Chapter 4

At seven that evening, the labor-inducing drugs began to take effect.

At first it was just an intermittent tightening in my lower abdomen.

In less than an hour, the pain grew denser and denser, like someone twisting a knife around inside my belly.

My hospital gown was quickly soaked through with cold sweat.

Jackson didn't show up once, from start to finish.

At eight thirty, my phone buzzed.

It was a text from Jackson.

Have you made enough of a scene yet?

Blocking my calls every time we argue—how childish are you?

I stared at the screen and didn't reply.

Soon he sent a few more.

Margot's checkup turned up a problem, she has to be admitted right now, and I don't have enough cash on hand.

Transfer me the 67,000 you owe me first, it's urgent.

I'm only taking what you owe me, not a cent more.

I was in so much pain my whole body felt cold, but when I read that last line, I still couldn't help the twist at the corner of my mouth.

When his own sister ran into trouble, he could run himself ragged for her, empty his pockets for her.

His wife didn't come home all night, and he couldn't even be bothered to ask where I was.

And now he was reaching out—only to ask for money.

Suddenly another violent, cramping pain wrenched through my abdomen.

I couldn't even hold onto my phone. I curled up into a ball and bit down hard on the corner of the blanket.

The nurse came in on her rounds, saw the state I was in, and her face changed at once.

"Doctor! Bed 32 has abnormally tight contractions!"

A little after nine, the doctor rushed in to examine me.

"The placental separation looks bad. Prep her for surgery immediately."

I was lifted onto a gurney and rushed toward the treatment room.

The elevator doors at the end of the corridor opened just then.

Jackson wheeled Margot out.

When he saw me lying on the gurney, he froze for a second, then his face darkened and he strode over.

"How long are you going to keep up this act?"

"Jessica, that's about enough."

"Do you think if you blow this up big enough, you won't have to pay the money back?"

"You've been making a scene since yesterday—isn't this all just to force me to back down?"

"Let me tell you, one thing has nothing to do with the other. You owe me that money, and you're not paying a cent less."

Fighting through the tearing pain in my abdomen, I reached a hand out to the nurse.

"The consent form, please."

The nurse hesitated a moment, then handed over the clipboard with the papers on it.

Then I pulled those few sheets loose and flung them hard into Jackson's face.

Papers scattered all over the floor.

Jackson instinctively grabbed one of them.

The bold black letters at the top leapt out at him.

Informed Consent for Termination of Pregnancy.

His face went white in an instant.

"What is this?"

"Who gave you permission to do this?"

"That's my child—how dare you abort it behind my back?"

I knocked his hand aside.

"Didn't you always say my body is my own, and if anything goes wrong I have to take responsibility for it myself?"

"Well, now I'm taking responsibility myself."

"Your half of the seed—I'm not having it."

Jackson lost it completely.

He spun around and grabbed the doctor beside him, his voice cracking.

"No! I don't consent!"

"Stop right now! I'm the child's father. Without my signature, you can't do this to her!"

The doctor threw his hand off.

"The patient has already taken the medication. There's no stopping it now."

"Her placenta is extremely low-lying, with a constant risk of major hemorrhage. The family needs to step back immediately and stop agitating the patient!"

Jackson refused to back off and lunged forward to grab me.

"Jessica, you're just trying to scare me!"

"There's no way you'd actually go through with aborting your own child!"

The words had barely left his mouth when a warm liquid gushed out from under me.

The nurse lifted the thin blanket and took one look.

Large patches of glaring bright red spread fast across the sheets.

The doctor's expression changed drastically.

"Her blood pressure is dropping!"

"Get her to the operating room now, quick!"

The gurney was shoved out hard.

The lights overhead flashed past above me, and my consciousness began to blur.

Jackson chased after us, and at last there was fear in his voice.

"Jessica!"

"Jessica, stop right there!"

The isolation doors of the operating room slammed shut.

His voice was cut off completely on the other side.