Chapter 3: The Snap
The next contraction was different.
It didn’t roll in. It detonated.
Elena’s entire body locked. A raw, animal sound tore out of her throat. Her knuckles turned pure white on the rail. The nurses tightened their grip, but Elena no longer felt them.
She only felt the need to hold on to something that wouldn’t break.
With one final, desperate pull, she yanked.
The solid steel bed rail snapped clean in half with a sharp, metallic CRACK that cut through every other sound in the room.
Blood immediately welled from a deep gash across Elena’s right palm where the broken metal had sliced her. The severed piece of rail clattered onto the tiled floor.
For one suspended second, nobody moved.
Even Preston’s eyes widened. The ice in them cracked for the first time all night.
Then a tiny, thin cry rose from between Elena’s legs.
The baby was out.
The nurse closest to the monitors went white.
“Her blood pressure is crashing—”
Alarms began screaming. Red lights flashed across every screen. A continuous flatline tone filled the delivery room like a death knell.
Elena’s eyes fluttered. The ceiling lights blurred into long white streaks. She could feel herself slipping under, the pain finally releasing its grip as darkness rushed in from the edges of her vision.
The last thing she saw was Preston stepping closer, the color draining from his face so fast he looked gray.
His legs gave out.
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He hit the floor hard, the broken rail still lying near his knees, and whispered her name like a man who had just watched the world end.
“Elena…”
