Leo stepped closer to the head of the white bed, placing his warm body between his mother and his suffering wife. He gently pushed back the thin white sheet covering Grace's arm, and a sharp gasp escaped his throat as the bright natural light exposed severe red scratches and deep dark bruises running all the way from her elbow to her shoulder. It was clear that someone had violently held her down against the mattress, overpowering her while she was going through painful labor contractions completely alone.
Leo: Did you do this to her? Mother, answer me right now! Did you put your hands on my wife?
Eleanor: Watch your tone when you address me in this house, young man. We did what was necessary to preserve our family dignity.
Grace reached out with her trembling fingers, grabbing the edge of Leo's crisp white dress shirt with whatever small force she had left in her body. Tears streamed down her pale cheeks, leaving clear tracks through the light layer of dust and dried sweat on her skin. She pulled him down closer so she could whisper directly into his ear while his mother watched with a cold, disgusted scowl.
Grace: They took my phone... I couldn't call you. I was in labor for twelve hours alone in the dark.
Leo: Why didn't anyone call an ambulance? She was in danger!
Victoria: Women give birth every day, Leo. She is fine, see? The baby is right there.
Leo turned his head slowly toward his younger sister, his facial features twisting from shock into a dark, intense rage that he had never felt before in his entire life. Victoria folded her arms across her chest and adjusted her blonde hair, showing not a single shred of remorse or pity for the woman bleeding out on the luxury mattress. She tapped her designer shoe against the hardwood floor as if this entire life-or-death situation was nothing more than an annoying delay in her afternoon schedule.
Leo: She was locked in a room without medical care! She could have died, Victoria!
Victoria: She is a gold-digger who tried to trap you with an heir. She doesn't deserve a hospital room.
Leo: Get out of my way!
Leo shoved past Victoria so hard that she stumbled backward into the doorframe with a sharp gasp of surprise. He leaned back down over the soft white bed, carefully reaching under his newborn child to cradle the fragile infant against his warm chest. The baby stopped crying the moment it felt Leo's steady heartbeat, resting its tiny head against his shirt collar. Leo looked down into his wife's wet eyes, his own voice cracking with deep, overwhelming emotion.
Leo: We're going to the hospital right now, Grace. Nobody is ever going to hurt you again.
Grace: Please, Leo... don't leave me here with them. Take me away.
Leo: I'm not leaving your side for a single second. Hold onto me.
He wrapped his strong left arm under Grace's shoulders, lifting her weak body up off the blood-stained mattress while keeping his child safe in his right arm. Eleanor stepped forward into the middle of the bright doorway, blocking their exit with her arms raised high and an ugly, furious scowl spreading across her aging face.
Eleanor: If you walk out that door with her, Leo, you are cut off from the family trust fund completely!
Leo: Keep your blood money, mother. You are dead to me.