After Pawning My Husband's Gold Necklace, I Jailed Him

The nurse was shouting my name. "Winona Henson's family! Is Winona Henson's family here!" Patrick stood two steps behind me. Hands in his pockets, he didn't even turn his head. Cara tugged at his sleeve. "Patrick, the nurse is calling for Winona's family. "Go and check on her." Patrick closed his hand over Cara's. "Don't worry about her. "She just paid off the nurse to put on a show for us. "She's been pulling this crying, screaming, threatening-to-die act for three years. "I'm not buying it." The nurse ran up in front of us and blocked the officer. "You can't take her! "The patient has severe anemia, and her clotting is dangerously poor. "She's already going into contractions. "She needs to be admitted right now to save the pregnancy, ready for surgery at any moment. "If she leaves this hospital and we lose both mother and child, who's going to answer for that?" The nurse turned to Patrick. "Mr. Fox, this is a matter of life and death. "Go pay the deposit and get her admitted first. "The rest of it you can sort out later." Patrick let out a cold laugh and walked up to the nurse. "How much did she pay you? "To play along with this cheap little act of hers? "She's as strong as an ox. How could she possibly have severe anemia? "I keep her fed and comfortable every single day. "She just wants to con money out of me to prop up that broke family of hers." The nurse's face went red with anger. She slapped the report straight against Patrick's chest. "See for yourself! "Her hemoglobin is only fifty! "A normal person would have gone into shock long ago! "She's made it this far on sheer willpower alone. "Are you even a man? You'd throw away your own wife and child?" Patrick didn't even glance at the report. He threw it straight to the floor. And stepped on it. "I already said, she's faking. "And even if she really is sick, that's because she doesn't take care of herself. "I always told her to get more exercise. She never listened. "Now that something's gone wrong, she comes running to me to bail her out. "Why should I pay for her laziness?" Cara bent down and picked up the filthy report, wiping it carefully with a tissue. "Patrick, don't say that. "Winona might really be in a lot of pain. "Look how pale she is. "Think of it as building up some good karma for the baby in my belly... for me." Patrick snatched the report from her and tore it to shreds. "Cara, you're just too soft-hearted. "Your money is money you worked hard for. "Why should you let her waste it? "If she'd steal a necklace today to cover a deposit, "tomorrow she'll steal the deed and sell the house. "She needs to learn her lesson. "If anything happens to her, I, Patrick Fox, take full responsibility. I'll never come after you two over it." That was the last straw for the nurse. "Mr. Fox, this is abandonment! "Your wife is in critical condition right now. "If you refuse your duty to get her treated, you'll be held legally responsible!" Patrick wasn't fazed in the slightest. He took out his phone. Dialed a number. "Lawyer Chavez, bring people down to City General right now. "There's a hospital nurse here interfering with how I handle my own family business. "And trying to force me to pay up. "Right. Bring the media too. "I want everyone to see how the police these days team up with thieves to shake honest people down." He hung up. Patrick looked down at me. "Winona, you think this is going to make me cave?" "Let me tell you, even if the almighty himself came down here today." "I still wouldn't pay a cent. You like stealing, don't you?" "You can go do all the stealing you want behind bars." A savage pain tore through my belly, like something was dragging downward. I clenched my teeth. Cold sweat rolled off my forehead in fat drops. "Patrick, let's get divorced." My voice was soft, but every word was clear. "Sign the papers. "I'll walk away with nothing. I'll sign my own consent for the surgery." Patrick froze for a second. Then burst into loud, mocking laughter. "Divorce?" "You think a divorce lets you dodge the law?" "You think a divorce lets you keep all the money from my necklace for yourself?" "Winona, dream on. Not only will I not divorce you." "I'll make you spend the rest of your life branded a thief." Cara stepped forward and gently stroked my arm. "Winona, don't say things you don't mean. "Patrick loves you very much." "He's just angry that you stole." "Hurry up and apologize to him, promise you'll never steal again." "He'll definitely forgive you." I shook her hand off. A hot rush spilled down the inside of my thigh. Drip. Drip. Red spread across the white tiles. The nurse screamed.

