Chapter 5 - The Bail Betrayal
The morning sun broke through the grey clouds over Saint Jude’s Hospital, casting pale light across the white bedsheets. But the warmth of the day could not pierce the ice settling in my veins.
He had planned it. Every single detail. The argument over the $14 blanket wasn't a sudden explosion of abuse—it was a engineered distraction. He had intended to shove me hard enough to trigger a fatal placental rupture, make it look like an accidental slip on a wet floor, and walk away three million dollars richer while I bled out on the linoleum.
“He’s a predator,” Detective Reynolds said, her voice dripping with cold disgust. “We’ve locked his assets and served the insurance company with a federal freeze order. He’s looking at attempted murder, aggravated assault on a pregnant person, and identity fraud.”
“So he’s staying in jail?” I asked, desperate for confirmation.
Reynolds hesitated. The silence in the room stretched thin and dangerous.
“What is it, Detective?” Wyatt demanded, his voice dropping into a low growl.
“His lawyer is Richard Sterling,” Reynolds admitted bitterly. “Sterling is the high-priced defense attorney who represents half the corrupt politicians in the state. He got to the magistrate judge at 7:00 AM before our felony indictment was fully filed. He argued that David is a high-standing executive with no prior violent record under his current legal name.”
I sat up straight, a sharp pain shooting through my abdomen. “No. No, no, no...”
“The judge set bail at $500,000,” Reynolds said quietly. “Sterling paid it in cash ten minutes ago. David is out.”
Panic smashed through me like a freight train. I grabbed the edge of the hospital blanket, my breathing coming in short, terrifying gasps. “He’s coming here. He’s going to finish it!”
“He won't touch you,” Wyatt barked, standing up so fast his chair rattled against the floorboards. “He doesn't even know which floor you’re on.”
“You don't understand how David works!” I cried, tears blinding my vision. “He has tracking software on my phone! He has cameras around our house! He knows everything about my life because he built the cage himself!”
Wyatt reached over, picked up my smartphone from the bedside table, dropped it onto the floor, and crushed it beneath the heavy heel of his work boot with a single, brutal snap of plastic and glass.
“Now he doesn't,” Wyatt said calmly, looking at the shattered pieces. He turned to Reynolds. “We need to move her. Now.”
“Where?” Reynolds asked. “He’ll be watching her mother’s apartment in the city.”
“My farm,” Wyatt said. “He doesn't know who I am yet. He only knows me as the store manager who grabbed his collar. He doesn't know my last name is Miller, or that Clara was my sister.”
Reynolds nodded slowly. “I’ll assign an unmarked squad car to follow you out to the property. We’ll expedite the arrest warrant for the identity theft under his Colorado alias, but it’s going to take 24 hours to get the judge’s signature.”
Wyatt leaned over my bed, his big, reassuring presence blocking out the terrifying world outside. “Can you walk, Sarah?”
May you like
I looked down at the $14 blanket still wrapped tightly in my fingers. I thought of the little girl kicking softly beneath my heart.
“I can walk,” I said, my voice hardening. “Get me out of here.”
