Chapter 7 - The Room of Broken Echoes
Room 412 was quiet, save for the rhythmic, electronic beep... beep... beep of the fetal heart monitor mounted beside the narrow hospital bed.
Maya lay propped up against two thin pillows, her face pale as linen, dark purple shadows bruised under her eyes. An IV line snaked into the back of her left hand, delivering a steady drip of saline and magnesium. Her small hands were wrapped tightly around her rounded belly, feeling the gentle, rhythmic kick of the life inside her.
The door clicked open softly, and Julian stepped into the room.
"Julian," Maya whispered, her voice barely a dry rasp.
Julian walked over to the side of the bed, pulling up a vinyl armchair and sitting down close to her. He reached out and wrapped his large, warm hand over hers, feeling the coldness of her skin.
"It's over, Maya," Julian said softly, his voice full of a gentleness that no one in the courtroom had ever heard. "The doctors saved him. The baby is going to be okay."
Tears trickled from the corners of Maya's eyes, soaking into the white cotton pillowcase. "Ryan... Ryan was standing right there, Julian. He looked me right in the eye before Clara pushed me."
"I know," Julian whispered. "I saw him."
"No... you don't understand," Maya choked out, a fresh wave of panic rising in her chest as she turned her head to face her brother. "He didn't just stand there. Before I went outside... before the hearing started... Ryan handed me a bottle of water. He told me to drink it so I wouldn't get dehydrated on the steps."
Julian’s grip on her hand tightened slightly. "The doctors found poison in your blood, Maya."
Maya closed her eyes, a shuddering breath escaping her lips. "I thought I was losing my mind... I thought I was just tired... the memory lapses, the shaking hands... he was killing me, Julian. In our own house. On our own kitchen counter."
"He thought he was clever," Julian said, his voice dropping into a dark, resonant register that filled the quiet room. "He thought he could use Clara as the loud, violent distraction while the poison did the quiet work in the background. If you died from the fall, the coroner would have ruled it an accidental tragedy caused by a sudden fainting spell."
"Where is he now?" Maya asked, her eyes fluttering open, filled with a deep, primal fear.
"He's in a holding cell at the Central Precinct," Julian replied, his expression hardening into stone. "He's screaming for his lawyers. But Arthur Pendelton—his clean-up attorney—is currently in ICU under police guard. And Clara..."
Julian paused, a dark, dangerous spark igniting in his eyes.
May you like
"What about Clara?" Maya whispered.
"Clara survived the fall," Julian said softly. "Subdural hematoma. She's in a medically induced coma. But before they put her under, the paramedics found a voice recorder in her pocket. It was running the entire time she was on those steps."
