Chapter 1 – The Ring
Mark stared at the platinum band resting in his trembling palm as if it weighed far more than a few grams of metal.
He looked from the ring to Lucy's pale face.
"Ma'am... stay with me."
Lucy barely managed a nod before another sharp pain twisted through her abdomen. Every instinct from her years as an emergency room nurse told her exactly what was happening.
Her body was beginning to fail.
Mark shouted over his shoulder.
"Lieutenant! We've got a pregnant victim back here! Severe distress!"
Alex was already halfway to the ambulance with Valerie in his arms.
"I've got a critical patient!" he yelled without looking back.
Mark hesitated only a second before lifting Lucy himself.
She was frighteningly light.
As he carried her through the broken elevator doors, the paramedics rushed toward the elderly man suffering chest pain while another team treated the dehydrated child.
Lucy caught one last glimpse of Alex.
He gently brushed Valerie's hair away from her face.
The same gesture he used to make every morning before leaving for shift.
The ambulance doors slammed shut.
Inside, a medic clipped an oxygen mask over Lucy's face.
"Twenty-four weeks pregnant," Mark said quickly. "Possible fetal distress. Oxygen deprivation nearly seven hours."
The monitor screamed.
The baby's heartbeat stumbled.
Lucy closed her eyes.
Not because she wanted to sleep.
Because she was no longer certain she wanted to wake up beside the man who had chosen someone else.
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Outside the ambulance, Mark looked down at the wedding ring still clenched in his fist.
He had a feeling he had just witnessed something much worse than a rescue gone wrong.
