Chapter 8 - The Woman Who Asked the Questions.
Her name on the visitor log was Dr. Elaine Porter.
The hospital had no psychiatrist by that name.
The state licensing database did.
Elaine Porter was a private evaluator whose consulting company had received payments from Sloan Holdings for three consecutive years.
Leah stared at the information on Luca's tablet.
"She sat in my room for twenty minutes."
"What did she ask?"
"Whether I was sleeping."
Luca waited.
"Whether I was scared."
"Anything else?"
Leah looked away.
"She asked whether I sometimes wished everything would stop."
Nora's face tightened.
"That's not unusual after a difficult delivery, but context matters."
"I told her I wished the arguing would stop."
Leah's voice shook with anger.
"I meant Derek's messages and Victoria calling every hour."
Luca nodded.
"And Porter wrote that you expressed a desire to escape your responsibilities."
Leah's eyes burned.
"She changed my words."
"She rearranged them."
That distinction made Leah even angrier.
It was Derek's method again.
Use something real.
Move it slightly.
Then let the lie hide inside the truth.
Nora sat beside Leah.
"The hospital has its own mental health team."
"I don't want another stranger evaluating me."
"Then don't do it for them."
Nora's voice stayed gentle.
"Do it for yourself, and choose the clinician yourself."
Leah looked at Luca.
"Do you think I need one?"
"I think you gave birth yesterday, someone has been threatening you, your husband's death just became suspicious again, and people are trying to use your reactions against you."
He paused.
"Anyone would need support."
It was not the answer Leah expected.
He did not tell her to be stronger.
He did not tell her to stop crying.
He did not tell her that getting help would make Victoria look right.
"Okay."
The hospital arranged for Dr. Maya Chen, the head of maternal mental health, to meet with Leah privately.
Luca left the room without being asked.
Nora left too.
For forty minutes, Leah spoke openly.
She talked about Ethan.
She talked about Derek.
She talked about how terrified she had been during the corridor confrontation.
She talked about loving Emma so intensely that the fear of failing her felt physically painful.
Dr. Chen listened.
Then she said the sentence Leah had been afraid no one would say.
"You are exhausted and under extreme stress, but I see no evidence that you are unable to understand your circumstances or safely care for your daughter."
Leah began to cry.
Not because she had been declared perfect.
Because someone had listened without trying to turn her feelings into a weapon.
When Luca returned, Dr. Chen handed the hospital attorney an independent assessment.
"I will testify to this if necessary."
The attorney nodded.
"It may be necessary today."
Leah looked up.
"Today?"
"The court scheduled a remote emergency hearing in two hours."
Luca checked his watch.
"Then we use those two hours."
Leah remembered the flash drive.
It still sat inside the envelope on the table.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
She picked it up.
"First, I watch Ethan's video."
Luca brought a laptop and placed it on the bed tray.
He entered the drive.
A single file appeared.
FOR LEAH ONLY.
Leah pressed play.
Ethan appeared on the screen wearing the gray sweater she had given him for Christmas.
He looked tired.
He looked afraid.
Then he looked directly into the camera.
"Leah, if Luca gave you this, Derek has already started."
Leah covered her mouth.
May you like
Ethan continued.
"And if he has started, then my crash may not have been an accident."
