The door clicked shut, and a sharp cramp tore through my abdomen.
The anesthesia was wearing off.
So was everything between us.
I ignored every instruction the doctor gave me, dragged my post-surgery body out of bed, and made my way to my daughter's room.
She had been bright-eyed and alert that morning. Now she lay unconscious.
I asked the nurse. Tracey had been here.
She was the mother of the young Gilbert heir.
The future "Mrs. Gilbert."
So no one had dared stop her.
I clenched my jaw until my teeth ached.
Tracey Harding.
Mrs. Gilbert.
If she wanted Thomas so badly, then fine.
I'd give her exactly what she wanted.
It took only a few hours.
Thomas Gilbert's affair hit every major news outlet.
I released everything I had.
The report proving he had kidnapped Lily and forced her into surgery for his illegitimate son's sake.
Photos and audio recordings of him and Tracey together inside the hospital.
Surveillance footage of the hospital staff bowing to Thomas's orders, leaving my mother to die on the operating table.
Within thirty minutes of the story breaking:
The hospital was under full government investigation.
Gilbert Group stock went into free fall.
Reporters swarmed Thomas's front gate.