My husband locked me inside our house while I was in labor
PART 2
Lucas stood in the doorway with the cake box still in his hands.
Eleanor stepped around him, took one look at the shattered frame, and pressed a pearl-covered hand to her chest.
“What did she do to my house?”
That was the first thing she said.
Not where is Rachel.
Not where is the baby.
My house.
Lucas picked up the court order with shaking fingers.
Emergency protective order.
Temporary custody restriction.
Asset preservation notice.
No contact with spouse or minor child.
His face went pale.
“Minor child,” he whispered.
Eleanor snatched the paper from him.
“She had the baby?”
Behind them, two police officers stepped out from the living room.
Lucas stumbled backward.
“What is going on?”
One officer looked at him coldly.
“Lucas Hayes, we need to speak with you regarding unlawful confinement, reckless endangerment, and interference with emergency medical care.”
Eleanor’s voice rose.
“This is ridiculous.
My son went to a family dinner.”
The second officer pointed toward the kitchen ceiling.
“The home security system recorded everything.”
Lucas froze.
He had forgotten the cameras.
He had installed them to watch me.
Instead, they had watched him leave.
Watched him lock the door.
Watched me crawl through blood across the kitchen floor while begging for help.
Watched firefighters break down the entrance fourteen minutes later.
My attorney, Vivian Cross, walked in from the hallway with a tablet in her hand.
She had been waiting there.
So had I, on the screen.
A live video call opened from my hospital room.
I lay propped against pillows, pale and exhausted, but alive.
Beside me, wrapped in a pink blanket, our daughter slept under the soft beep of monitors.
Lucas reached toward the screen.
“Rachel.”
I looked at him without blinking.
“Do not say my name like you still have the right.”
His mouth trembled.
“I didn’t know it was serious.”
“You did,” I said.
“My doctor told you.”
Vivian turned the tablet toward him.
“Your wife underwent emergency surgery.
Your daughter spent her first night in intensive care.”
Eleanor staggered slightly.
Then Lucas whispered, “I want to see my child.”
I almost smiled.
“You locked her inside me while she was fighting to live.”
The room went silent.
Then Vivian opened a sealed file.
“There is another matter.”
May you like
She looked at Lucas.
“Your mother requested a life insurance policy on Rachel last month.”
