
And I knew he still had the security key.
