Chapter 4 - The Broken Sister
I followed Tyler up the narrow stairs, each step heavy with dread. When he pushed open the door to the small guest bedroom, the smell of antiseptic hit me instantly. Lying on the twin bed was Chloe.
I barely recognized her. The once vibrant, rebellious girl was skin and bones, her cheekbones jutting sharply against sunken skin. A dark purple bruise faded along her jawline, and her wrist was wrapped tightly in a medical brace. She opened her eyes weakly, blinking against the hall light.
"Tyler...?" she croaked, her voice barely a breath.
"It’s okay, Chlo," Tyler whispered gently, stepping to her side. "Brenda is here. She knows."
Chloe’s eyes widened with sheer panic. She tried to sit up, clutching the sheets to her chest, but the effort sent her into a fit of breathless coughing. "No... please... don't call the police. Don't tell Marcus. He’ll find me. He said he’d burn the house down with the baby inside if I ever took her..."
"Chloe, calm down," I said softly, instinctively stepping closer despite the storm in my head. As a new mother, the sight of another woman in such absolute agony tore straight through my anger. "No one is calling Marcus. But you need a doctor. Both of you."
"She can't," Tyler interjected quietly, pulling me into the hallway. "Marcus is connected, Brenda. He’s got friends in county dispatch. When Chloe escaped his compound two weeks ago, she gave birth in a motel bathroom. The baby was nearly six weeks premature. Chloe was so malnourished and traumatized her body couldn't produce milk. She tried formula, but the baby kept vomiting blood. Severe milk-protein intolerance. The doctor at a walk-in clinic told her the only thing that could coat the baby’s stomach safely was real human milk."
"So you decided to steal from our baby?" I asked, looking him dead in the eye.
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"You had an oversupply, Brenda! We had three freezers full of it!" Tyler choked back a sob. "I knew how stressed you were with postpartum anxiety. If I told you Chloe was here, you’d want to call the authorities. And if Marcus found a paper trail—an insurance claim, an ER visit—he would come here. I was trying to save my sister’s baby without destroying our family's safety."
"You don't protect your family by lying to your wife, Tyler," I whispered, my voice cold and firm. "And you certainly don't play doctor with an infant on the brink of death."
