Chapter 4 - The Safe Word
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Lying there beneath the scratchy hospital blanket, the narcotics pumping through my IV line made the room spin, but my mind was razor-sharp. I wasn't thinking about petty revenge. I was thinking about timing. Pain eventually fades. Digital evidence doesn't.
A familiar, rhythmic pair of footsteps approached my hospital bed, cutting through the background noise of the monitors. The curtain slid back, revealing Dr. Lena Ortiz.
Lena was my college roommate, my confidante, and the one person in the entire world Daniel never knew I still trusted. He thought he had cut her out of my life two years ago, but we had simply taken our friendship underground.
She walked over and gently touched my right wrist exactly once. It was the silent signal we had agreed upon years ago if either of us ever needed emergency extraction without speaking.
Then, she turned slowly toward my husband, who had just entered the room with Vivian trailing behind him like a loyal guard dog. Lena's voice was calm enough to drop the temperature in the entire ward.
"Mr. Sterling," Lena said, her eyes locking onto his. "Before the local detectives arrive to take your official statement, perhaps you would like to explain why your wife's hidden kitchen smoke-detector camera recorded everything that actually happened this evening?"
The silence that followed was deafening. It was louder than my scream had been.
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Daniel's flawlessly handsome face instantly drained of all color, leaving him looking like a sick ghost. Vivian stumbled backward, her designer handbag slipping from her shoulder and hitting the linoleum floor. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, but not a single word came out.
And then, a sharp, deliberate knock echoed against the doorframe.
