“I told you, she’s faking,” Mills insisted, but the nurse was already hitting the emergency button on the wall.

“She’s having a placental abruption!” the nurse screamed into the intercom. “This is life-threatening!”

Dr. Blake, a tall man with tired eyes, ran in, took one look at the blood pooling on the bed, and his face went white. “Jesus Christ, how long has she been bleeding?”

“Five minutes? Maybe ten? They wouldn’t let me check,” the nurse stammered.

“Prep an OR, now!” Dr. Blake roared. “We could lose them both!”

But as two more nurses rushed in to unhook my monitors, Officer Mills blocked the door. “She’s in custody. She stays here.”

Dr. Blake’s face contorted with a rage I’d never seen on a doctor. “Then you might as well sign their death certificates right now,” he snapped. “This is a medical emergency, not a negotiation.”