Chapter 2 - The Police & The Cold Silence
The silence in room 408 of Northwestern Memorial Hospital was heavy enough to crush bone.
Flynn stood frozen by the foot of my bed, staring down at the scattered white roses on the floor as if expecting the crushed petals to rearrange themselves into a different reality. The blood had completely drained from his face, leaving his skin a sickly, translucent gray.
"Mabel... please," his voice broke, barely higher than a whisper. "The twins... our babies... I didn't know. God forgive me, I didn't know."
"You didn't know I was pregnant," I said, my voice dead and devoid of warmth. "Which means you thought you were only stabbing me."
"No! That's not what happened! I lost my temper—I thought you had attacked Selina—"
"You dropped a knife, picked it back up, walked across the room, and drove it into my stomach twice," Dr. Marcus Reed interjected, his deep voice slicing through Flynn's panicked ramblings. "That is not a loss of temper, Mr. Vance. That is intentional, lethal violence."
Dr. Reed stepped toward the wall, pressed the nurse call button, and spoke clearly into the intercom: "Station two, this is Dr. Reed in 408. Release the security detail outside and notify Detective Reynolds that the patient is awake and ready to give her official statement."
Flynn panicked. His eyes darted toward the door, then back to me. "Mabel, you called the police?"
"Dr. Reed called the police three days ago when the ambulance brought me into the trauma bay with two penetrating stab wounds," I replied, watching him closely. "In the state of Illinois, surgeons are legally required to report severe knife injuries immediately. Did you really think your status as CEO of Vance Global could bury this?"
"I told them it was a tragic kitchen accident!" Flynn pleaded, taking a desperate step closer. "I told the officers you slipped while cooking! If you testify against me, Mabel, I'll go to prison! Vance Global's stock will plunge! Everything we built—"
"Everything you built on my sacrifices," I corrected him, feeling a sudden, terrifying clarity wash over me. The physical pain in my abdomen burned beneath the heavy surgical bandages, but my mind had never been sharper. "You didn't build this life alone, Flynn. I sacrificed my career at Apex Capital three years ago to manage your family's portfolio and secure your board's trust. And how did you repay me? By stabbing me for a woman who scratched herself with a thumbnail."
Before Flynn could respond, the heavy wooden door pushed open. Two uniformed Chicago police officers stepped inside, followed by a tall, sharp-eyed woman in a tailored dark grey suit holding a yellow notepad.
"Mr. Flynn Vance?" Detective Reynolds asked, her eyes sweeping over the room and landing on the white roses strewn across the linoleum. "I am Detective Reynolds with the CPD Violent Crimes Unit."
Flynn smoothed his designer shirt, attempting to summon his usual charismatic executive aura. "Detective. There’s been a massive misunderstanding. My wife is emotionally distraught from her medical procedure—"
"Your wife was stabbed twice in her abdomen, resulting in emergency surgical intervention and the termination of a high-risk twin pregnancy," Detective Reynolds said dryly, turning her back on Flynn to look at me. "Mrs. Vance, I need to hear it from you. Were these wounds self-inflicted or accidental?"
I looked Flynn dead in the eye. I saw the desperate, silent begging in his gaze—the same man who had looked at me with unbridled hatred three days ago as I bled out on our Persian rug.
"My husband, Flynn Vance, stabbed me twice with a paring knife on Tuesday afternoon," I said clearly and distinctly, ensuring every word was captured by the officer's body camera. "He did it intentionally after his mistress, Selina Cole, falsely accused me of assaulting her."
"Mabel, no!" Flynn gasped.
"Officer, arrest Mr. Vance," Detective Reynolds commanded calmly.
The two uniformed officers moved instantly. Within seconds, Flynn's arms were twisted behind his back and steel handcuffs clicked shut around his wrists.
"You have the right to remain silent," the officer recited monotonously. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..."
"Mabel! Think about what you're doing!" Flynn shrieked as he was dragged backward toward the door. "Selina lied to me! She tricked me! I love you, Mabel! I only love you!"
"Take him out," Dr. Reed ordered sternly.
As Flynn was hauled down the hospital hallway in full view of doctors, nurses, and visiting patients, I turned my gaze toward the window. Rain was beginning to streak against the glass over the Chicago skyline.
The grieving mother inside me was weeping for the two tiny heartbeats that would never ring out. But the woman lying in that hospital bed had just been reborn.
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"Are you alright, Mrs. Vance?" Dr. Reed asked softly, walking over to check my IV drip.
"No, Dr. Reed," I murmured, staring at the grey clouds above Lake Michigan. "I'm not alright. But I am going to make sure every single person involved in this pays with everything they hold dear."
