Chapter 2 - Michael Had Been Inside the Hospital
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Lily shifted against my chest.
That tiny movement snapped me back into the room.
I looked at Daniel.
“Where?”
Michael stepped forward.
“Catherine, you just gave birth. This isn’t—”
“Where was he?”
Daniel held my gaze.
“Here.”
I thought I had misunderstood.
“Here?”
“In this hospital.”
Michael’s jaw tightened.
Amber closed her eyes.
I looked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows as if the city outside might rearrange itself into something that made sense.
“You were here?”
Michael finally looked at me.
“It’s complicated.”
That answer has probably destroyed more marriages than almost any other sentence.
Daniel remained calm.
“I saw Michael downstairs at approximately 2:50 this morning.”
My pulse jumped.
Twenty minutes after Michael texted that he was trapped outside Manhattan.
“With her?” I asked.
Daniel looked toward Amber.
“Yes.”
Michael stepped between us slightly.
“Amber had a medical issue after the gala.”
Amber’s head turned sharply toward him.
Daniel said nothing.
I caught it.
“What kind of medical issue?”
Michael hesitated.
Amber answered.
“I had a panic attack.”
Her voice was much smaller than her entrance.
Michael continued quickly.
“She couldn’t breathe. I brought her here.”
“So you were in the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“While I was in labor.”
“I didn’t know how fast things were moving.”
Daniel’s expression tightened.
“That isn’t accurate.”
Michael stared at him.
“Daniel.”
The warning again.
Daniel ignored it.
“I went downstairs looking for you.”
My skin went cold.
“Why?”
“Because Catherine kept asking whether anyone had reached you.”
Daniel looked toward me.
“The admission desk confirmed a Michael matching your emergency-contact details had checked in as a visitor downstairs.”
Michael looked furious.
Daniel continued.
“I found him in the private waiting lounge with Ms. Collins.”
I looked at Amber.
Then Michael.
“What did you tell him?”
Daniel answered quietly.
“That Catherine was in active labor and could deliver soon.”
My breath stopped.
Michael knew.
Not later.
Not after Lily was born.
Before.
“You knew?”
Michael looked at me.
“Yes.”
The word barely came out.
“And you didn’t come upstairs?”
“I needed a few minutes.”
“For what?”
He looked toward Amber.
That was answer enough to make my stomach turn.
Amber suddenly spoke.
“Catherine, what he’s saying isn’t the whole truth.”
Michael’s face changed.
“Amber.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“I didn’t come here because I was having a panic attack.”
Michael stared at her.
Amber’s voice trembled.
“I was panicking. But that wasn’t why we came to this hospital.”
I held Lily closer.
“Then why?”
Amber looked at Michael.
Then at me.
May you like
“Because I saw your messages on his phone.”
And Michael’s fear changed into something closer to defeat.
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