Chapter 3 - Code Blue on the Ward
"Doctor! We need a crash cart in room four hundred twelve!" a frantic voice bellowed down the corridor.
Jessica spun around, abandoning her argument with me, and sprinted back toward Daniel’s room, her heels clicking wildly against the floor.
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Every muscle in my abdomen screamed in protest, a sharp, white-hot pain shooting across my side where the surgeon’s scalpel had sliced through my skin. I winced, gripping the metal frame of the bed until my knuckles turned white, but I forced myself to stand.
I wasn't going to stay in bed while my cheating, ungrateful husband threw a tantrum over losing his bank accounts.
Leaning heavily against the wall for support, I shuffled down the hallway. By the time I reached Daniel’s doorway, three doctors and two nurses were crowding around his bed.
Daniel was thrashing against the sheets, his face turning an alarming shade of purple as he clutched at his chest and abdomen.
"His blood pressure is skyrocketing!" the attending physician shouted, grabbing a paddle. "Rejecting? No, check the anti-rejection meds! What did he ingest or receive?"
Jessica was pressed against the corner of the room, sobbing hysterically and pointing a shaking finger at the mahogany box sitting open on the bedside table. "It was the box! She sent him some kind of poisoned letter! Arrest her!"
The doctor turned his head, spotting me standing in the doorway, pale and unsteady, wrapped in my hospital gown.
"Mrs. Whitaker?" the doctor asked, his brow furrowed with confusion and suspicion. "Did you send something into this room?"
"Just a reminder of our marital property agreement, Doctor," I said clearly, my voice carrying over the flatline alarm. "Though I assure you, paper cuts aren't usually fatal."
Daniel managed to prop himself up on one elbow, his eyes bloodshot and bulging with pure fury. He pointed a trembling finger at me, choking out his words between ragged breaths.
"You... you b—you planned this," Daniel gasped, his chest heaving. "You knew... you knew you were trapping me!"
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"I saved your life, Daniel," I replied, stepping slightly closer to the threshold. "What you do with the rest of it is entirely up to your lawyer. Assuming you can still afford one."
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