"Blood! She's bleeding!" The ER doctor heard the commotion and came rushing out with a gurney. "Move! Get her up here!" "Prep the trauma bay!" "Get the head of OB-GYN down here for a consult, now!" Hands grabbed me from every side and lifted me onto the gurney. Blood had already soaked my dress red. It was a horrible sight, and when Patrick saw that pool of blood, he took half a step back. But there wasn't a trace of worry on his face. Only disgust. "Winona, you're really something." "You'd cut yourself just to squeeze money out of me." "Did you tuck a blood bag into your dress ahead of time?" "You think a cheap trick like that could fool me?" He jabbed a finger at the doctor, cursing. "And your hospital, do you get a cut for helping her put on this show?" "An hour ago she was running home to steal things." "And now she's dying?" "Tell it to somebody who'll believe it!" The doctor pushed the gurney toward the trauma bay, with no time at all for Patrick's ranting. "Fetal heart rate's dropping!" "She's dilating!" "Prep for an emergency C-section!" The doctor slapped a surgical consent form against Patrick's chest. "You're the family, right?" "Sign it, now!" "She's hemorrhaging. She needs surgery and a transfusion immediately." "One more minute and we lose both mother and baby!" Patrick took the form and glanced at the estimated cost printed on it. He let out a cold laugh. "A C-section? A transfusion?" "And imported clotting drugs on top of that?" "Your hospital's just robbing people!" "Can't she deliver naturally? Does it have to be a C-section?" "Other men's wives have a baby for a few hundred bucks." "She needs tens of thousands to pop one out?" "Who does she think she is, some heiress?" The doctor was hopping with fury. "Do you not understand plain words! " "She's hemorrhaging! Natural delivery will kill her!" "Right now, is money what matters or her life!" Patrick tossed the form onto the triage desk. "Money matters, obviously." "My money doesn't just blow in on the wind either." "Cara's antidepressants cost several thousand every month." "And she uses the cheapest generic ones there are." "What makes Winona good enough for imported drugs?" "Is she worth it?" "Let me be clear, I'm not paying a single cent." "If you're going to treat her, treat her the cheapest way there is." "If she dies from it, then that's just her bad luck." Off to the side, Cara dabbed at her eyes, then walked over and picked up the form. "Patrick, don't be like this." "We can always earn the money back." "Winona only has one life." "She's always been harsh with me, spreading it everywhere that I'm the other woman." "But I can't just stand here and watch her die. Let me pay for it." She pulled out her phone and opened her payment balance. She held it up in front of the doctor. "Doctor, I've got over fifty thousand here. It's money I won on a bet today." "That should be enough for Winona's surgery, right?" The doctor snatched the phone. "That's enough, more than enough!" "Get to the payment window, fast!" "Family, sign the form, now!" "I'd like to see anyone try." Patrick grabbed Cara's phone back out of her hand. He shot the doctor a vicious glare. "That's Cara's nutrition money. Nobody touches it." "Didn't Winona steal my gold necklace?" "That necklace was worth at least twenty thousand at the pawn shop." "Let her use that money for her treatment!" The policewoman was shaking with rage. "The money from pawning that necklace has already been seized by us as evidence!" "Patrick, you're not even human!" "Your wife is in there fighting for her life." "And you're out here counting a few thousand dollars?" Patrick squared his shoulders, righteous as ever. "I'm a man of principle. One thing at a time." "The fact is, she stole. If she wants me to sign and save her, fine." "Let her sign the confession first." "Admit she broke in and stole. Admit she tried to extort me." "Once she signs, I'll sign for her surgery." "Otherwise, she can lie in there and wait to die." The doors of the trauma bay swung open, and a nurse ran out with her hands covered in blood. "The patient's gone into shock!" "We're losing the fetal heart rate!" "Is the family's signature in yet? If you don't sign now it'll be too late!" Patrick folded his arms across his chest. "What's the rush." "Take this confession in there and have her thumbprint it." "She prints it, I sign." The nurse stared at the paper Patrick was holding out.

The nurse stared at the paper Patrick was holding out. Her whole body went rigid. "Are you insane? She's already unconscious!" "How is she supposed to press a thumbprint? You're trying to kill her!" Patrick clicked his tongue, impatient. "Unconscious? Then use her blood." "She's bled this much already. One thumbprint won't make a difference." "I'm a fair man." "She wants to live, she pays for it with her name." "She owes me that. She owes Cara that." Cara took the confession from Patrick's hand. Step by step, she walked to the door of the ER. She looked at the nurse, her voice soft enough to drip. "Nurse, please, just bend the rules a little. Patrick only wants what's best for Winona." "Winona's stubborn. She won't admit she's wrong unless she suffers for it." "One thumbprint and Patrick will pay and sign right away." "You don't want to watch Winona die on that operating table, do you?" The nurse shoved Cara away, shaking with rage. "Get away from me! The two of you make me sick!" "I quit!" "I'll take responsibility myself and operate on her!" The nurse rushed into the ER and slammed the door behind her. On the operating table, the attending physician had already lifted the scalpel. Moments earlier, the on-duty hospital director had invoked Article 1220 of the Civil Code, the emergency treatment provision. Bypassing the family's signature, he had stamped the hospital's official administrative seal directly onto the form. "Save her first! The hospital takes all responsibility!" The director's words still echoed through the intercom. I lay on the cold operating table, the surgical lights so bright I couldn't open my eyes. Everything below my waist had gone numb. All I could hear was the shrill alarm of the machines ringing in my ears. The doctor was doing CPR on me. "Winona! Wake up! Don't sleep! Think about your baby!" My eyelids were heavy as lead. The ER door was suddenly kicked open.