Chapter 3 - The Crimson Shadow
Julian scrambled to his feet, unsteady on legs that felt turned to water. The woman did not flee; she remained motionless beneath the pale lighting, her vibrant red dress an insult to the sterilized monochrome around them. She looked roughly Clara’s age, her blonde hair pinned back with severe precision, clutching a black leather folio tightly against her midriff. There was a chilling familiarity in the slope of her jaw, an echo of someone Julian had seen in old photographs tucked away in attic trunks.
"Who are you?" Julian asked, his voice shaking with raw anger and exhaustion. "Were you following our ambulance?"
The woman took a single step forward, her heels clicking like a countdown. "You don't recognize me, Julian. But Clara does. Or at least, she remembers the debt her family left behind."
"What are you talking about? My wife is dying in there!" he snarled, taking an aggressive stride toward her.
She didn't flinch. Instead, she raised the black leather folio, revealing a stamped seal in gold foil that bore the crest of a private offshore trust. "If she survives tonight, Julian, your lives belong to the board. If she doesn't... the child belongs to me."
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Julian lunged forward, hands outstretched to grab the stranger, but a sharp electronic alarm blared from behind the double doors of the trauma ward, freezing him in place. Behind him, the doors burst open, and Dr. Rao stepped out, his surgical mask hanging loose around his neck, his gown speckled with dark, ominous red.
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