A chill settles through me when she says, “The hospital.”
Oh god. I’m too late.
“Did he hurt her?”
Just then, Tessa’s door opens, and a young Hispanic woman I’ve never seen before pokes her head into the alley.
“Is Tessa okay?” I ask her.
She glances at the neighbor, who’s still got that sour expression on her face, then back at me. I grin weakly, hoping I exude trust. It must not work, because the young woman offers each of us the same wariness. Whatever’s going on out here, she wants no part in it. It’s unfamiliar, this young woman’s misgivings. I’m used to being ignored. Infantilized. I’m used to all the ways I’m undermined and discreditedas an older woman, taken for granted. I’m not used to being distrusted. It’s almost a compliment.
“Look,” I say to the younger woman, “I know you don’t know me from Adam.” Her face grows curious at my old-fashioned phrasing. “I promise you, Tessa sent me to check on her.” I want to lie and tell her I’m Tessa’s mother, but this neighbor, inching in on our conversation, will know it’s not true. Instead, I show the babysitter Tessa’s text. She bites at her bottom lip as she scans that single word.Help.
“Tessa’s in danger.”
“She’s not in danger,” the neighbor scoffs. “She’s in labor.”
It hurts to ignore a woman my age. Still, I tune her out, willing the babysitter to focus on me, just me, and not lump me in with this meddling neighbor.
“I need to know what hospital she went to.”
If he’s hurt her, if he’s going to hurt her, they might not be at the hospital at all.
The babysitter continues to shift her focus between me and the neighbor, debating which of us to trust.
“They’re at Cedars,” she finally says. Even I know the famous hospital.
I dash across the alley, waving thanks behind me, as I reserve an Uber to meet me on Pacific. It won’t arrive for ten minutes. I don’t want to imagine what he can do to her in ten minutes, let alone however long it will take me to get to Cedars-Sinai. If that’s even where they are. If he hasn’t taken her somewhere else entirely.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Tessa
I don’t know where Gabe’s taking me. The prelabor is too intense for me to focus on our surroundings. A contraction releases, but my entire midsection burns as intensely as if another one has started. We’re on the highway now, headed east in near-standstill traffic. We aren’t going to Longevity or Rosebud, that much is clear. He could be taking me anywhere.
Gabe monitors the stop-and-go traffic ahead.
“This is too slow.” He pulls onto the shoulder, barreling toward the next exit. I try to read the sign, but I’m pummeled by another contraction. I hug myself, hoping he’s not as big of a monster as I fear.
“Gabe, where are we going?” I grunt.
“We’ll be there soon, love.” Through the agony, I feel him squeeze my knee, and the nausea his contact induces.
“Did you kill them?” My unanswered question echoes through the car. The fear sends my brain spinning, trying to focus between contractions. He killed them. After he delivers the baby, he’ll kill me too.
When the car slows to a stop, I think,This is where it ends.
Only, when I look out the window, we’re parked at the entrance to Cedars’ labor and delivery.
“You took me to the hospital?”
“Where else would I take you?” I gaze into his dark eyes, the golden specks that used to make me melt. Maybe he’s still the man I love.
Then a flood soaks the seat of my pants as my water breaks, a reminder that he’s already violated me.
From there, everything happens too quickly. Gabe throws my door open and attempts to lift me out.
“Don’t touch me,” I scream. Gabe recoils as a nurse maneuvers around him and helps me out of the passenger seat. Gabe shouts that he’s going to park the car, then he’ll be right in. I’m fully focused on getting the nurse’s attention.
