You Paid for My Funeral in Advance Chapter 05
Adrian did not believe him at first.
The art museum lobby was still bright, and Madeline stood nearby with the charity award in her hands,/smiling as guests congratulated her.
A few minutes earlier, Adrian had still thought Nora was making another scene over money. He had been ready to send Cole with cash and ask what she wanted this time.
Admission fees. Surgery fees. A VIP room.
He could pay for all of it.
Now Cole was telling him there was no time left.
“Get the car,” Adrian said.
Madeline hurried after him. “Adrian, what happened?”
He did not answer. He walked straight through the crowd and left.
At the base hospital, the doctor on duty was waiting outside the obstetric surgical unit.
“Where is my wife?” Adrian asked.
The doctor was silent for a moment.
“She and the baby are in the holding room. Nora was brought in with severe placental abruption and heavy bleeding. We performed an emergency C–section, but the baby had been deprived of oxygen too long. Nora hemorrhaged afterward. We could not save her.”
Adrian’s throat tightened.
“She called me.”
“More than once,” the doctor said. “Before surgery, she kept asking the nurses to call you. She said if only one of them could be saved, we should save the baby first.”
A nurse placed a clear bag on the counter.
Inside were Nora’s phone, wallet, hospital papers, the medication from earlier, and a tiny hospital bracelet.
The label read:
Baby Hayes.
Adrian picked up Nora’s phone.
The screen was still open to their conversation.
Her last message read:
I’m bleeding. I need the ER.
Below it was his transfer.
Adrian Hayes sent you: $100
The note read: Emergency fee.
He scrolled upward and stopped at the call from after she had left the hospital. He remembered what she had said: the hospital had told her to go home and watch herself; he did not need to come, and he did not need to send money.
He had answered with one hundred dollars.
I’m ashamed our child has a liar for a mother.
Farther up was the voice message from her checkup.
The doctor says the baby may come early. Can you come to the hospital?
His reply had been another cent.
Need money again?
Adrian stared at the discharge papers. High–risk pregnancy. Observation recommended. Bleeding or abdominal pain required immediate emergency care.
Every warning was real.
The doctor continued, “She woke briefly after surgery. When the registrar needed a guarantor for the charges, she asked us to keep calling you. Your phone was off.”
He had turned it off himself.
Because Madeline had said Nora was acting.
Adrian crushed the papers in his hand.
“Can I see her?”
The doctor nodded.
The holding room was at the end of the hall.
Nora lay under a white sheet, her face almost translucent. Beside her, in a small bassinet, lay a baby wrapped in a pale blanket.
So small.
Adrian touched Nora’s hand.
It was cold.
His phone vibrated.
Madeline had sent a message.
Adrian, where did you go? Everyone is worried. Let me come to you.
Adrian looked from her message to the seventy–seven voice recordings on Nora’s phone.
He played the first one.
Nora’s voice was soft.
“Adrian, the doctor said the baby’s heartbeat is strong. It sounds so fast. I know you’re busy, but I really wish you could hear it once.”
The recording ended.
No request for money. No accusation.
Only Nora, trying to let him hear their child’s heartbeat.
Cole stood at the door, eyes red.
Adrian did not play the next message. He already understood enough.
Nora had not lied to him.
He closed his hand around the tiny bracelet.
“Cole.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Pull everything. Hospital records, prenatal records, payment logs, login devices, transfer history, deleted messages, deleted voice recordings.”
Cole straightened. “Yes, sir.”
Adrian looked at Madeline’s unread message.
“And Madeline.”
Cole said nothing.
Adrian tightened his grip until the bracelet pressed into his palm.
“Start with her.”
