Chapter 2 - The Operating Room
The ambulance moved through traffic with its siren screaming.
I sat beside Lily’s stretcher and held the tips of her fingers because the paramedic would not let me move her arm.
Her face looked impossibly small beneath the oxygen mask.
Blood had dried near her ear.
Every few seconds, the monitor made a sound that sent panic through my chest.
“Why isn’t she waking up?” I asked.
The paramedic kept his voice calm.
“She experienced a seizure after striking her head.”
“That can happen after a serious injury.”
“We need imaging before we know more.”
James followed in our car.
His voice came through my phone.
“I’m right behind you.”
“Gerald was arrested.”
“Patricia is telling everyone it was an accident.”
“Save every video,” I said.
“I already uploaded the first one.”
“Send copies somewhere they cannot reach.”
“I’m doing it now.”
At the hospital, a trauma team took Lily through doors I was not allowed to cross.
A nurse guided me into a consultation room.
James arrived minutes later.
His shirt was stained with Lily’s blood.
We sat together without speaking until a pediatric neurosurgeon entered.
Her name was Dr. Maya Chen.
She placed Lily’s scan on the screen.
“There is a fracture at the back of her skull.”
My hand found James’s.
“There is also bleeding around the brain.”
“Is she going to die?”
Dr. Chen did not lie.
“She is in danger.”
“We need to operate immediately to relieve the pressure.”
The consent form shook beneath my hand.
I had signed thousands of legal documents in my career.
None had ever felt heavier.
“How long?”
“Several hours.”
“Can I see her first?”
“You have one minute.”
Lily looked even smaller inside the operating room entrance.
Her curls had been cut near the wound.
A breathing tube had been placed between her lips.
I touched her foot.
“Mommy is here.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Do you hear me?”
“You did nothing wrong.”
The nurses moved her away.
James folded around me when the doors closed.
For ten minutes, I allowed myself to fall apart.
Then my phone began ringing.
Travis.
Vanessa.
Patricia.
My father’s attorney.
I declined every call.
A text arrived from my mother.
You have destroyed your father’s life over one mistake.
Another followed.
Drop the charges before this becomes permanent.
I took screenshots.
Then I forwarded them to the detective assigned to the case.
Detective Marcus Ruiz called immediately.
“Do not respond to anyone in your family.”
“Your father has requested an attorney.”
“Your mother is claiming the video was altered.”
“It was filmed by a guest.”
“We have three separate angles.”
Ruiz paused.
“There is something else.”
“Officers searched the kitchen after the guests left.”
“They found a small security camera above the refrigerator.”
My parents had never told anyone the kitchen was recorded.
“The device has been running for years,” Ruiz continued.
“We recovered footage from earlier today.”
“What did it show?”
“Your father and mother discussing Lily before you arrived.”
Gerald’s voice played faintly in the background of the call.
That little girl needs the same correction Rebecca should have gotten years ago.
May you like
Then Patricia answered.
Maybe today she finally will.
