The red and blue emergency lights flashed against the glass doors of St. Jude's Trauma Center as the ambulance screeched to a halt in the bay. Paramedics wheeled Cora's stretcher through the double doors, shouting vital signs to the waiting trauma team. Julian ran alongside the gurney, his grey suit covered in dust and blood, his hands holding Cora's tight.
Julian: Hold on, Cora! We're at the hospital now!
Cora: Julian... I can't feel him kicking anymore... please tell me he's still alive!
Dr. Vance: Mr. Sterling, you need to wait in the surgical lobby! We are performing an emergency C-section right now!
Julian: Doctor, please save my family! Take whatever you need from my bank accounts!
Dr. Vance: We are doing everything we can, sir! Nurse, get two units of O-negative blood in Operating Room Four!
The heavy double doors of the surgical suite slammed shut, leaving Julian standing alone in the sterile hallway. He slumped against the white wall, sliding down to the floor as he buried his face in his blood-stained hands. His body shook with heavy, ragged sobs as the fear of losing his wife and child consumed him.
Footsteps echoed down the corridor, and Detective Miller walked up, holding a small leather notebook and a pen.
Detective Miller: Mr. Julian Sterling?
Julian: Detective... tell me you locked down my estate.
Detective Miller: My officers are at the mansion right now, Mr. Sterling. But we ran into a complication regarding Victoria Vance.
Julian: What complication? She pushed my pregnant wife down twenty marble steps!
Detective Miller: Miss Vance filed a formal police report claiming you physically assaulted her during a domestic argument. She claims Mrs. Sterling slipped on liquid spilled near the staircase.
Julian: She's lying! She pushed Cora because she wanted to eliminate the primary heir to the Sterling trust fund!
Detective Miller: Do you have video evidence to back up that claim, sir? My officers checked the mansion's security control room, and the primary hard drive for the foyer camera was wiped thirty minutes ago.
Julian's eyes widened in sheer disbelief as he stood up from the floor, his fists clenching tight.
Julian: Wiped?! Victoria paid off my security chief, didn't she?
Detective Miller: The security chief claims there was a power surge during the gala. Without clear footage or eyewitnesses willing to testify against the Vance family, it's your word against hers.
Julian: Victoria thinks she's untouchable because her father sits on the city council. But she made one massive mistake tonight.
Detective Miller: What mistake is that, Mr. Sterling?
Julian: She forgot that my late father installed a secondary, hidden security system inside the grand chandelier to protect the estate artwork. And only two people in the world have the access codes to that server.
Julian pulled his smartphone from his pocket, tapping the screen to dial his family's chief estate attorney, Marcus Vance.
Marcus: Julian! I just heard about Cora! Is she alright?
Julian: Marcus, she's in emergency surgery. I need you to access the vault server in the chandelier right now and pull the raw video feed from twenty-two hundred hours.
Marcus: The vault server? Julian, that feed is encrypted with high-level corporate security passcodes!
Julian: Use my master master-key codes, Marcus! Extract the full video of Victoria pushing Cora, and meet me at the precinct in one hour!
Marcus: I'm on it right now, Julian. We will expose that monster before the sun comes up.