Chapter 1

My best friend, Jessica Lane, and I married into the Carter family the same year, and we both got pregnant around the same time.

She married the younger brother, Lucas Carter, a well-liked police officer, while I married his older brother, Ethan Carter, the chief surgeon at our city's top hospital.

On our first wedding anniversary, I was on my way home from picking up my prenatal test results when a truck struck my car.

I suffered severe lower-body bleeding and lay drowning in my own blood.

I reached for my phone and called Ethan over and over, but he hung up each time.

After three failed attempts, I dialed my older brother, Alexander Sinclair, instead.

Twenty minutes later, three military-style vehicles pulled up to the crash site.

The Carters' polished public image shattered completely in that moment.

*****

The first wedding anniversary of Ethan and me was supposed to be a happy day.

In the morning, before Ethan left, he kissed my forehead and promised to make BBQ Ribs for me when he got home.

I leaned against the headboard and stroked my gently swollen stomach, grinning to myself. At that time, I thought I had everything I could have wanted.

My husband, Ethan, was the head of surgery at Riverside General Hospital. He'd made it to the top before he turned thirty, and everyone at work respected him as their chief.

Lucas, my brother-in-law, was the captain of the criminal investigation team. A couple of days ago, he was all over the local news.

My best friend, Jessica, married Lucas. We had gone from college roommates to sisters-in-law, and we had both gotten pregnant at nearly the same time.

After our prenatal checkup last week, the doctor said both our reports would be ready today.

Jessica was suffering from severe morning sickness and didn't want to go out, so she asked me to pick up both reports.

Since I was heading to the hospital anyway, I agreed.

At 10:40, I picked up both reports from the hospital, put them in my bag, and took a cab home.

Just as the cab turned onto Riverfront Avenue, a big truck suddenly barreled in from the side.

In that moment, I heard nothing but the brutal crunch of crushing metal, loud and sharp like thick steel being crumpled like thin paper.

The world spun wildly around me. My body jolted and slammed against the car's interior repeatedly before the vehicle finally came to a twisted, mangled stop.

The car door was so bent that it trapped me in my seat.

The seatbelt dug into my flesh, and my ribs screamed in agony.

But none of that pain terrified me as much as the sudden warm rush between my legs.

Thick, dark red liquid streamed down my thighs and soaked into the car seat, spreading outward like spilled red wine.

I froze when I realized it was blood, way too much blood.

My hands started shaking uncontrollably as I stared down at my soaked dress, the dark red spreading wider and wider.

I pressed both hands against my stomach and forced out a hoarse, broken whisper. "No... my baby..."

My phone was lying by my feet.

I couldn't bend forward without agonizing pain shooting through my ribs.

Every small movement tore at my lower abdomen so badly that my vision blurred.

I clenched my teeth, nudged the phone over with my foot, and then struggled for nearly thirty long seconds to grab it.

The screen was cracked, but it was still lit up.

I tapped in Ethan's number and waited. The line rang twice before the automated busy tone cut through.

The call ended instantly. I tried again, and the same busy tone stopped the call short once more.

My hands shook so violently that I could barely hold onto the phone. Blood seeped through my fingers and smudged across the cracked screen, clouding everything in red.

I made a third call, and the line rang five full times. The steady beeping continued before the call dropped anyway.

The automated busy tone rang out, and a heavy silence settled over the wrecked car.

I could hear my own heartbeat and the slow drip of blood falling off the edge of the seat.

My eyes stung, but the sensation had nothing to do with my physical injuries. A cold, hollow feeling spread from my chest all the way out to my limbs.

I was married to Ethan for a full year, and I was carrying his child. Yet he refused to answer my calls while I lay dying in a broken car.

I closed my eyes for a moment.

When I opened them again, my mind cleared completely.

I scrolled through my call history and found a number I hadn't contacted on my own in a very long time.

After a split second of hesitation, I hit the call button.

The line rang just once before a deep male voice came through the line. "Emmy?"

I parted my lips to speak, but my voice came out thin and shattered. "Alexander, I got into a car accident."

"Where are you?" he asked without the slightest pause or unnecessary comment.

"R-Riverfront Avenue... About three hundred yards east of the intersection."

"Stay still. Keep your eyes open, but don't fall asleep."

He kept the call active, and I heard a chair scrape and topple over in the background, followed by a door slamming hard against a wall.

Fast footsteps rushed closer, and his low, urgent shout cut clearly through the line. "Jason, get the vehicle ready. Mobilize the full emergency team from the Regional Military Hospital. There's a crash on Riverfront Avenue, and my sister is trapped inside."

A buzzing filled my head, and my consciousness started to fade.

My last fleeting thought was that I hadn't heard Alexander call me by my childhood nickname in a long time.

*****

When I woke up, I smelled disinfectant.

It lacked the stale, moldy undertones that lingered in Riverside General Hospital. This smell was crisp and pure, like fresh air right after snowfall.

I moved my fingers slightly and felt an IV line inserted in the back of my hand. It connected to a modern medical machine I had never seen before.

"You're awake." A quiet voice sounded right beside me.

I turned my head and saw Alexander sitting in a chair next to the hospital bed.

His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, his tie hung loose around his neck, and his hair was messy as if he had rushed through harsh wind. Bloodshot eyes lined his tired face.

"You've been unconscious for sixteen hours." His tone was calm and neutral, like he was stating a simple fact, but the tight grip he held on my wrist betrayed how tense he truly was.

"What about the baby?" I asked in a rough, hoarse voice.

He paused briefly before he answered, "It's fine."

I let out a long, shaky breath, feeling all the strength drain from my body as my head sank back into the pillow.

"You lost a massive amount of blood. Your blood pressure dropped to critical levels by the time you arrived here." Alexander's gaze stayed fixed on my face. "We would have lost both you and the baby if you had arrived twenty minutes later."

My mind raced at the mention of twenty minutes. I spent four minutes making three desperate calls to Ethan.

I waited through each ring, held onto hope through every silence, and dialed again after every letdown. Those four minutes felt endless.

Everything would have been different if he had answered that first call, even for just a single second.