Chapter 2
The ambulance ride was a blur of sirens and cold oxygen and Sarah’s hand on my shoulder, telling me to breathe.
Every bump in the road sent a new jolt of pain through my back, but I barely felt it.
All I could think about was Marcus in that security room, erasing the only proof I had.
At the hospital, they wheeled me straight into the ER, cutting my dress off with scissors while a dozen doctors and nurses swarmed around me.
Sarah didn’t leave.
She stood in the corner, arms crossed, watching like a hawk while my parents pushed their way past the triage nurse ten minutes later.
Tyler was right behind them, his arm slung around Lauren’s shoulders like he was the grieving brother, not the man who’d tried to kill me.
“Where is she?” Mom shrieked, her heels clicking so loud on the linoleum people turned to stare. “That girl is going to ruin this family with her lies!”
A nurse stepped in front of her, but Mom shoved her aside like she was a piece of trash.
She marched right up to my gurney, her face purple with rage.
“Bridget, you listen to me,” she hissed, leaning down so her spit hit my face. “You tell those police you tripped. You tell them you were drunk and fell. Do you hear me? We will not let you destroy Tyler’s life over a stupid mistake.”
Tyler nodded, his eyes glistening with fake tears.
“Bridget, I know you’re upset about Grandma. I know you’re scared. But this is too far. Just… take it back. We can forget this ever happened. I’ll even let you keep some of the money. Just please.”
I stared at him, my mouth dry.
Some of the money.
He was already bargaining for Grandma’s things like she was already nothing more than a bank account.
“I didn’t fall,” I said, my voice raspy but steady. “You pushed me.”
Dad’s hand came down so hard on the side of the gurney the IV line jiggled.
“You ungrateful little—”
“Sir.”
Sarah stepped forward, her voice like ice. She put her body between my dad and me, her paramedic badge glinting under the fluorescent lights.
“You touch that gurney again, or you speak to her like that one more time, and I will have security remove you. And then I will press charges for verbal assault of a patient. Do I make myself clear?”
Dad’s face turned a shade of red I’d never seen before, but he stepped back.
He knew Sarah wasn’t bluffing.
Two police officers walked in right then, their boots heavy on the floor.
One was a woman with gray hair and a scar across her cheek, Detective Alvarez. The other was a young guy with a notebook, Officer Reed.
“Bridget Hale?” Alvarez said, walking straight to my side. “I’m Detective Alvarez with the violent crimes unit. Can you tell me what happened today?”
Mom let out a wail that could have woken the dead.
“She’s lying! She’s always lying! She’s been after Tyler’s inheritance since the day Grandma died!”
“Ma’am,” Alvarez said, not even looking at her. “I’m speaking to the victim. If you interrupt me one more time, you will be placed in handcuffs. Do you understand?”
Mom shut up so fast she looked like a fish gasping for air.
I told Alvarez everything.
About the will. About Tyler cornering me on the deck. About him shoving me. About Marcus heading straight for the security room.
When I finished, Alvarez’s jaw tightened.
“Reed,” she said to her partner. “Get two units over to the Hale residence. Secure the security system. No one touches that DVR, you hear me? Not the family, not the staff, no one.”
Reed nodded and ran out.
Tyler’s face went white.
He exchanged a quick, panicked look with Marcus—who’d just slunk into the ER, pretending he’d been worried sick about me.
Alvarez saw it too.
She turned to Marcus, her eyes sharp.
“Marcus Hale? No relation, I assume?”
“Cousin,” Marcus mumbled, avoiding her eyes. “I was at the party. I… I ran to call 911.”
“Funny,” Alvarez said. “Our 911 logs show the call came from a neighbor. No one at the Hale residence called until ten minutes after the neighbor. Where were you exactly, right after Bridget fell?”
Marcus’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
“I… I was in the bathroom. Upset.”
“Uh-huh,” Alvarez said, writing it down. “We’ll check the security tapes to confirm.”
Tyler’s hand tightened around Lauren’s arm so hard she whimpered.
I closed my eyes, my heart hammering.
If Marcus had already erased the tapes, I had nothing.
No proof.
Just my word against the whole family.
A doctor walked in then, holding my MRI results, his face grave.
“Bridget,” he said, pulling Alvarez aside for a second. When he turned back to me, his voice was gentle. “You have a fracture in your T12 vertebra. It’s pressing on your spinal cord. That’s why you can’t feel your legs. We need to operate immediately. There’s… there’s no guarantee you’ll walk again.”
The room went quiet.
I saw Tyler’s shoulders relax almost imperceptibly.
A broken, paralyzed sister was easier to dismiss as a liar than a healthy one.
Mom let out a small, cold laugh.
“See? She’s clearly not in her right mind. How can you believe anything she says when she’s injured like this?”
Alvarez stared at Mom like she was something she’d scraped off her shoe.
Then she turned back to me, her voice soft.
“Bridget, do you want to press charges against your brother for aggravated assault?”
I looked at Tyler.
He smirked at me, just a tiny lift of his mouth, sure I’d back down like I always had.
I looked at Sarah, standing tall beside me, the only person who’d believed me from the second she found me on those rocks.
I looked at the doctor, holding my fate in his hands.
“Yes,” I said, loud and clear. “I want to press every charge you can.”
Tyler’s smirk dropped.
May you like
Alvarez nodded, turning to her notebook.
“Then let’s get started.”
