Chapter 5 - Shadows at the NICU Door
The sterile white halls of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital buzzed with the quiet, urgent hum of monitors and the soft squeak of rubber-soled shoes. Simone walked down corridor C, carrying a small canvas tote bag filled with organic cotton onesies and a hand-knitted pink blanket.
For the first time in a month, her heart didn't feel like a lead weight in her chest.
Isabella was finally ready to leave the NICU. At four pounds, twelve ounces, her daughter was a tiny, fierce warrior who had beaten the odds stacked against her by a careless father and a treacherous lake.
As Simone approached Room 412, she noticed a shadow blocking the doorway.
It was a woman in a heavy black trench coat, her blonde hair pulled back in a messy bun, wearing dark sunglasses indoors. Even without the designer label, the posture was unmistakable.
Rebecca Lane.
Simone stopped ten feet away, her jaw tightening, her hand instinctively gripping the strap of her canvas bag. "What are you doing here?"
Rebecca turned around. Without her makeup, she looked hollowed out—her cheeks sunken, her skin sallow, eyes red-rimmed from sleepless nights and mounting terror. The federal indictment had clearly taken a brutal toll.
"I just wanted to see her," Rebecca whispered, her voice cracking pathetically. "I wanted to see what was left of... of everything."
"You have no right to be anywhere near my daughter," Simone said, her voice dropping into a lethal, controlled register as she closed the distance between them. "You lost any claim to humanity the day you watched me sink beneath the surface and let David swim to your rescue."
"I didn't ask him to choose me!" Rebecca sobbed, her voice rising hysterically before she caught herself, glancing nervously at a passing nurse. "I didn't know he wouldn't turn back! I panicked! People do terrible things when they're scared, Simone!"
"Fear is a human reaction, Rebecca. Cowardice and malice are choices," Simone retorted, stepping directly into Rebecca’s personal space. "You knew he was married. You knew I was pregnant. You weaponized your fake panic attacks to manipulate a weak man into destroying a family. And now that the bill has come due, you want sympathy?"
Rebecca reached out, her fingers trembling as she clutched at the sleeve of Simone’s blazer. "Please... Elena Vance is seizing everything I own. The apartment, the car, my bank accounts—they’re taking it all. The feds are saying I’m facing five years for wire fraud. David won't even talk to me through his lawyer. I have nobody, Simone. Please... tell your lawyer to back off."
Simone looked down at Rebecca’s shaking hand, then slowly raised her gaze to meet the tear-filled, desperate eyes behind the designer sunglasses.
"My lawyer works for justice, not charity," Simone said coldly, peeling Rebecca’s fingers off her sleeve one by one. "You wanted David’s lifestyle without the work? Well, congratulations. You’re about to experience the consequences of his crimes firsthand. Now, get out of this hospital before I call security and have you thrown out in handcuffs."
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Rebecca stared at her, realizing with horrifying clarity that there was no mercy left in Simone Carter’s heart. With a choked sob, Rebecca turned and practically fled down the sterile hallway, disappearing around the corner like a ghost chased out of the light.
Simone took a deep breath, smoothing down her blazer, and pushed open the door to Room 412.
