Chapter 10 - Blood on the Board
David stared at the monitor, his blood turning to liquid fire. It wasn't just Elena. His mother wasn't merely covering up a crime after the fact; she had coordinated the immediate destruction of evidence within minutes of the assault. Evelyn had known what Elena was capable of, or worse, she had condoned it to protect the family’s upcoming corporate restructuring.
""Take the drive,"" Marcus said, pulling a high-speed encrypted flash drive from his computer tower and pressing it into David’s hand. ""Give this to the cops and bury them.""
""If I give it to the local police now, Sterling will find a way to tie it up in procedural suppression before it ever hits a courtroom,"" David said, his mind shifting into a dangerous, calculated clarity. ""They have judges on retainer. They control the local district attorney.""
""Then what are you going to do?"" Marcus asked, raising an eyebrow.
""Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, Vance Enterprises is hosting the annual shareholder summit to approve the multi-billion-dollar public merger,"" David said, gripping the flash drive until the edges bit into his skin. ""Elena is scheduled to deliver the keynote address. Evelyn will be sitting on the executive stage. That's where they die.""
David left Marcus’s house and returned to the hospital before dawn. Clara’s room was unchanged, but when he looked at the monitors, a sudden chill gripped his spine. The fetal monitor's numbers were dropping steadily.
Dr. Morris rushed into the room accompanied by two nurses, alarms blaring above the bed.
""Mr. Vance, step outside!"" Dr. Morris ordered, checking the infusion lines frantically. ""Her intracranial pressure just spiked, and the fetal heart rate is decelerating! We need to take her down to emergency surgery right now!""
""Is the baby dying?"" David yelled over the shrieking alarms, his hands grabbing the edge of the bed as orderlies began unlocking the wheels.
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""We have to relieve the pressure on her brain immediately or she will suffer brain death!"" Dr. Morris shouted back. ""And if we operate under this level of distress, we may not be able to save the child!""
The gurney was pushed violently past him into the hallway, moving toward the red doors of the trauma surgery wing. The doors crashed shut, leaving David standing completely alone in the blinding white light of the corridor, his world crumbling beneath his feet.
