Chapter 12 - THE HEARTBEAT THAT DISAPPEARED
The ambulance siren turned the world into red light and noise.
Harrison sat near Khloe's feet while paramedics worked around her.
He had spent his career in emergencies that ruined companies, reputations, and fortunes.
None of that prepared him for watching his sister's blood pressure fall in real time.
"Khloe."
A paramedic rubbed her sternum.
"Can you hear me?"
Khloe made a sound but did not open her eyes.
The fetal monitor crackled.
A fast rhythm appeared.
Then slowed.
Then vanished in static.
Harrison stared at the screen.
"Where is it?"
The paramedic repositioned the sensor.
"Hold on."
"Where is the heartbeat?"
"Sir, I need you to stay back."
"Where is it?"
The paramedic found the signal again.
Weak.
Slow.
But there.
Harrison's knees almost gave out even though he was sitting.
"There."
The paramedic looked at him.
"There is a heartbeat."
Harrison nodded once.
He could not speak.
At the hospital, a trauma and obstetric team met them before the ambulance fully stopped.
Khloe disappeared through double doors.
Harrison followed until a nurse physically blocked him.
"Family stays here."
"I am her medical proxy."
"Then I need your name."
"Harrison Cole."
The nurse's expression changed slightly.
She recognized it.
He hated that he noticed.
"Mr. Cole, the doctors will update you as soon as they can."
"She is bleeding."
"They know."
"The baby had decelerations."
"They know."
"She is thirty-five weeks."
"They know."
The nurse held his gaze.
"Let them work."
Harrison stepped back.
For the first time in twenty years, there was nothing useful he could do.
He called Dr. Morgan.
She was already on her way.
He called Miranda.
She was at the courthouse with police.
He called Nolan.
"Preserve everything."
His voice sounded unfamiliar even to him.
"Every camera."
"Every phone."
"Every witness who saw the landing."
Nolan did not ask why.
"Already moving."
Harrison called no one else.
He sat in the waiting area with blood drying on his hands.
A nurse offered him gauze.
He looked down as if seeing the cuts for the first time.
"That is not mine."
Some of the blood was.
Most was not.
Twenty minutes passed.
Then thirty.
Then a surgeon entered wearing blue scrubs.
Harrison stood so fast the chair struck the wall behind him.
"Mr. Cole?"
"Yes."
"I am Dr. Anand."
"Your sister has a placental abruption."
Harrison knew enough to understand the danger without understanding the details.
"The baby?"
"We are preparing for an emergency cesarean delivery."
"Khloe?"
"She has internal bleeding and multiple injuries from the fall."
"Her blood pressure is unstable but responding."
"We need to deliver now."
Harrison's mouth went dry.
"Will they live?"
The surgeon did not lie to him.
"We are doing everything we can for both of them."
A consent form appeared.
Harrison signed where he was told because Khloe was not fully conscious and had previously authorized him for emergency decisions.
His hand shook so badly the signature barely looked like his own.
Then the team disappeared again.
At the courthouse, Vanessa was taken into custody.
Her attorney arrived before she finished processing what had happened.
Richard left through a side exit with his lawyers.
Reporters captured him walking quickly toward a black sedan.
One shouted a question.
"Mr. Harrington, did you see your wife pushed?"
Richard kept walking.
Another shouted.
"Why did you not help her?"
He entered the car without answering.
The clip reached television before Khloe reached the operating room.
Harrison did not see it.
Miranda did.
She called him.
"The shove is on video."
Harrison closed his eyes.
"Clear?"
"Very."
"Multiple angles."
"Courthouse security."
"A reporter."
"Two phones."
Harrison's jaw tightened.
"Richard?"
"He was less than six feet away."
"He saw it."
"He did nothing."
Harrison looked down the hospital corridor.
"Do not send me the video."
Miranda went silent.
"Not now."
"I understand."
"And the messages from Vanessa's assistant?"
"Police have them."
"Brooke is being interviewed."
Harrison exhaled slowly.
"Good."
Miranda's voice softened.
"How is Khloe?"
"Surgery."
"The baby?"
Harrison looked at the closed doors.
"Surgery."
He ended the call before his voice broke.
Forty-seven minutes after Khloe entered the operating room, a neonatal doctor came through the doors.
