Chapter 1 - She Did Not Fall
Liam grabbed Ethan by the collar and slammed him against the medical cabinet.
Metal doors rattled behind Ethan’s shoulders.
Two nurses rushed between the men while I lay beneath a thin hospital blanket, struggling to understand which sounds belonged to the room and which still came from my damaged head.
“My sister did not fall,” Liam shouted. “You beat her unconscious.”
Ethan shoved at his arm.
“Get away from me.”
Liam drove him back against the wall.
The controlled chief of emergency medicine vanished for one dangerous second. In his place stood my older brother, staring at the man who had carried me into his hospital and lied about every bruise.
Nurse Megan Cole pulled Liam’s shoulder.
“Doctor Carter, step back.”
The use of his title reached him.
He released Ethan but remained between my husband and the bed.
Ethan straightened his white shirt.
Even with blood on his cuff, he attempted to recover the polished posture that convinced investors, reporters, and city officials that he was incapable of losing control.
“She slipped in the shower.”
Liam pointed toward my throat.
“People do not receive finger shaped bruises from shower tiles.”
“She panicked when I tried to help her.”
Ethan moved toward the chart at the end of my bed.
Nurse Olivia Grant snatched it first.
His hand closed on empty air.
The mask dropped.
“She is a useless liar who cannot survive without my name.”
The nurses became still.
Ethan realized too late that both had heard him.
I reached beneath the blanket for my phone.
My right hand barely moved. Pain ran from my shoulder through my fingers. The device rested beside the bed where a paramedic had placed it.
Ethan saw me.
He tore free from the officer near the doorway and charged toward the mattress.
Liam caught his wrist.
The heart monitor accelerated.
“He was looking for my audit files,” I whispered.
Ethan’s face changed.
Only slightly.
Liam noticed.
“What audit files?”
“Emma is confused,” Ethan said. “She hit her head.”
I pressed my fingers around the phone.
The screen recognized my thumb.
A secure application opened beneath the ordinary lock screen.
Ethan grabbed the IV stand and swung it toward my hand.
Olivia caught the pole before it struck the bed.
Liam shoved Ethan across the room and hit the emergency lockdown button.
“Secure every exit. He does not leave this hospital.”
Red lights flashed above the emergency doors.
Two police officers entered within seconds.
Ethan fought their hands as they pulled his arms behind him.
He kicked toward the clear evidence bag containing my torn clothing.
Liam seized the bag before Ethan’s shoe connected.
“Do not touch that.”
“She framed me,” Ethan shouted. “She wants my company.”
I looked at him through one swollen eye.
“Apex would not exist without me.”
The room went silent again.
Ethan’s panic became rage.
I pressed the audio icon.
His recorded voice filled the room.
“Give me the password before I finish what I started.”
A second sound followed.
My body striking the pantry door.
Then Ethan again.
“You think your brother can protect you from me?”
The officers stopped pulling him for half a second.
One looked toward Liam.
Ethan attempted to twist free.
“That recording is fake.”
My voice played next.
Weak.
Still conscious.
“The files are already outside the house.”
A blow ended the sentence.
Liam looked at me.
His anger did not disappear.
It became colder.
“When did this happen?”
“Last night.”
“Why did he wait until morning to bring you here?”
Ethan answered before I could.
“She was breathing. I believed she needed rest.”
Nurse Megan stared at him.
“You left an unconscious woman with possible head trauma at home?”
“I monitored her.”
He meant he watched me from the kitchen while searching my computer.
The encrypted application showed that someone had attempted forty three passwords between midnight and four in the morning.
At four twelve, Ethan connected my phone to his laptop.
At four nineteen, the emergency backup sent a silent alert to Liam.
He had not seen it until entering his shift because the alert was buried beneath a routine medical message. Ethan had altered the subject line through my phone.
He knew Liam received the files.
He wanted time to find the decryption key before anyone opened them.
Liam moved closer to my bed.
“Emma, can you tell me what happened?”
I looked toward the officers.
“I requested an independent audit of Apex Development.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“She is an employee.”
“I am the majority voting owner.”
His confidence disappeared.
The officers led him toward the door.
He stopped fighting long enough to look back at me.
“You do not understand what you just opened.”
“I understand what you closed your fist around.”
The doors shut behind him.
Liam examined my pupils while the nurses photographed every visible injury.
Split lip.
Bruises beneath my jaw.
Swelling along my ribs.
Marks around both wrists.
A cut hidden in my hair.
He worked without shaking until he reached the dark print of Ethan’s fingers near my throat.
Then he stepped away and removed his gloves.
“I told you to leave.”
“I know.”
“You said you needed proof.”
“I know.”
His voice broke.
“You almost died collecting it.”
Before I could answer, the monitor above my bed changed.
My name disappeared from the patient banner.
The screen now identified me as Jane Blake.
Nurse Olivia touched the keyboard.
“That is not possible.”
A second alert appeared.
PATIENT TRANSFER AUTHORIZED.
Destination: Blake Private Medical Center.
Approving physician: Dr. Liam Carter.
Liam had authorized nothing.
May you like
Someone had entered the hospital system using his credentials while he stood beside me.
Continue to the next part: Someone inside Riverside Hospital attempts to move Emma into a private facility controlled by Ethan’s family.
