Chapter 2 - The Emergency Room|
The sirens screamed through the rainy New York night, tearing past red lights and dark skyscrapers.
Inside the private ambulance, Julian held Elise’s cold hand. The paramedics worked feverishly around them, monitoring the baby’s erratic heartbeat while administering fluids and oxygen.
"Stay with me, Elise," Julian commanded quietly, his thumb rubbing the back of her pale knuckles. "Look at me."
Elise stared up at him through a haze of blinding pain. She didn't know this man—she only knew his face from the covers of financial journals. He was a myth, a shadow who ruled Wall Street. Yet here he was, his pristine shirt stained with her blood, holding her hand as if her life were the only thing that mattered in the universe.
"Why... why are you helping me?" she choked out, a tear trailing into her hairline.
"Because no one should ever be left alone in the dark," Julian replied softly, his jaw setting in a hard line. "Especially not by the man who swore to protect them."
The ambulance screeched to a halt outside Bellevue’s private trauma center. The rear doors flew open, and a team of top obstetric surgeons—summoned by a single call from Julian’s assistant—flooded the bay.
As they wheeled the gurney down the sterile, white corridor, Matthew Hayes burst through the sliding glass doors, his hair soaked with rain, his tuxedo disheveled.
"Elise! Elise!" Matthew yelled, trying to push past the security detail. "I’m her husband! Let me through!"
Julian stepped into his path like an iron wall.
"You don't cross this line," Julian said, his voice deadly quiet.
"She’s carrying my child!" Matthew shouted, his face red with a mix of fear and public humiliation. "You have no legal right to keep me away from my family, Sterling!"
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Julian reached out, grabbing Matthew by the collar of his expensive tuxedo, dragging him inches from his face.
"You lost the right to call them family the second you let your mistress kick her on the floor," Julian growled. "Now get out of my sight before I have security throw you onto the street."
