Blood Between Us

CHAPTER 22– The Mark She Left

Olivia’s POV

I don’t remember screaming.

But I remember the silence that followed.

It wasn’t normal silence.

It was the kind that pressed against your ears and made your skin itch.

I tried to move.

Still strapped.

My fingers trembled against the bed rails.

I couldn’t see her. But I could feel her.

She was there.

Somewhere in that dark room.

Breathing with me.

Watching.

Waiting.

I turned my face toward the sound. Soft footsteps. Rubber soles over tile.

“Don’t,” I whispered. “Please, not the baby…”

Silence.

Then breath close to my ear.

“You scream so beautifully.”

I jerked.

But she didn’t touch me.

No slap. No jab. Nothing.

She just whispered again.

“You won’t know when I’ll take it from you. But I will. And you’ll be awake for it.”

Then a cold pressure on my stomach — something sharp, but not piercing.

When the lights finally returned, she was gone.

Just like that.

But something was tucked under my blanket.

A red flower.

A single, blood-colored dahlia.

I screamed again, and this time, nurses stormed in.

They found nothing but the flower and me — shaking so violently they thought I was seizing.

They didn’t see her.

But I did.

She left no cuts.

But she still marked me.

---

Leo’s POV

I arrived at the hospital in less than fifteen minutes.

I didn’t wait for security. I pushed past them.

The entire hallway smelled of panic and disinfectant.

When I burst into her room, she was crying.

Trembling.

A nurse held her, trying to calm her down.

And on the floor…

The flower.

The same kind that used to be placed outside my father’s private doors. The same flower Dahlia always wore in her hair.

I picked it up carefully.

“She was here,” I said aloud.

The nurse nodded. “We’re checking cameras, but… the footage is gone again.”

“She was inches from her,” I whispered.

Then I turned to Olivia.

She was pale. Sweaty. Still holding her stomach.

But her eyes… her eyes were wild and awake.

“She said she’ll take the baby,” she whispered to me.

“She said I’ll be awake for it.”

I clenched my fists.

I wasn’t going to let that happen.

I couldn’t.

---

Nurse POV

I stood just outside the door as Leo held her.

I watched the hallway.

My shift ended in five minutes.

I should’ve been home already.

But something kept me there.

And I noticed something no one else did:

A small smear of red on the inside of the doorway.

It wasn’t blood.

It was lipstick.

A kiss mark.

And beside it… drawn in shaky pen across the wall:

“See you soon, mommy.”