Chapter 4

Elliot stood motionless for a few seconds before looking down at the report.

"Eight weeks?"

Margot nodded. "The doctor says it's stable. I just can't be under any stress."

He read it for a moment, then slid the last ring onto her finger.

She caught his hand.

He went still. He didn't pull away.

The cameras turned toward them, shutters firing in a wave.

She had the gown, the ring he'd put on her himself, and his child.

And I'd been his wife for five years, yet to everyone in that hallway I was still the cleanup girl making a scene.

I took out my phone and opened the keypad.

He frowned. "What are you doing now?"

"Calling the police."

"The statement was damage control. There's no reason to escalate this."

"You put my name on a document I never signed and let them call me a thief. Save it for the officers."

I dialed 911 and gave the dispatcher the venue's address.

He stepped in front of me and lowered his voice. "Margot just found out she's pregnant. She can't be put through this. We'll talk after the gala."

"Talk to my lawyer."

I went around him and kept describing the scene.

Margot came at me fast and grabbed for my phone.

"Nora, I only told Elliot about the baby today. Does it have to be tonight?"

"Let go."

I pulled my phone back.

She reached again. Her heel came down on her own train.

Her hand closed on air, and she went down hard.

"Margot!"

Elliot got there and caught her. "Is it your stomach? Are you hurting?"

Margot cupped her belly and nodded with wet eyes. "A little."

He handed her to Vivian and came straight at me.

"You knew she was pregnant and you put your hands on her?"

"She tripped on her own dress."

He didn't listen. The slap cracked across the hallway and sent me stumbling backward.

The force threw me backward.

My stomach caught the edge of a steel barricade.

The pain detonated through me.

I went down on the floor, and red started spreading through my skirt.

People started screaming around us.

Adrian was on his knees beside me. "Don't move. The ambulance is coming."

I looked down as the red spread, and my hands and feet went cold.

Elliot saw the blood too.

He stopped for half a second.

Behind him, Margot was crying that it hurt.

He turned away from me and picked her up. "Get Margot to the hospital first."

They took us to adjacent trauma bays.

Before I went under, I got a hand on Adrian's sleeve. "Don't let him in."

Margot's door opened first.

"Ms. Pearce and the pregnancy are stable."

Elliot let out a breath.

Then my door opened.

He moved toward it and a doctor blocked him.

"Ms. Sutton has authorized Mr. Cheng only."

"I'm her husband."

"She told us the person she least wants to see is her husband."

Adrian went past him into the bay.

Two officers who had taken the report at the venue came into the hall.

"Mr. Vance, Ms. Sutton has filed a report concerning a forged statement and online defamation. Venue footage shows Ms. Pearce reaching for her phone and you striking her. We need you to come with us and give a statement."

His face tightened. "We're married. This is a misunderstanding."

The bay door opened again.

Adrian came out with a chart in his hand and found Elliot.

"This isn't a misunderstanding. At 9:17 p.m., your actions contributed to the loss of my client's pregnancy. We'll be submitting the full record to the district attorney and filing civil claims against you both."

"We will not settle, no matter the number."

Elliot stood there.

"She was pregnant?"