Chapter 12 - Awakenings
The steady beep of the vital signs monitor was the first sound that broke through the heavy, chemical fog in Emilia’s mind.
Her eyelids fluttered open, searing with pain against the dim lighting of the Intensive Care Unit. Her mouth felt like dry sand. Every muscle in her core screamed with hot, throbbing agony. She weakly moved her right hand, feeling the thick gauze taped across her lower abdomen.
The weight was gone. Her belly was flat, empty, and aching.
"Baby..." she croaked out, her voice barely a dry rasp against the plastic oxygen mask over her face. "My baby..."
"Shh, don't move, Mrs. Mercer," a soft voice spoke. A nurse immediately appeared at her bedside, adjusting the IV drip of pain medication. "You're safe. You're in the surgical recovery ward."
Emilia grabbed the nurse's wrist with desperate, trembling fingers, her eyes wide with terror. "Where is she? Did she survive? Is my baby alive?"
"She is alive," the nurse said with a gentle, reassuring smile. "She is in the NICU under close observation. She is a fighter, Emilia."
Emilia collapsed back against the pillow, tears of pure relief flooding her hollow cheeks. But within seconds, the memories of the penthouse, the shattered china, the envelope, and Sofia's chilling voice came rushing back like toxic poison.
"Where is Julian?" Emilia asked, her voice trembling with rising panic. "Where is my husband?"
The nurse's smile faltered, her gaze shifting uncomfortably toward the door. "Mr. Mercer was in the neonatal unit earlier. But... there was an altercation. Several security officers and a legal representative were involved. He had to step out."
Emilia pushed herself upright, ignoring the white-hot agony tearing through her surgical stitches. "What kind of legal representative? What happened to my daughter?"
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Before the nurse could answer, the ICU door swung open, and Julian stepped into the room. He looked like a walking corpse—his clothes ruined, his eyes swollen and hollow, his hands trembling violently.
In his right hand, he held a sleek leather portfolio stamped with the Vance corporate logo.
