Chapter 1 - THE AMBULANCE DOORS
The ambulance doors slammed shut before Harrison could climb inside.
“Sir, you need to step back.”
Harrison ignored the paramedic.
“That’s my sister.”
“And right now she’s our patient.”
Harrison looked through the rear window.
Khloe lay beneath white emergency blankets.
An oxygen mask covered her face.
One paramedic pressed gauze against the wound near her temple.
Another was speaking rapidly into a radio.
Then Harrison heard the words that nearly stopped his heart.
“Eight months pregnant.”
“Possible placental abruption.”
“Fetal distress.”
“Notify trauma and obstetrics.”
The ambulance pulled away.
For three seconds, Harrison stood perfectly still.
Then he turned around.
The courthouse courtyard had become chaos.
People were recording.
Deputies were pushing witnesses back.
Someone was crying.
Someone else was pointing toward the staircase.
And Vanessa Kensington was trying to leave.
Harrison saw her immediately.
She had made it halfway toward the east entrance.
Richard was beside her.
Not Khloe.
Vanessa.
Harrison’s jaw tightened.
A deputy stepped in front of them.
“Ma’am, I need you to remain here.”
Vanessa’s voice shook.
“It was an accident.”
Harrison started walking toward her.
Richard saw him.
“Harrison.”
Harrison kept walking.
“Harrison, listen to me.”
He stopped three feet away.
Richard swallowed.
Vanessa had blood on the heel of one shoe.
Khloe’s blood.
Harrison looked down at it.
Then back at Vanessa.
Her face collapsed.
“She slipped.”
Harrison said nothing.
Vanessa became more desperate.
“She came at me.”
Still nothing.
“She was emotional.”
Harrison finally spoke.
“Choose your next sentence very carefully.”
Vanessa froze.
Richard stepped between them.
“Don’t threaten her.”
Harrison slowly turned his eyes toward him.
“I wasn’t threatening her.”
His voice was almost gentle.
“I was giving her free legal advice.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“This isn’t the time.”
Harrison stared at him.
“My sister is being transported to a trauma center.”
A pause.
“Your eight-month-pregnant wife is being transported to a trauma center.”
Richard looked away.
Harrison noticed.
That tiny movement told him more than any confession could have.
“You haven’t asked whether the baby is alive.”
Richard’s eyes snapped back toward him.
“Of course I care about the baby.”
“Then why are you standing here?”
Richard hesitated.
Vanessa grabbed his arm.
That was when Harrison saw it.
Richard looked at Vanessa’s hand.
Not with surprise.
Not with discomfort.
With familiarity.
Harrison filed the detail away.
A courthouse deputy approached.
“Mr. Cole?”
Harrison turned.
“I need to speak with you.”
“About?”
“We have multiple witnesses.”
The deputy glanced toward Vanessa.
“And courthouse security cameras.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But Harrison saw it.
Fear.
Real fear.
The deputy continued.
“One camera appears to have captured the top landing.”
Richard immediately spoke.
“We need counsel.”
Harrison almost smiled.
“We?”
Richard realized his mistake.
Vanessa pulled her hand away.
The deputy looked between them.
“Ms. Kensington, you’re not free to leave.”
Vanessa’s breathing quickened.
“I didn’t mean for her to fall.”
The courtyard went silent around them.
Richard turned sharply.
“Vanessa.”
Too late.
Harrison heard every word.
So did the deputy.
So did at least six witnesses standing nearby.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Harrison’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Unknown hospital number.
Everything else disappeared.
He answered.
“This is Harrison Cole.”
“Mr. Cole, this is St. Matthew’s Trauma Center.”
Harrison closed his eyes.
“How is she?”
There was a pause.
“We need you here immediately.”
Harrison’s stomach dropped.
“What happened?”
“Your sister has regained consciousness briefly.”
“Is the baby alive?”
Another pause.
Too long.
“Mr. Cole.”
“Is the baby alive?”
“We’re preparing for an emergency delivery.”
Harrison turned away from the crowd.
Then the doctor said something else.
Something Harrison hadn’t expected.
“Your sister is refusing surgery until she speaks to you.”
Harrison’s eyes opened.
“Why?”
“She keeps repeating the same sentence.”
“What sentence?”
The doctor lowered his voice.
“She says her husband did this.”
Harrison slowly turned.
Across the courtyard, Richard was watching him.
And for the first time since Khloe fell—
May you like
Harrison wondered whether Vanessa’s shove had really been the beginning.
Or whether it had been the end of something Richard had planned months ago.
