Chapter 1 - The Locked Door
“Claire, open the door!” Rachel screamed, striking the glass with both palms.
Her husband, Daniel Bennett, rushed from the dining room clutching the silver balcony latch his sister had snapped into place.
There was a fresh smear of blood beside the locking mechanism.
Daniel looked through the glass at his unconscious pregnant wife.
This was no longer a family argument.
Rachel Bennett remembered almost nothing about the final minute before she collapsed.
She remembered the cold.
She remembered the strange sensation of her fingers becoming separate things, pieces of her body she could see but no longer properly feel.
She remembered pressing one hand over the curve of her six-month pregnancy while using the other to pound against the glass.
And she remembered Lauren.
Lauren Bennett stood on the warm side of the balcony door in her long black evening dress, watching her.
Rachel could still hear her sister-in-law’s voice.
“Maybe a little suffering will toughen you up.”
It had started twenty minutes earlier over something so ridiculous Rachel could barely understand how it had become a fight.
The Bennett family was celebrating Daniel’s father’s sixtieth birthday at his parents’ luxury apartment overlooking downtown Chicago.
Edward Bennett had spent forty years building a commercial construction company. The family lived comfortably, entertained lavishly, and treated formal dinners like military campaigns.
Rachel had never fit naturally into that world.
She was a public-school music teacher.
She bought dresses on sale.
She thought a hundred dollars was too much to spend on dinner.
Lauren thought all of those facts were evidence of poor breeding.
For three years, Rachel had tolerated the comments.
Daniel had always defended her when he heard them.
The problem was that Lauren was clever enough to make most of her comments when Daniel was somewhere else.
That night, Lauren had been drinking champagne.
Rachel had been drinking sparkling water.
When Rachel declined a plate of smoked salmon because her doctor had advised her to be cautious with certain foods during pregnancy, Lauren rolled her eyes.
“You’ve turned pregnancy into a full-time personality.”
Rachel tried to ignore her.
Lauren continued.
“Women have had babies for thousands of years without acting like porcelain dolls.”
“Lauren,” Rachel said quietly.
“What?”
“Please stop.”
Lauren smiled.
That smile was always worse than the insult.
Their mother, Margaret, was speaking with guests near the dining room and didn’t seem to notice.
Edward was opening a bottle of wine.
Daniel had stepped into his father’s study to answer a business call.
Lauren leaned toward Rachel.
“You know what I think?”
“No.”
“I think you enjoy making Daniel nervous.”
Rachel stared at her.
“You enjoy having everyone ask whether you’re comfortable. Whether you need to sit down. Whether the room is too warm. Whether the food is acceptable.”
Rachel’s jaw tightened.
“I didn’t ask anyone to do any of that.”
Lauren lifted her champagne.
“Exactly what a manipulative person would say.”
Rachel walked away.
She went toward the balcony because she needed air.
She didn’t intend to step outside.
Lauren followed.
“Running away?”
“I’m ending the conversation.”
“You always do that when someone tells you the truth.”
Rachel turned.
“Your version of the truth is whatever hurts the person you’re talking to.”
Lauren’s expression changed.
Rachel should have stopped there.
Instead, after three years of swallowing every insult, she continued.
“You don’t like me. Fine. But this baby is your niece or nephew. You don’t get to treat me like this anymore.”
Lauren laughed once.
“You think having Daniel’s baby suddenly makes you important?”
The words landed harder than Rachel expected.
“Move.”
Lauren stood in the doorway.
Rachel tried to walk around her.
Lauren stepped back.
Rachel moved onto the balcony.
Then Lauren slid the glass door shut.
At first Rachel thought it was another cruel joke.
“Open it.”
Lauren stared through the glass.
Rachel reached for the outside handle.
Locked.
“Lauren.”
Lauren mouthed something.
Rachel couldn’t hear through the thick glass.
Then Lauren cracked the door open two inches.
“Maybe a little suffering will toughen you up.”
And closed it again.
The lock clicked.
Rachel stared at her.
“Are you serious?”
Lauren turned away.
Rachel hit the glass.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
“Lauren!”
The temperature was well below freezing.
Rachel had no coat.
Her shoulders were bare.
Snow from an earlier storm covered parts of the balcony floor, while wind pushed loose powder against the glass railing.
Inside, music played.
Guests laughed.
Rachel could see them through the windows.
She hit harder.
“Daniel!”
Lauren glanced back.
Rachel pointed toward the lock.
Lauren shook her head.
Five minutes.
Maybe less.
Rachel began shivering violently.
Her teeth knocked together.
She could no longer feel the polished tile beneath her feet.
She wrapped both arms around herself.
Then she felt something else.
A tightening low in her abdomen.
