“Stop being hysterical,” Margaret snapped, moving toward Noah’s bassinet with purposeful steps. “You’re clearly overwhelmed. This is too much for someone like you. Karen is downstairs in the waiting room right now. She’s prepared to take the boy home today.”
When her hand reached toward my son, something primal and fierce ignited inside me.
“Do not touch my son!”
Ignoring the searing, blinding pain from my surgical incision, I pushed myself up in the bed. My body screamed in protest but I didn’t care. Some instinct older than thought took over.
Margaret spun around and struck me hard across the face. My head snapped to the side and hit the bed rail with a dull, sickening crack.
Stars exploded in my vision. Blood filled my mouth where my teeth had cut the inside of my cheek.
“Ingrate!” she hissed, turning back toward Noah. She lifted him from the bassinet as he began wailing. “I’m his grandmother. I have the right to decide what’s best for him. You’re nothing but a burden on this family.”
With shaking fingers, I reached for the emergency security button mounted on the wall beside my bed. The button that was installed in every suite specifically for situations that required immediate intervention.
I pressed it hard.
Alarms began sounding instantly throughout the corridor. Within seconds, I heard running footsteps. The door burst open and hospital security rushed in, led by a man in a crisp uniform whose name tag read “Chief Daniel Ruiz.”
Margaret’s entire demeanor transformed in the space of a heartbeat.
“Thank God you’re here!” she cried out dramatically, clutching my screaming son to her chest. “She’s completely unstable! She tried to hurt the baby! I came to visit and found her acting violent and irrational. You have to help!”
Chief Ruiz took in the scene carefully. His eyes moved from my split lip and the blood on my face, to my obviously fragile post-surgical state, to the elegantly dressed woman holding my crying infant.
Then his gaze met mine directly.
He stopped cold, his expression shifting from professional assessment to something closer to shock.
“Judge Carter?” he murmured quietly.
The room went absolutely silent except for Noah’s crying.
Margaret blinked in confusion, her perfectly constructed performance faltering.
“Judge?” she repeated. “What are you talking about? She doesn’t even work. She stays home all day doing nothing.”
Chief Ruiz straightened immediately, removing his cap in a gesture of respect.
“Your Honor,” he said formally. “Are you injured? Do you need medical attention?”
I kept my voice steady despite the pain radiating through my entire body.
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