Chapter 4 - The Ghost in the Apron
Dr. Sterling’s throat worked frantically, his fingers digging into the leather handle of his medical bag. ""Julian... you... the baby is breathing?""
""A miracle, Arthur,"" Julian said, his eyes narrowing slightly as he observed his doctor's odd, pale reaction. ""No thanks to the county paramedics. They nearly baked his brain with heating pads.""
""I... I gave explicit instructions over the phone to maintain core temperature,"" Sterling stammered, recovering his smooth veneer with practiced haste. He stepped forward, reaching out his manicured hands toward the baby. ""Hand him to me, Julian. We need to transport him to my private clinic immediately. An anoxic brain injury requires intensive hyperbaric therapy.""
""Don't touch him,"" Elena said.
Her voice was quiet, but it hit the room with the force of an iron bar.
Sterling turned on her, his eyes blazing with fury masking raw terror. ""Excuse me? You are a domestic servant! Know your place before I have the police remove you for practicing medicine without a license!""
""If you move him to a private clinic without stabilizing his systemic arterial pH, he will slip into irreversible lactic acidosis within twenty minutes,"" Elena stated coldly, locking eyes with Sterling. ""And you know that, Arthur. Or did you forget the basic pediatric trauma protocols we established five years ago at Johns Hopkins?""
The room fell into a dead, suffocating silence.
The lead paramedic gasped softly. Julian’s gaze flicked between Elena and Sterling, the sharp gears of his brilliant mind turning in real time.
""You two know each other,"" Julian whispered.
Sterling laughed nervously, sweat beading along his receding hairline. ""She’s a lunatic, Julian! Her name isn't whatever maid name she gave you. This is Elena Hayes. The disgraced former fellow whose reckless arrogance killed Senator Lawson's infant daughter three years ago! She lost her medical license, was indicted for manslaughter, and disappeared!""
Elena didn't flinch. Her chin remained lifted, her dark eyes burning with ice. ""I was framed, Arthur. The hospital board altered the lab reports to cover your lethal surgical blunder. You buried a four-month-old child to save your own career, and today, you almost buried another.""
Julian stepped directly between Sterling and Elena. His imposing frame towered over the physician. ""Arthur,"" Julian said in a dangerously soft voice. ""Get out of my house.""
""Julian, you can't trust this criminal—""
""Get out,"" Julian snarled, ""before I have my security throw you off the balcony.""
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Sterling glared at Elena with venomous hatred, turned on his heel, and stormed out into the corridor.
Julian slowly turned back toward Elena. ""Pack your bags,"" he commanded. ""You and I are going to talk. In my private study. Right now.""
