PART 2 — The Empire Falls While a Miracle Fights to Live
"Mrs. Callahan," the FBI agent repeated, kneeling beside me. "We're going to need your testimony."
Another sharp pain ripped through my stomach before I could answer.
I cried out.
The ballroom disappeared into chaos.
"She's hemorrhaging!"
"Call an ambulance!"
"Move, move!"
Someone finally knelt beside me.
Not Tyler.
Not his parents.
My sister.
Emma tore free from the security guards and dropped to the floor beside me, cradling my head.
"Stay with me," she sobbed. "Please, Nat... stay with me."
An EMT rushed inside only seconds after the FBI team secured the mansion.
One glance at the blood pooling beneath me was enough.
"We're losing both of them if we don't move now!"
Those words froze every person in the room.
Even Tyler.
For the first time all afternoon, I saw genuine fear in his eyes.
"Natalie..."
He reached toward me.
I pulled my hand away.
"Don't touch me."
It was barely a whisper.
But it hurt him more than any scream could have.
As paramedics lifted me onto a stretcher, I looked over the shoulder of the lead FBI agent.
He was placing Richard Callahan in handcuffs.
"You have the right to remain silent..."
Richard laughed.
"This is a mistake."
"We own senators."
"We own judges."
"We own Washington."
The agent didn't even blink.
"No, Mr. Callahan."
He held up a thick evidence binder.
"Your daughter-in-law owned your hard drives."
Richard's smile vanished.
Victoria tried to run.
She made it exactly three steps before another agent stopped her.
Meanwhile Chloe stood frozen in the middle of the ballroom.
The confident smile she had worn all afternoon was gone.
She stared at Tyler.
"You said none of this could happen."
Tyler looked at her as though seeing her for the first time.
"I..."
He had no answer.
Then another FBI agent entered carrying several boxes filled with documents.
"Sir, we've located additional offshore account records."
"And the servers?"
"Already seized."
Richard's knees almost buckled.
That was when he finally understood.
This wasn't a raid.
It was the end.
The ambulance raced toward Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Every bump in the road sent agony through my body.
Doctors surrounded me the moment we arrived.
"Placental abruption."
"Blood pressure falling."
"Prepare the OR."
Someone squeezed my hand.
Emma.
"I'll be right here."
I was barely conscious when the obstetrician leaned close.
"Natalie..."
"We're going to do everything we can."
"But we have to deliver your son now."
Tears rolled down my face.
"I haven't even met him."
"You will."
Those were the last words I heard before the anesthesia pulled me into darkness.
...
Hours later...
The first sound I heard wasn't voices.
It was crying.
A tiny...
Beautiful...
Determined cry.
My eyes slowly opened.
The room was quiet.
Emma stood beside my bed crying happy tears.
"You did it," she whispered.
My voice cracked.
"My baby?"
She smiled through tears.
"He's alive."
Moments later a nurse gently placed the smallest little boy I had ever seen into my arms.
His tiny fingers wrapped around mine.
Immediately.
As though he already knew me.
"Hello, Ethan," I whispered.
"I've been waiting my whole life for you."
The nurse smiled.
"He's a fighter."
"So are you."
Outside my hospital room, federal agents continued escorting members of the Callahan family into waiting vehicles while television helicopters circled overhead.
The empire that had taken forty years to build had collapsed...
In less than four hours.
May you like
And this time...
Money couldn't save them.
