Escape Plan

His eyes flickered with something I couldn't read.

"Because you are my patient, and you're clearly in danger." He hesitated. "Rest now. We'll figure out what to do. Also, you can call me Adrian."

After he left, I lay in the hospital bed, feeling the twins move inside me. I'd done it. I'd escaped.

For now.

***

The hospital room became my sanctuary.

For three days, I rested in the narrow bed, monitored by machines that beeped reassuringly. My "injury" was healing. And I was waiting for the right time to execute the escape plan that Adrian and I came up with.

Derek and Claire visited twice a day, playing concerned family members for the nurses. They only ever stayed long enough to remind me I wasn't free.

The security guards remained outside my door constantly. Two men in suits who never spoke to me, never smiled.

But they couldn't watch Dr. Cole.

"They'll take you back home tonight," he told me that afternoon. "This will work. Trust me.”

"I don't trust anyone." I blurted out.

"Smart." He pulled out his phone, showing me a map once again. I had just a thirty-second window to escape. “Goodluck.”

I waited and waited… until finally, one guard left for his break.

Show time.

I reached under my pillow for the small sealed blood that Adrian had given me, and then I poured it between my legs so it stained my hospital gown and the white sheets. I pressed the call button and cried, “help! I'm bleeding again!”

Within seconds, the nurses—with Adrian—sprang into my room, looking all panicked. The second guard entered as well.

“Shit!” Adrian cursed.

“Why is she bleeding again?!” cried a nurse.

“Move,” Adrian pushed the guard away as they began pushing my bed. “Call her family. She needs to go into surgery now, if you want to save the babies.”

They pushed me frantically down the hallway, and just as the guard stepped away to make a call, Adrian stopped. I pushed the two nurses aside and began running to the emergency exit Adrian had shown me.

“Hey!” the stunned nurse called.

“Where are you going!?” called Adrian.

I didn't stop. Thirty seconds, that was all I had. My belly made movement awkward, but terror made me fast.

I burst through the exit door, and the blue Honda was waiting like Adrian promised. I got in, started the car and drove off.

Finally, I was free. After driving for forty minutes, I stopped at a modest apartment building in a neighborhood I wasn't familiar with. I parked where he told me to park and went upstairs to his apartment number.

For the first time in weeks, I slept somewhat peacefully.

When I woke up, Adrian was back.

“I'm sorry about your bedsheet. I didn't have anything else to wear, and I'll replace it for you once I have access to my money.”

He smiled at me.

"Forget about the sheets. I am actually honored to have you in my humble apartment. I've been following your work for years, and I love your resilience. You should have seen the look on your husband's face when he learned you ran away,” he chuckled easily. But I didn't smile. There was still so much to do.

“Thank you for helping me.”

"Don't thank me yet. We still need a plan." He brought me water and sat across from me. "Tell me everything from the beginning."

So I did. From the housewarming party to the cafe. Adrian listened without interrupting, his expression growing darker.

“They are so horrible. You don't deserve any of this, Vivian.”

“I deserve it for being stupid.”

“No, you don't. You are not stupid,” he held my hand, but I pulled away from his soft touch. “This is reproductive coercion. You have a strong case, and you need a lawyer, and DNA results.”

"DNA results?"

"To prove the babies aren't genetically yours. It's your evidence." He stood, pacing. "After you give birth, I'll order the tests immediately. Meanwhile, we gather everything else. Bank records showing payments to the clinic. Emails. Anything connecting Derek and Claire to the conspiracy."

"They destroyed my phone and recordings."

"Then we get new evidence. We make them confess again." Adrian's eyes met mine.

“I need to meet my grandfather first. His estate is in the Hamptons. He needs to know I was a victim of conspiracy.”

Adrian advised me not to, but I was adamant. Harold is a strict man, has been his entire life, and he doesn't tolerate injustice. Plus, he would be happy to see I've finally come to my senses regarding my marriage to Derek.

For over a week, I remained in Adrian's apartment. He brought me food, clothes, monitored the twins, and helped me plan my revenge. During the day, while he worked on his shift, I researched everything I could about reproductive law, surrogacy fraud, and criminal conspiracy.

That same week, I stood outside Harold Lancaster's mansion in a loose coat.