Page 70 of Marrying Off My Husband

“Oh, I see the mouse is back. Here to help your boyfriend claim my daughter’s money.”

“No,” Eve growled. “I would never do that to Louise.”

She tapped her phone to replay the video.

Constance’s features shifted from confident to defeated, though she tried to maintain her facade. “You have no proof.”

“I have all the proof I need,” Eve snapped as she stepped to Louise. “We are taking Louise and leaving. And you will never touch her money.”

She knelt next to a nearly comatose Louise and rubbed her arm. “Lou? Come on, honey, let’s go home, okay?”

Louise lifted her head, her features pinched with confusion. “Eve?”

“It’s me, Lou. I’m here to help you. Can you come with me?”

“Eve,” she gushed, clamping onto Eve’s arm as if to check if she was real, “oh, Eve. It’s all a mix-up, darlin’.”

“Let’s not worry about that now,” Eve answered. “We’ll talk later.”

“I hope this is all being documented. My daughter is certifiable.”

“Because you made her that way,” I answered. “And I’m taking her straight to the hospital to have her tested. You won’t get away with this.”

“You get away from her,” Constance shouted at Eve, slapping her across the face and knocking her to the floor.

I raced forward, dropping to my knees as Eve pressed her palm against her cheek. The officers rushed forward, holding out their hands to drive Constance back a few steps.

“Eve, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said as I wrapped my hands around her shoulders and helped her to stand.

“Eve?” Louise asked, tears filling her eyes. “Oh, Eve.”

She sobbed as she rose. Eve took a step toward her but before she could wrap her arms around her, Louise’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she slumped toward the floor.

Eve caught her before she hit the ground as I called emergency services to summon an ambulance. We waited five grueling minutes for them to arrive and load a still-unconscious Louise into the back of an ambulance.

Eve and I slid into the back of the chauffeured car and were whisked away to the hospital. After a brief wait in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs, we were finally called back to be with Louise.

“We ran a full blood panel on her. She had an overload of Benzodiazepine. We have her on fluids,” the doctor explained.

“Why is she still unconscious?” Eve asked, her voice weak and trembling.

I risked sliding an arm around her to steady her. She didn’t shake it off, at least.

“That’s normal. I anticipate she’ll awake once the drugs begin wearing off. May be a few hours, though. We’ll check back in shortly.”

Eve glanced at Louise’s still form as the doctor left the room, her features pinched. She slid out of my grasp and approached the bed, slipping her hand around Louise’s. “How could her mother do this?”

“Constance is not a nice person,” I answered quietly as I circled to the other side of the bed. “Looks like we’ll be here for a while.”

Eve pulled a chair closer and eased into it, her hand still around Louise’s. I did the same on the opposite side of the bed.

Only the sound of Louise’s heart monitor filled the silence between us.

“Eve–” I began.

She slid her eyes closed and shook her head. “Please, don’t.”

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