Chapter 4 - Room 417The hospital moved Emma and Grace to Room 417 under a different patient name.
Only four people knew.
The nursing supervisor.
The hospital administrator.
A police detective named Rachel Hayes.
And Luca Moretti.
Emma had expected Luca to leave once police arrived.
He did not.
He stood near the door while Detective Hayes questioned Emma.
"How long were you involved with Connor Blake?"
"Two years."
"When did it end?"
"Eight months ago."
"Before you became pregnant?"
Emma hesitated.
"No."
Detective Hayes noticed.
"Is Connor Grace's father?"
"No."
"Does he believe he is?"
"He knows he isn't."
Luca looked toward Emma.
That was new information to him.
Detective Hayes leaned forward.
"How does he know?"
"Because Connor and I had already been apart for weeks when I met Marco."
Emma glanced at Luca.
"Marco knew everything."
"Did Connor know about Marco?"
"Eventually."
"How did he react?"
Emma looked down at her hands.
"He started showing up."
"At your apartment?"
"At work."
"Outside grocery stores."
"At restaurants."
"He'd send messages saying Marco would leave me eventually."
"Did you report him?"
"Once."
"What happened?"
"Connor said it was a misunderstanding."
"There wasn't enough evidence for anything beyond a warning."
Hayes nodded.
"And then Marco died."
Emma's voice dropped.
"Yes."
"What did Connor do after that?"
"He came back."
Luca's posture stiffened.
Emma continued.
"He said I was alone."
"He said I needed someone."
"He said the baby needed a father."
Detective Hayes looked toward the bassinet.
"You refused?"
"Of course."
"And that's when things escalated?"
Emma nodded.
"I changed apartments."
"I changed my number."
"He still found me."
Luca finally spoke.
"How?"
"I don't know."
Detective Hayes glanced at him.
"Mr. Moretti, let me handle the questions."
Luca nodded once.
Hayes looked back at Emma.
"What happened to your cheek?"
Emma touched the faint bruise.
"Connor came to my apartment two nights ago."
Luca's hands slowly curled.
"He forced his way inside?"
"He pushed past me."
"What did he want?"
"He kept asking about Marco."
"About what?"
"Files."
"Money."
"A key."
Luca and Detective Hayes exchanged a look.
Emma continued.
"I told him I didn't know what he meant."
"He didn't believe me."
"What happened?"
"He grabbed my arm."
"I pulled away."
"I fell against the kitchen counter."
Emma's voice remained steady, but her fingers trembled.
"I called 911."
"He left before police arrived."
Detective Hayes wrote something down.
"Then you went into labor."
"Six hours later."
"And he found you here."
"Yes."
Hayes closed her notebook.
"I'll request an emergency protective order."
Emma exhaled.
"Will that stop him?"
"It gives us more options if he approaches you."
"That's not what I asked."
Detective Hayes looked at her.
"No piece of paper can guarantee what another person will do."
Luca spoke quietly.
"But distance can help."
Hayes gave him a warning look.
"What are you suggesting?"
"I have a secure property outside the city."
Emma immediately shook her head.
"No."
Luca looked at her.
"You haven't heard the details."
"I don't need to."
"I'm not moving into the house of a man I met an hour ago."
"Fair."
Luca did not argue.
Emma blinked.
She had expected resistance.
Luca continued.
"Then choose somewhere else."
"A hotel."
"A friend's home."
"A police-approved shelter."
"I don't care where."
"But Connor knows your apartment."
"He knows this hospital."
"And someone inside the hospital changed your records."
Emma looked at Detective Hayes.
Hayes sighed.
"He's not wrong."
Emma stared at Luca.
"Why are you doing this?"
Luca's answer was immediate.
"Marco asked me to."
"That's all?"
His eyes met hers.
"No."
Emma waited.
Luca took a moment.
"My younger sister was named Sofia."
Emma had never heard Marco mention her.
"She was twenty-four when she died."
"I'm sorry."
Luca nodded.
"She was with someone everyone in our family disliked."
"Controlling."
"Obsessive."
"Always apologizing after he crossed a line."
Emma understood before he finished.
"We told her to leave him."
"We told her she could come home."
"She kept saying she could handle it."
Luca looked toward the window.
"One night she called me."
"I didn't answer."
Emma's chest tightened.
"I called back twenty minutes later."
"She never answered."
Luca did not explain more.
He didn't have to.
Emma looked at Grace.
"So when you saw Connor..."
"I saw twenty minutes."
The sentence landed heavily.
Luca looked at her.
"I don't plan to miss them again."
A knock sounded at the door.
Detective Hayes checked first.
A hospital employee stood outside holding discharge documents.
Hayes opened the door.
The employee smiled.
"Ms. Carter, transportation is ready downstairs."
Emma frowned.
"I'm not discharged."
The employee checked the paperwork.
"It says you are."
Luca stepped closer.
"Who sent you?"
The employee looked confused.
"Patient services."
Detective Hayes took the paperwork.
Her expression changed.
"What?"
Emma asked.
Hayes held up the bottom page.
Someone had written a destination beneath Emma's name.
It was not her apartment.
May you like
It was not a hotel.
It was Connor Blake's address.
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