Chapter 9 - The Breath of Life
"Mr. Mercer?" Dr. Alvarez called out, his breathing labored and ragged.
Julian pushed past the attorney and the security guards, rushing to the doctor’s side. "How is she? How is Emilia?"
"Your wife lost a catastrophic amount of blood from the abruption," Dr. Alvarez said gravely, his eyes heavy with sorrow. "We managed to stabilize her, but she remains in an induced coma in the intensive care unit. She survived, but the next twenty-four hours are critical."
Julian let out a ragged, trembling breath, sinking against the doorframe in profound relief. "And the baby? Please... tell me about the baby."
Dr. Alvarez paused, casting a wary, uncertain look toward Arthur Vance and the approaching hospital security detail. He lowered his voice. "A girl. Two pounds, fourteen ounces. She’s extremely premature. Her lungs aren't fully developed, and she’s currently on maximum respiratory support in the neonatal incubator."
"Can I see her?" Julian begged, clutching the doctor's scrub top. "Please, just let me see her for one minute."
"She belongs to the Vance Estate, Doctor," Arthur interrupted firmly, stepping up and thrusting the court order into Dr. Alvarez’s chest. "Any visitation by Mr. Mercer is an explicit violation of a standing court directive. Access is denied."
Dr. Alvarez looked down at the court document, then up at Julian’s devastated, hollow face. The doctor’s jaw tightened with moral disgust, but the law in front of him was ironclad.
"I am a physician, Mr. Vance, not a bailiff," Dr. Alvarez said with cold defiance. "Until the hospital’s legal counsel reviews this injunction at eight in the morning, medical protocol dictates the legal father listed on the intake chart retains visitation rights. Security, remove this attorney from the sterile corridor immediately."
Arthur's eyes flared with cold irritation. "You'll regret that decision, Doctor."
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Julian didn't wait for Arthur to finish his threat. He sprinted through the swinging doors into the sterile corridor, washing his trembling hands with surgical soap before bursting into the darkened, quiet sanctuary of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
There, inside a glass box surrounded by glowing digital monitors, lay a tiny human being, smaller than the span of his hand, fighting for every single breath.
