Chapter 3

The clothes still smelled like stale disinfectant, but now they were wrinkled, too. My body ached, a testament to the night I'd spent on a hard bench. I walked out of the precinct into the harsh morning light, blinking as if I'd been underwater. My first thought, my only thought, was Leo.

I rushed back to the hospital, my pace quickening with every step. I burst into Leo' s room, but it was empty. The bed was stripped bare, a stark white rectangle. My heart plummeted.

"Excuse me," I asked a passing nurse, my voice frantic. "My son, Leo Hayden, where is he?"

She looked at her chart. "Oh, he was moved. To a regular recovery room. Room 412." Her tone was dismissive, as if this was normal.

I raced to Room 412. It was smaller, less private, with two beds crammed together. Leo lay in one, his face tear-streaked. His room had been a quiet sanctuary, now it was just another hospital room. The injustice burned.

"Mommy!" Leo cried, his voice still small. He launched himself at me, carefully avoiding his bandaged arm.

I held him tight, inhaling the scent of his hair, trying to assure him I was real. "What happened, baby? Why did they move you?"

He pulled back, his lower lip trembling. "Dad said... Dad said we couldn't stay in the nice room. He said... he said I was too much trouble."

His words hit me like a physical blow. Calvin. My husband. He had kicked our injured son out of his room. The anger that had been simmering beneath the surface boiled over. It was a cold, hard rage that settled deep in my bones.

I walked down the hospital corridor, my steps echoing loudly in the quiet space. My mind was a storm of fury and betrayal. Then I saw him. Calvin. He was leaning against a wall, his back to me, talking animatedly on his phone. And beside him, Bethany Morales, her hand resting lightly on his arm. Her face was tilted up towards his, a soft, intimate smile playing on her lips.

They looked like a couple. A real couple.

"Calvin, thank you again," I heard Bethany say, her voice dripping with false sweetness. "You really saved us."

Calvin squeezed her hand. "Anything for you, Beth. You know that." His voice was a low murmur, full of a tenderness he hadn't shown me in years.

My stomach dropped. A cold, dead numbness spread through me. It wasn't just old history. It wasn't just covering up for her. It was now. Right here, in front of my face.

My hand instinctively went to my phone. I didn't think. I just acted. I raised it, clicked, and took a picture. Then another. And another. Proof. Because I knew, with chilling certainty, that I would need it.

You want to play dirty, Calvin? I thought, my heart a frozen knot in my chest. Let's play.

Later that day, the lawyer I' d finally managed to secure called me. "Claire," she began, her voice hesitant. "They're stalling Leo's case again. Filing motions, questioning jurisdiction. It's a mess."

My jaw tightened. "Of course they are." That familiar sting of disappointment, like a dull ache, spread through me. But it quickly hardened into steel.

I wouldn't break. Not now. Not ever.

I went back to Leo's room. He was picking at his bandage, his eyes wide with fear. "Mommy," he whispered. "Will they... will they make me go back to school? What if Mateo hurts me again?"

I knelt beside him, taking his small hand in mine. "No, baby," I vowed, my voice fierce. "No one is going to hurt you again. Not Mateo. Not anyone."

I looked into his innocent, frightened eyes. "I promise you, Leo. I will make sure everyone who hurt you, everyone who let it happen, pays for what they did. Every single one of them."

The next week was a blur of doctors' visits and restless nights. Then, the call came from the school again. Leo had been involved in another incident. Not a fight, this time. He'd been cornered, mocked. His old injuries, still healing, had been aggravated.

I raced to the hospital, my blood boiling. As I approached Leo's room, I heard it again. Calvin's voice, hushed, urgent, on the phone just outside the door.

"Look, Bethany, I'm handling it," he said, his voice laced with annoyance. "Just keep Mateo quiet. I'll make sure this whole thing blows over. No one needs to know he was even there."

My vision blurred crimson. He was still protecting them. After everything. After what they had done to our son, twice.

I didn't think. I just moved. I stormed towards him, my hand raised before I even knew what I was doing. My palm connected with his cheek with a sharp crack that echoed in the quiet hallway.

Calvin stumbled back, his phone clattering to the floor. His hand flew to his face, his eyes wide with shock. "Claire! What the hell was that for?"

"What was that for?" I screamed, my voice raw. "You want to know what that was for, Calvin? It was for lying to me! For protecting that monster and his trash mother! For letting our son suffer while you play hero to your old flame!"

"You're hysterical!" he yelled back, his face reddening. "You're ruining everything!"

"You ruined everything, Calvin!" I spat, tears of rage blinding me. "Get out! Get out of my sight! Get out of this hospital! Get out of our lives!"

He stared at me, his eyes blazing, then stooped to pick up his phone. "Fine, Claire. Fine! You want to be difficult? See how far that gets you. I'll handle things my way." He paused, then added, "But don't come crying to me when it all falls apart."

He walked away, his back rigid. I watched him go, a hollow ache where my heart used to be. I knew then. There was no 'us' left. There was only me. And Leo.

I pulled out my phone, my fingers trembling. I typed out a long, detailed email, attaching the pictures I'd taken. The recipient: The Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility. The subject line: "Abuse of Power and Conflict of Interest by Assistant U.S. Attorney Calvin Hayden."

This was no longer just about Leo. This was about bringing down a corrupt system, starting with the man who had let it fester in our own home.