Chapter 2
The nurse stepped into the room first, her voice steady even as her eyes stayed locked on my mom.
“Step away from the patient,” she said, not yelling, but firm enough that my mom flinched.
She hit end on the recording and tucked her phone into her scrub pocket, then moved straight to Lila’s side, checking the monitors, pressing a hand to her shoulder.
“Breathe for me, honey,” she said. “Deep breaths. The baby’s heart rate is high, but it’s steady. You’re okay.”
I couldn’t move. I stood there, half turned toward my mom, my hands still clenched into fists, my brain stuck on the image of that suitcase swinging through the air.
My mom recovered first. She straightened her jacket, her face shifting from rage to fake concern so fast it made me sick.
“I tripped,” she said, her voice high and tight. “That suitcase is heavy, I lost my balance. I would never hurt her, never hurt my grandbaby.”
She reached for Lila’s hand, but Lila flinched away, pressing herself deeper into the bed, tears streaming down her face.
“Don’t touch me,” she whispered.
The nurse looked at me, her eyes sharp. “Do you want me to call security?”
I nodded so hard my neck ached. “Yes. Call them. And the police.”
My mom’s face crumpled. “You’re calling the police on your own mother? Over an accident?”
“That wasn’t an accident,” I said, my voice raw. “I saw you. You lifted it. You aimed at her stomach.”
Security arrived two minutes later, two big men in navy uniforms who flanked my mom like she was a threat. Because she was.
The police came right after them, two officers who took one look at Lila’s shaking body and the suitcase on the floor and went serious.
I gave my statement first, my words coming out fast and jagged, like I was choking on them. Then the nurse pulled out her phone and played the recording for them.
The sound of my mom’s hiss. The thud of the suitcase. Lila’s cry.
My mom started screaming then, calling the nurse a liar, saying the video was edited, that Lila had put me up to this to turn her son against her.
The officers cuffed her. Not tight, but enough to make it real. They read her her rights as she struggled, yelling my name, begging me to tell them it was a mistake.
I didn’t say a word. I just turned my back on her and walked to Lila’s bed, taking her hand in mine.
She was still shaking, her skin ice cold. “Is she gone?” she whispered.
May you like
I nodded, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “She’s gone, baby. She can’t hurt you anymore.”
But even as I said it, I knew it wasn’t true. My mom didn’t give up that easy. And I had no idea how far she’d go to get what she thought was hers.
