“Julia! How dare you touch Heidi? Can you afford to compensate for the child she’s carrying? You and your father’s lives wouldn’t be enough!”
He charged forward, grabbed my shoulders, and shoved.
I was thrown hard, my back slamming into the sharp corner of the entryway like a heavy hammer striking me.
Pain exploded in my chest. My vision went black. I staggered, then collapsed.
I heard Caleb’s hysterical roaring, Heidi’s fake frightened sobs, and the murmurs of people around us.
The noises tangled together, stabbing into my ears like countless needles.
I tried to push myself up, but my body refused to move.
My consciousness cracked open, leaking away rapidly.
In the last moment before everything went dark, I saw Caleb glaring at me with a frown, yet still holding Heidi protectively, terrified that she might be startled.
Then the darkness swallowed me completely.
When I opened my eyes again, the first thing that hit me was the sharp smell of disinfectant.
The white ceiling swayed slightly in my vision. I tried to move my fingers, but they felt weighed down by something heavy.
The curtain was pulled aside. A doctor stepped to the bedside, his expression calm.
“You’re awake?”