Chapter 4

After the Delgado statement went out, I stopped crying.

I opened my laptop and copied the original manuscript onto a USB drive.

Grandma always said:

"Don't grit your teeth through every wrong they do you. Always leave yourself a way out."

I put the drive, my passport, my ID, my prenatal record book, and the key to Grandma's old house all into my bag.

I had just reached the entryway when the doorbell rang.

Hazel was standing outside.

"Peggy, can we talk?"

"No."

She kept her head down.

"I never meant to take anything from you."

"I just... I wanted so badly to start over."

"And starting over means taking what belongs to someone else?"

Her tears spilled over.

"Dylan said you'd get other chances. But I'm not like you."

My phone rang.

The caregiver's voice was shaking.

"Miss Winfield, come to the hospital, quickly!"

"The old lady suddenly lost consciousness. The doctor's telling family to get here right away."

I grabbed my bag and headed for the door.

Hazel caught my arm.

"Peggy, don't go yet..."

I shook her off. "Move!"

She staggered against the wall, and the next second she was sobbing out loud.

"I wasn't stopping you, I only wanted to apologize..."

Dylan's call came in at once.

"Peggy, what did you do to Hazel?"

"My grandmother's dying. I'm going to the hospital right now."

There was a beat of silence on the other end.

"Don't leave the house."

"What did you say?"

"The media is out hunting for whoever leaked this."

"You walk out with that drive, one photo, and Hazel is finished."

The "Hazel crisis PR" group chat kept buzzing with alerts.

He was arranging trending topics, cease-and-desist letters, hotel security.

And my grandmother had one breath left.

"Dylan, the one she wants to see is me!"

His tone turned weary.

"Peggy, what does it change if you go now?"

My whole body went rigid.

He said:

"The doctors can save her. You can't."

"But if you go out, Hazel gets destroyed."

"So her reputation matters more than my grandmother's life?"

"Don't twist it around. I'm just telling you to calm down."

I hung up and pulled the door open.

Eugene and two bodyguards were blocking the doorway.

"Ma'am, Mr. Delgado says you can't leave."

"Move."

Eugene lowered his head.

"Mr. Delgado says he'll handle things at the hospital."

"My grandmother can't wait for him to handle it!"

I slapped him across the face.

The two bodyguards reached out, then pulled back.

I stood there with my belly out to here, and they didn't dare touch me.

The housekeeper looked down and took out my document folder and my car keys.

The ones I'd just packed, ready to take with me.

"Ma'am, Mr. Delgado said to hold on to these, so you don't do anything rash."

He wasn't afraid I'd do something rash.

He was afraid I'd leave with the evidence.

In the confusion I squeezed past Eugene's side.

"Ma'am, you're pregnant, don't run!"

I gripped the handrail and went down.

Nineteenth floor.

Eighteenth floor.

Seventeenth floor.

The caregiver called again, crying.

"Miss Winfield, the old lady came around for a moment, she keeps calling for you..."

At the fifteenth-floor turn, a sharp pain twisted through my lower belly.

My legs buckled and my knee cracked against the step.

A few seconds later something warm ran down my leg.

Eugene's face changed in an instant.

"Ma'am!"

My phone hit the steps.

Through it came the caregiver's broken sobbing.

"Miss Winfield... the old lady, she... she's gone..."

I lay against the steps, my ears ringing.

The last time my grandmother called for me, Dylan had me held back inside my own home.

The hospital's white lights stung my eyes.

A nurse wheeled me toward the ER.

"Twenty weeks pregnant, bleeding, notify obstetrics."

The doctor came with a form.

"There's a risk of miscarriage. She needs to be admitted for observation."

"Where's the family?"

My hand shook too hard to hold the pen.

"I'll sign."

As I finished the last stroke, the door pushed open.

Dylan stood in the doorway, rain on his shoulders.

His first glance wasn't at my blood, or the admission form. It went straight to the USB drive in my palm.

"Peggy, you really had to force me to back down like this?"

I looked at him and couldn't speak.

He took two steps closer and finally saw the red on the sheets.

But the next second, a furious voice rang out:

"Hazel slit her wrist."

"Are you satisfied now?"