CHAPTER THREE — THE SCREAM FROM BUILDING FOUR

STERLING

"JACE! PLEASE, HELP ME!"

I stopped outside Building 3, the trash bag dangling from my hand.

I knew that voice.

Chloe Hart.

The girl from my department. Jace's girlfriend.

I dropped the bag and ran. By the time I reached Jace Morgan's apartment in Building 4, Chloe was already outside the open door, lying on the ground, one hand pressed against her stomach. Blood stained her clothes and her face was so pale that for one terrifying moment, I thought she was already gone.

The hallway smelled like iron and cleaning bleach. Someone had tried to mop. I could see the faint red trail leading back into Jace's apartment, and my stomach turned.

"Chloe?"

She didn't respond. She had already fainted.

I glanced through the open doorway. I couldn't see anyone inside.

"Jace!" I shouted.

Nothing.

I didn't waste another second. I called 911, explained what I had found, and followed the dispatcher's instructions while waiting for the ambulance. I stayed beside her, watching her breathing and trying not to panic.

At St. David's Hospital, the paramedics rushed her inside. A nurse stopped me at the door.

"Are you family?"

"No."

"You'll have to wait here."

So I sat outside the treatment room. Two hours passed before another nurse came out and spoke to a colleague.

"She's stable now. She lost a lot of blood and needed two units, but she's stable."

Stable. That was enough for me. I left without giving my name.

The next afternoon, I returned with fruit. Mangoes and watermelon in a small bag. I was approaching her ward when I heard voices through the slightly open door. Police.

"We examined the apartment. We found no physical evidence to support the allegation. Jace Morgan and Jenna have both denied giving her any medication."

My grip tightened around the bag. They were lying.

Then I heard her voice, weak but full of pain.

"They're lying! I told you what they did! They put the pills in my tea!"

"Miss Hart, there are insufficient grounds to proceed," the officer replied.

Then her mother demanded, "So because there's no evidence, they're just going to walk away?"

Silence. Then Chloe began to cry.

"My baby," she sobbed. "They took my baby from me."

My chest tightened. I hadn't known she was pregnant. I pressed my back against the cold hospital wall. So that was why she screamed like that. That was why there was so much blood. My hands wouldn't stop shaking around the fruit bag.

I couldn't stand there listening anymore. I turned and walked away. Instead of going into her ward, I went straight to Jace's house.

I didn't even knock when I got to his house. The door was slightly open, I pushed it. The whole apartment smelled of alcohol and cheap air freshener. Beer cans littered the floor, clothes thrown everywhere, and the center table was already cracked. By the bedroom door, I saw a pair of pink slippers I recognized. Jenna's. So she had been there all along, hiding while Chloe screamed outside.

Jace was on the couch. When he saw me, he stood up.

"Sterling? What the hell are you doing here?"

"You put something in her tea," I said.

His expression changed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Liar!"

I grabbed his collar before I could think. He shoved me hard and we crashed into the center table. I threw a punch. He threw one back. We were fighting, breathing hard, knocking things over, both of us slipping on the beer on the floor. I am not a fighter, I barely talk to people, but that night I was so angry I didn't care if I broke my hand.

That was when Jenna rushed in from the bedroom.

"Stop! Both of you, stop!" she screamed, pulling at my arm. "You're going to make everything worse! Stop!"

I looked at her, my hand still on Jace's shirt.

"You were there too. You let it happen."

Jenna started crying. "We didn't know she—"

"Don't," I cut her off. I let go of Jace and stepped back, my knuckles bleeding. "Stay away from her."

I left them there, my shirt torn, my hands shaking. The night air hit my face as I walked. People stared at my torn shirt on the street, but I didn't care. All I could hear was Chloe crying, "They took my baby from me." I went straight back to the hospital.

Outside her ward, I stood for a long time. My heart was beating so fast I could hear it in my ears. I tried to fix my torn collar with one hand, wiping the blood from my knuckles onto my trousers. I looked stupid, with a torn shirt and bleeding hands bringing fruit like an idiot. I didn't even know what I was going to say to her. I took three deep breaths and stared at the floor before I finally knocked.

A faint voice said, "Come in."

I went in. As soon as I entered, I couldn't say anything. I placed the fruit bag on the small table beside her bed.

Chloe was lying in bed, pale, an IV attached to her hand. When she saw me, her eyes widened with shock. She kept looking at my face, at my torn shirt, at my knuckles.

"Sterling Brooks?"

I nodded. "Hi. I brought you some fruit."

"Thank you," she said softly. Then she kept staring at me, like she was trying to remember something.

Then she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, "Sterling, were you the one that saved me? At Building 4? Was that you?"

My chest stopped. I didn't want to tell her yet. I didn't know what to say. Was I supposed to say yes? Was I supposed to say it was nothing?

I opened my mouth, trying to find the words, when a loud voice shattered the quiet from the corridor.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? COME OUT! LET'S FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED!"

Jace.

I knew immediately it was him. I wasn't surprised he came. I had just left his house with his shirt in my fists.

But Chloe flinched. Her eyes went wide.

"What the hell is going on? What is he doing here?!" she whispered, staring at me and then at the door.