His unease deepened when he recalled Ryan’s grim expression before leaving, the weight of his words lingering in the air. Hastily comforting Sophia, Daniel bent down to collect the scattered beads and then rushed toward the operating room.
On his way, he overheard the nurses talking in hushed tones, their voices heavy with shock.
"Who could be so cruel? The woman’s face... slashed beyond recognition. Two hundred ten knife wounds—"
"And she was pregnant. How awful."
The word "pregnant" hit Daniel like a truck. His heart raced, panic setting in. Without thinking, he dialed my number again, his hands trembling, his breath quickening. For the first time, he was afraid.
Outside the operating room, the blood-soaked doctors filed out one by one, their faces grim. One of them, Dr. Harris, shook his head, a look of helplessness in his eyes. "We did everything we could. If Dr. Carter had arrived sooner, maybe... just maybe..."
The world around Daniel seemed to blur as he looked down the hallway. My lifeless body was being wheeled out of the operating room, draped under a white sheet. He hesitated, catching sight of the small bulge in my abdomen. My child—our child—never even had a chance to enter the world.
Daniel’s hands trembled as he reached for the sheet. When he pulled it back, he was met with a gruesome sight. My face had been butchered, my features obliterated by deep, jagged slashes. My ears were missing, my eye sockets hollow, and my skin had been peeled away in places, exposing raw muscle and bone.
He staggered back in horror. His mind raced as he recalled the photos sent to him from my phone by the killer. He had dismissed them as a sick joke, a cry for attention. But now, face-to-face with the truth, he couldn’t process it.
"No... This isn’t her. This can’t be Amelia," he whispered, clutching his phone like a lifeline. Desperately, he dialed my number again. "She’s still alive! This isn’t her!"
The phone rang, and this time, it connected. His heart leaped, a glimmer of hope sparking in his chest. "Amelia! Answer me! Tell me you’re okay!"
But the voice on the other end wasn’t mine. It was a nurse, holding up a phone that had been taken from my body. "Dr. Carter," she said softly, "this was found with the deceased."
"No!" Daniel screamed, shaking his head in denial. "You’re all lying!"