Chapter 2 - Seven Minutes
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Vanessa didn't hesitate. While I was paralyzed by the abdominal cramp, she stepped forward and snatched the phone directly from my shaking fingers.
“There,” she said smoothly. “Problem solved.”
She glanced down at the illuminated screen, expecting a local emergency number or a friend’s name. Her smirk flickered and faded. There was no contact name displayed—only a string of ten digits I had memorized from a velvet-bound black card my mother had given me on her deathbed.
“Whoever you are,” Vanessa said into the microphone, regaining her composure, “your daughter is having some kind of hysterical breakdown. She’s making a scene.”
A voice answered from the small speaker. It wasn't loud. It wasn't frantic. It was a deep, gravelly baritone that possessed an astonishing, terrifying calm.
“Put Lena back on the phone.”
Vanessa froze in place. Something in the tone of that single sentence altered the temperature of the entire bathroom.
Ethan frowned, looking at her. “Who the hell is that?”
Vanessa swallowed hard, ignoring Ethan. “She’s fine. She’s just—”
“You have seven minutes,” the man on the line interrupted.
Vanessa’s face drained of color. “What?”
The line clicked dead.
Silence settled over the ruined bathroom like heavy dust. Ethan snatched the phone from Vanessa’s palm, glaring at the dark screen.
“Seven minutes until what? Who was that, Lena? Who did you call? Give me a name!”
I was shaking so violently my teeth clicked together. But beneath the overwhelming terror, something strange and unfamiliar began to bloom inside my chest. It wasn't courage—not yet. It was simply the sudden realization that my husband was no longer the most dangerous man in this room.
I winced as another wave of pain washed through my lower back. “I told you. My father.”
Ethan grabbed my uninjured shoulder, digging his fingers into my flesh. “What is his name? Answer me!”
Before I could speak, a warm, thick sensation spread beneath the hem of my cotton dress. I looked down at the white tile.
A pool of crimson was spreading beneath my feet.
“No...” I whispered, all thoughts of Ethan and Vanessa instantly vanishing. “No, no, no... my baby!”
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I pressed my right hand against my stomach, gasping as horror washed over me. Ethan looked momentarily startled by the blood, but Vanessa merely rolled her eyes.
“Oh, please,” Vanessa muttered, turning toward the hallway. “She’s just being dramatic to get attention.”
