“The baby?” Madison asked. “Claire, please tell me.”
“She is alive,” Claire said, squeezing her hand tightly.
Lily Grace was in the neonatal intensive care unit, receiving breathing support. Madison clung to those words while Claire held her hand and cried with her.
Then Madison noticed the empty chair beside the bed.
“Where is Ethan?”
Claire reached into her purse with a heavy sigh. The hospital had called her as Madison’s emergency contact. She had driven to the house and seen the splintered front door frame.
According to Claire, Ethan had ignored every call from the hospital. When a nurse finally reached him through Patricia’s phone, he told her to stop calling. He was busy — at the party.
Claire turned her phone screen toward Madison. There was a towering five-tier cake. Her husband was laughing, holding his phone high above a cheering crowd. The glittering banner behind him read: Family First.