I Craved Crawfish, but He Fed It All to My Sister Chapter 05

I Craved Crawfish, but He Fed It All to My Sister Chapter 05

It was Evan Hayes.

He pulled off his coat and covered me. He didn’t touch me anywhere. He just kept saying the same thing over and over.

“Ambulance is here. The recording’s secure. Stay with me.”

The paramedics cut my clothes off in the back of the ambulance.

The ultrasound probe pressed against my abdomen.

The doctor’s face grew heavier and heavier.

“There’s no fetal heartbeat.”

“She’s losing too much blood. We need to go into surgery now.”

Someone asked, “Is there family?”

I stared up at the blinding white lights overhead.

“No family.”

By the time the ambulance reached the hospital, Derek had arrived too.

He’d probably just left Maren’s side. His coat still smelled like her perfume.

The police asked me, “Who tied you up in that bathroom?”

I used the last of my strength to lift my bruised and welted wrists and point at Derek.

“Him.”

Evan handed my watch to the police.

Maren’s voice rang out clearly from the recording. “Don’t kill her. It’d be better if the baby died too.”

Every drop of color drained from Derek’s face.

When I woke, it was pitch black outside.

The foot of the bed was empty. There should have been a bassinet there.

Even though I’d once scheduled the termination myself, losing the baby this way still felt like someone had carved out a piece of my chest.

I pressed my hand to my stomach. It was flat now.

A nurse came in to change my dressings and told me Derek was outside.

“The police just finished questioning him.”

“He wants to see you.”

“The protection order is officially in effect. If you don’t want him here, he can’t come in.”

I closed my eyes. “I don’t want to see him.”

It went quiet outside for a long time.

Derek’s hoarse voice came through the door. “Sloane, I didn’t send those men. I only meant to lock you in for two hours.”

I looked at the welts on my wrists. “You’re the one who locked the door.”

There was no more sound from the other side.

The police found a hidden camera in the bathroom exhaust fan.

The camera was linked to Maren’s cloud account.

She hadn’t just hired those men. She’d stood in the house’s security room and watched the entire thing play

out.

The equipment was seized immediately. The men were arrested within days. But Maren produced an acute leukemia diagnosis and applied for a change in detention measures on the grounds of severe illness.

Derek posted bail for her. The next day, he stood outside my hospital room and handed the report to Evan.

“Maren is seriously ill.”

“Her doctors say she may not have six months.”

I stared at the words malignant bone marrow lesions on the page and felt nothing.

Derek lowered his voice.

“She knows she’s dying. That’s why she lost control.”

“I’ll make sure she’s held accountable. But can it wait until after treatment?”

“So now I’m supposed to sign a piece of paper saying I forgive her?”

“I’m not asking you to forgive her. Just hold off for now.”

I laughed,

“She watched me get assaulted. She watched our baby die.”

“She watched me get assaulted. She watched our baby die. And you’re still out here trying to figure out when she should face any of it?”

Derek’s grip on the report tightened. “Ten years ago, without her, I’d be dead.”

“So you’re paying your debt with my life?”

He froze outside the door. Not long after, Maren’s attending physician suggested that biological sisters could

undergo HLA matching first.

Derek came back. “It’s just a blood draw. To see if you’re a match.”

I looked at him through the glass door.

“Derek.”

“If you ask me to save her, I will hate you for the rest of my life.”

He was silent for a long time. Then, in the end, he said, “Save her first.”

I pressed the call button. “Nurse, I need security to get him out of here.”