She froze.
“No.”
The baby moved.
Rachel placed both hands over her belly.
“Stay with me.”
She pounded again.
A guest finally looked toward the balcony.
Lauren intercepted him.
Rachel couldn’t hear what she said.
The guest nodded and walked away.
That terrified Rachel more than anything.
Lauren was deliberately preventing people from helping her.
Rachel hit the glass until the side of her hand split against the metal frame.
Blood smeared beside the latch.
Her vision blurred.
“Daniel!”
Inside the study, Daniel finally ended his call.
He stepped into the hallway and looked around.
“Where’s Rachel?”
Lauren didn’t answer quickly enough.
Daniel saw her face.
Then he saw the balcony.
He ran.
By the time he reached the glass door, Rachel was on one knee.
“Rachel!”
He grabbed the lock.
Lauren caught his arm.
“She’s being dramatic.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What did you say?”
“She was yelling at me. I told her to cool off.”
Daniel shoved her hand away and unlocked the door.
Cold air rushed inside.
Rachel tried to stand.
She saw Daniel.
Relief crossed her face.
Then her knees folded.
Daniel lunged forward, but he was too far away.
Rachel fell onto her side.
Her cheek struck the snow.
“RACHEL!”
Margaret screamed.
Edward dropped his wineglass.
It shattered across the marble floor.
Daniel slid onto his knees beside his wife.
Rachel’s eyes were closed.
“Baby, look at me.”
Nothing.
He touched her face.
Her skin frightened him.
“Call 911!”
Lauren stood frozen in the doorway.
Daniel tore off his jacket and wrapped it around Rachel.
Margaret grabbed blankets.
Edward shouted at guests to move.
Somebody called emergency services.
Daniel pressed his fingers to Rachel’s neck.
A pulse.
Weak.
But there.
“Stay with me.”
Rachel didn’t respond.
Then her abdomen tightened again.
Daniel saw it.
His face drained.
“No. No, no, no.”
The paramedics arrived nine minutes later.
By then the party had become a nightmare.
Rachel was carried through the apartment on a stretcher.
Daniel went with her.
Before the elevator doors closed, he turned toward Lauren.
His sister was crying now.
“Daniel, I didn’t know—”
He stared at her.
“You locked my pregnant wife outside.”
“I was angry.”
“You locked her outside.”
“For just a few minutes.”
Daniel’s voice became almost frighteningly quiet.
“When I come back, you’d better have a better explanation than that.”
The doors closed.
At Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rachel disappeared through double doors.
Daniel waited.
One hour.
Then two.
Margaret and Edward arrived.
Lauren did not.
Daniel ignored his parents.
He sat forward with his hands locked together, staring at the floor.
At 12:46 a.m., an obstetrician finally approached.
“Mr. Bennett?”
Daniel stood.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
His knees nearly gave out.
“And the baby?”
The doctor hesitated.
“The fetal heartbeat is present.”
Daniel breathed.
But the doctor didn’t smile.
“What?”
“We stabilized your wife’s temperature. She has moderate hypothermia, bruising from the fall, and signs of uterine contractions.”
“Is the baby coming?”
“We’re trying to prevent that.”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“What else?”
The doctor looked toward Margaret and Edward.
“Mr. Bennett, I need to ask you something.”
“Anything.”
“Has your wife had any unexplained dizziness recently?”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“Confusion? Nausea worse than usual? Episodes of weakness?”
Margaret stepped closer.
“Why?”
The doctor ignored her.
Daniel thought.
“She’s been tired. But she’s pregnant.”
“Any fainting?”
“Two weeks ago. She got dizzy in the kitchen.”
The doctor nodded slowly.
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“What does that have to do with tonight?”
“We ran blood work because some of her readings didn’t match what we would expect from cold exposure alone.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What readings?”
The doctor lowered his voice.
“We found traces of a medication in her bloodstream.”
Margaret frowned.
“What medication?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Rachel doesn’t take anything except prenatal vitamins.”
“That’s why I’m concerned.”
“Concerned about what?”
Before the doctor could answer, another physician came through the doors holding a chart.
She whispered something to him.
The first doctor’s expression changed.
Daniel saw it immediately.
“What?”
The doctors exchanged a glance.
“Tell me.”
The second physician looked at Daniel.
“We repeated the test.”
“And?”
“The result wasn’t an error.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“What was in my wife’s blood?”
The doctor opened the chart.
Then she said the name of the drug.
Margaret gasped.
Edward went completely still.
Daniel stared at both of his parents.
Because he knew that medication.
He had seen the same bottle earlier that evening.
May you like
It had been sitting inside Lauren’s purse.
And someone had just walked into the hospital carrying that purse.
