mixed with something faintly metallic-old blood, perhaps. The two rough nurses left, replaced by one who was

tinguished, leaving only a hollow ache. Claire moved around her with a quiet efficien

n her lip, tasting copper, digging her nails into her palm to anchor hers

But how? The room was a sterile box. The door was solid steel,

ds and nutrients," she murmured, her voic

uman decency Camila had been shown all day. It w

rming silently. But she couldn't say it. Who could she trust?

at the door, checking the crack for shadows, then leaned closer. As she checked th

the final surgical pr

clenched. She d

as she adjusted the tubing. "The authorization explicitly states that in the event of any medical crisis, the priority is to... secure the do

y, designated as secondary. They were the acceptable loss. The complication to be "dealt with." A wave of nausea rolled through he

r live was extinguished. He didn't just want her marrow. He wanted h

ter deep inside her. Her babies were st

pain, overriding the despair. She would not die here. Her babies w

ked door with its red light, the security camera blinking in the corner, the small w

k of defiance in her eyes. A look of something-p

brief moment of contact, Camila felt something small, hard, and cold pressed into her palm. Claire's fingers were unste

fraction of a second. A silent, u

door clicked shut, and the lock engaged with a definitiv

a was

t, rain was still falling-a soft, persistent whisper aga

ering against her ribs

ay there, glinting faintly i

ne-the kind of thing you'd find in any office desk drawer. But Cl

rounding her. It was nothing. A scrap of wire. But in this sterile, locked room, with

w. But it was something. And so

ulate a plan, the loc