Chapter 111

The operating lights flickered on as Evelyn Carter adjusted her sterile gown.

Olivia Lightfoot's hands trembled slightly as she passed the instruments. "Her blood pressure keeps dropping."

Natalie Stapleton lay pale on the table, her fingers gripping the sheets with white-knuckled intensity.

"Evelyn..."

Evelyn clasped her icy hand.

"The baby..." Natalie's lips were bitten raw. "Save him..."

The clatter of surgical tools pierced the tense silence.

Evelyn leaned closer. "Natalie, there's something you need to know."

"Simon..."

Natalie thrashed violently, setting off shrill alarms from the monitors.

"I want my baby!" she screamed hysterically. "No one touches my child!"

Olivia struggled to restrain her flailing arms.

Evelyn took a steadying breath. "Administer sedation."

When Natalie finally stilled, Evelyn gazed at the swollen abdomen, voice gravelly. "Even if it costs you everything?"

"He is my life." Tears soaked the pillow beneath Natalie's head.

The air in the OR turned leaden.

Olivia's red-rimmed eyes sought Evelyn's.

"Prep for fetal preservation." Evelyn snapped on fresh gloves. "Alert blood bank for transfusion."

......

As the surgical lights dimmed, the hallway erupted in chaos.

The chief surgeon stumbled forward. "Natalie—"

"Stable." Evelyn removed her mask. "The pregnancy is preserved for now."

The older man's face crumpled with relief.

A chair clattered in the corner.

Alexander Hamilton stood shadowed against the wall, his pallor ghastly. "The baby..."

Vivian Dempsey caught Evelyn as she swayed.

"You look terrible." Gregory Wilson offered water.

Evelyn shook her head, scanning the crowd.

Alexander's burning stare locked onto her abdomen, his Adam's apple bobbing violently.

"Dr. Carter, you've done miracles." The chief surgeon wiped his eyes. "But when will you start thinking of your own—"

A glass shattered on the tiles.

Alexander stood amidst the shards, blood dripping from his lacerated palm. His voice was barely human. "What child?"