“No!” I shouted back as I kicked my feet at him.
He looked at me with disbelief before jumping back into action. He grabbed a handful of hair and pulled me upright. My scalp stung as he forced me to walk around the room, heading straight for the door. My hands flew in front of my face on instinct; Warren’s thrown me against the door before.
When we walked into the hallway, I began clawing at his grip. I needed him to let go, but he had no intention of doing so. He forced me over to the top of the stairwell, and paused. “This is your fault, you stupid whore. I never wanted this kid, and I intend to get rid of it.”
Fear seized me as I twisted in his arms. His words felt like a thousand knives hitting me all at once. It was finally happening. He was gonna kill me. One hand moved from my hair to my back, and then in one fluid motion, he shoved me down the stairs.
I remember pain as I bounced against the wood. My arms instinctively went to my belly to protect my baby, leaving my head and back to take the brunt of the fall. I hit a few spindles on the way down before coming to rest on the tile floor of the hallway. His maniacal laugh sounded from above before my world went black once again.
Chapter 5
Blake
My night had started out like every other night. I was the on-call neurologist for the ER. It had been slow, so I’d gone outside to the ambulance bay to take a break. The air was crisp, and it felt like winter wasn’t too far away.
When I heard the sirens in the distance, I knew the night was getting ready to get busy for someone, but I didn’t expect it to be me. The lights flashed as the rig came to a halt a few feet away. “Dr. Douglas.” The EMT nodded as he jumped out to race around to the back.
“What’d we got?” Dr. Evans, the Chief of Emergency Medicine, rushed past me to the stretcher being lowered from the rig.
“Female, twenty-eight, multiple contusions, possible skull fracture, twenty-eight weeks pregnant, BP one ten over seventy, heart rate seventy-four.” The EMT rambled off the details as he and his partner rushed through the doors, and followed Dr. Evans into a room.
“I’m gonna need you on this!” Dr. Evans shouted in my direction. I jumped from where I was leaning against the wall, and rushed after them.
The ER had morphed right before my eyes. There was a lull before, but now it was bustling with medical staff. Nurses were running in and out of the room Dr. Evans had just gone into, and it took me a second to get my bearings.
“It’s Brooke Ellis,” Donna, one of my nurses, came rushing out. “She told me he did this, and I didn’t believe her.” Her voice was laced with fear and regret.
I nodded as instinct took over and feelings were pushed aside. “What’d we got?” I rounded the gurney and began checking her eyes. “Pupils are reactive. I need a head CT.” I gave my orders to the nurse.
“We’re waiting on OB. The baby’s heart rate is falling,” another nurse stated as she checked the fetal heart rate a second time. “This baby needs to come out if it’s gonna survive; I’m paging Dr. McGee again.” She rushed out of the room, and that’s when Brooke’s eyes fluttered open.
“Help me,” she mumbled. “Please.”
“We’re gonna help,” I reassured her. “We need to check on the baby.”
“Save her.” She reached for me as I stepped back to allow Dr. McGee in with the ultrasound. “Please save her.”
“We’re gonna do everything we can, Brooke.” Dr. McGee was all business. She placed the wand of the ultrasound on Brooke’s belly. “Brooke.” She handed the wand over as she lifted the railing to the gurney. “We’re going to take you upstairs now. We need to get the baby out. Your placenta has a tear in it, and it’s slowly getting worse.”
“But she’s too young.” She started to cry.
“She’s a fighter, Brooke. Just like you.” Dr. McGee started pushing the gurney as nurses unhooked monitors and draped the cords over the rails.
“As soon as we get her out of surgery, you’ll get your CT.” Dr. McGee left, leaving me there with my head spinning.
“Any word on how this happened?” I turned to the EMTs who were packing up to head back out.
“We found her in her underwear at the bottom of the stairs. Her husband said she fell. If you ask me, I think he pushed her.” One of them shrugged.
“Why do you say that?” I gripped the back of my neck. I shouldn’t be this invested, but I couldn’t help it. There was something about her, that made me care more than I should.
“He didn’t even want to come with us. He didn’t seem worried at all that she might die, or that the baby might not survive. Who does that?” The other EMT’s eyes widened.ooooooooo
I stood there staring at the scan of Brooke’s brain. There was swelling on the right side that would have to be monitored, but she was conscious. As long as the pressure didn’t increase, the injury could be treated without surgery. I sighed as I headed to her room to give her the news.
“Mrs. Ellis.” I knocked on the door as I slowly pushed it open.
“Mmm.” Her head lolled to the side as her eyes fluttered.
“Your scan shows some swelling, but I think we can treat it with medication as long as things don’t worsen.”
“My baby,” she mumbled. “Where’s my baby?”
“I can check on that for you.” I patted her hand before leaning out of the door and looking for a
