Chapter 3 - Packing Up the Ashes
The discharge papers were signed forty-eight hours later. Dr. Vance gave Lucy strict instructions for bed rest and stress avoidance, handing her a folder of follow-up appointments. But as Lucy stepped out of the automatic sliding doors of Chicago General into the brisk autumn air, she didn't head toward Alex’s silver truck idling at the curb.
Instead, a black rideshare sedan pulled up. The driver hopped out, tossed her small overnight bag into the trunk, and opened the door for her.
Alex slammed the steering wheel of his truck, hopped out, and jogged across the asphalt. "Lucy! What the hell are you doing? Get in my car. We're going home."
"My home is no longer yours, Alex," Lucy said, sliding into the back seat of the rideshare. She reached out and pulled the door shut before he could grab the handle.
Through the tinted glass, she watched his face contort with a mixture of rage and disbelief. He banged his palm once against the window, but the driver immediately pulled away into traffic, leaving the lieutenant standing alone in the hospital driveway, a monument to his own spectacular destruction.
Lucy hadn't gone to a hotel. She had rented a small, furnished two-bedroom apartment three neighborhoods over—a quiet, sunlit space with neutral walls and no history. Her best friend from her ER days, Maya, stood in the center of the living room unpacking a box of groceries while Lucy settled gingerly onto the sofa.
"I still can't believe you pulled your own ring off," Maya said, shaking her head as she stocked the small refrigerator. "I mean, I can believe it because you're the most hardheaded woman I've ever met, but damn, Lucy. That must have hurt like hell."
"The pain kept me conscious," Lucy replied quietly, staring out the window at the passing traffic below. "If I had stayed in that elevator another minute, I wouldn't have just lost my marriage. I would have lost my daughter. Pain was a good reminder of what mattered."
"So, what's step two?" Maya asked, wiping her hands on a dish towel and walking over to lean against the kitchen counter. "Alex has been blowing up my phone all morning. He claims you're having a psychotic break due to oxygen deprivation. He wants to 'talk things out' like a reasonable adult."
"A reasonable adult," Lucy scoffed lightly. "He hasn't been reasonable in two years. Ever since Valerie moved back from London, our marriage has been a ghost ship with Alex steering it straight into an iceberg. I was just too blind—or too stubborn—to look down at the water filling up the hull."
"Are you filing for divorce?" Maya asked gently.
"Already called a family law attorney from my hospital bed," Lucy said, her voice steady. "Papers are being drafted. Full custody of the baby, possession of my pre-marital savings account, and an inventory of every single joint asset he spent funding Valerie's high-end lifestyle."
"Good," Maya said fiercely. "Because if you didn't, I was going to do it for you."
That evening, as the sun dipped below the Chicago skyline casting long amber shadows across the hardwood floor, a sharp knock echoed at the apartment door.
Maya froze, looking over at Lucy. "Did you order delivery?"
"No."
Lucy stood up slowly, pressing a hand to her swollen belly. She walked down the short hallway and looked through the peephole.
It wasn't Alex.
It was Valerie.
Valerie stood in the hallway wearing a cashmere trench coat, her blond hair perfectly blown out, holding a small paper bag from an upscale bakery. She looked around nervously before tapping on the door a second time.
Lucy’s hand hovered over the deadbolt. A cold, sharp clarity washed over her. She turned the lock, pulled the door open, and leaned against the frame, blocking the entrance completely.
May you like
Valerie blinked, stepping back slightly as she took in Lucy’s casual loungewear and the cool, unreadable expression on her face.
"Lucy," Valerie said, forcing a brittle, sympathetic smile. "Thank goodness. I heard you were discharged. I brought you some pastries from downtown. I... I just wanted to check on you. After everything that happened in the elevator..."