Harrison stopped breathing.
The doctor smiled slightly.
"Your niece is alive."
Harrison gripped the back of a chair.
He had not realized his legs were weak until that moment.
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"She needed help breathing initially."
"She is in the neonatal unit for monitoring."
"But she is alive."
Harrison covered his mouth with one hand.
His eyes filled.
He did not care who saw.
"Khloe?"
The doctor's smile faded.
"The surgical team is still working."
The relief inside Harrison collapsed into fear again.
"Can I see the baby?"
"Soon."
"We need to stabilize her first."
"She is small for thirty-five weeks, but her heart rate has improved."
Harrison nodded.
"Does she have a name?"
The question shattered something in him.
Khloe had refused to finalize a name because she said she wanted to see her daughter's face first.
There was a list.
Lila.
Clara.
Sophie.
Grace.
Harrison swallowed.
"Not yet."
"Then we will call her Baby Harrington for now."
Harrison's face hardened involuntarily.
The doctor noticed but said nothing.
Another hour passed before Dr. Anand returned.
This time, his expression told Harrison nothing.
"Your sister is out of surgery."
"She had significant blood loss."
"We controlled the bleeding."
"There are fractures to two ribs, her left wrist, and injuries to her back and hip."
"We do not currently see a spinal cord injury."
Harrison exhaled.
"Is she awake?"
"Not yet."
"But she is stable enough for recovery."
Harrison sat down because his body finally stopped obeying him.
Both alive.
Khloe and the baby.
Both alive.
He repeated it silently until the words felt real.
At 4:13 that afternoon, Richard Harrington arrived at the hospital.
He came with Douglas Vane and another lawyer.
Hospital security stopped him at the entrance to the surgical floor.
Harrison heard his voice from down the corridor.
"That is my wife."
Harrison stood.
Richard saw him.
For a moment, neither man moved.
Then Richard walked closer.
"How is she?"
Harrison looked at him.
There was no rage in his face.
That made Richard visibly uncomfortable.
"Alive."
Richard's shoulders dropped.
"And the baby?"
"Alive."
Richard closed his eyes.
Something like relief crossed his face.
Harrison hated him for making it look real.
"I need to see them."
"No."
Richard opened his eyes.
"You cannot keep me from my wife."
"Khloe's medical authorization does."
"She designated me months ago."
"She revoked it months ago."
Richard looked stunned.
Harrison continued.
"She designated me."
"You are not on the approved visitor list."
"You will not enter her room."
"You will not enter the neonatal unit."
"Any request regarding the child goes through counsel until Khloe is conscious and able to make decisions."
Richard's face flushed.
"That is my daughter."
Harrison stepped closer.
"Then perhaps you should have moved when her mother was bleeding at your feet."
Richard flinched.
Douglas Vane intervened.
"Harrison."
Harrison looked at him.
Vane lowered his voice.
"Not here."
"You are right."
Harrison stepped back.
"Take your client away from my sister's floor."
Richard did not leave immediately.
He looked past Harrison toward the closed doors.
"I did not know Vanessa was going to push her."
Harrison's eyes sharpened.
"I did not ask."
"I need you to know that."
"No."
Harrison's voice was quiet.
"You need me to believe that."
Richard swallowed.
"It was an accident."
The corridor seemed to freeze.
Harrison stared at him.
"What did you say?"
Vane turned sharply.
"Richard, stop talking."
But Richard had already made the mistake.
"Vanessa was upset."
"She pushed her."
"I am not defending it."
"But she did not mean for Khloe to fall thirty steps."
Harrison's voice became almost inaudible.
"You left before police interviewed you."
Richard said nothing.
"You have not seen the full security video."
"You have not spoken to Vanessa since she was taken into custody."
"So how do you know what she meant?"
Richard's face went blank.
Vane stepped between them.
"We are leaving."
Harrison watched as Richard was guided toward the elevator.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message from Miranda.
BROOKE IS TALKING.
A second followed.
SHE SAYS VANESSA WENT TO THE COURTHOUSE TO STOP KHLOE FROM SHOWING RICHARD SOMETHING.
May you like
Then a third.
SHE SAYS RICHARD KNEW VANESSA WAS GOING TO CONFRONT HER.
