Page 67 of Run for Her Life
Nothing bad happened here. A couple of overdoses and a hiking accident here and there. But now Lisa was dealing with a missing woman who was very likely being tortured. She went over everything she was supposed to do—conduct search parties, recruit volunteers, follow up on tips from the hotline that had been set up.
Her phone buzzed against the kitchen counter. She glanced over from where she was rinsing a glass in the sink. The caller ID read:Dr. Khalid—OB/GYN. A moment of hesitation. She hadn’t thought about this at all for a while. It felt like a lifetime ago.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Lisa. It’s Dr. Khalid. I just wanted to follow up with you after your last check-in.”
Lisa’s stomach tightened. She knew what was coming before the words landed. “I’m really sorry, but your HCG levels came back negative. The embryo didn’t implant this cycle.”
A pause. Did she even care anymore? Jim never did. And she had been too blinded by the idea of a baby to see that her husband had been flirting with women online.
“I see,” she said softly. Her head was already hurting.
“I know how hard you’ve worked for this,” the doctor continued gently. “I want to reassure you that it doesn’t mean we’re out of options. It’s just one outcome, and it’s more common than most people realize.”
Lisa leaned against the counter, rubbing her temple. “What… what happens next?”
“Well,” Dr. Khalid replied, her tone shifting. “We have a few directions we can go in. If you want to try another round, we could adjust the hormone protocol slightly. Sometimes a different stimulation can improve egg quality or increaseretrieval numbers. That’s an option. We could also talk about doing a freeze-all cycle. Retrieve and freeze the embryos, then transfer to a separate, more controlled cycle. Or even preimplantation genetic testing if you’re open to it—just to give us more information on embryo quality.”
“Right,” Lisa murmured, though the words barely made it through the fog forming in her mind. It was all so dizzying.
“There’s also the option to pause. Let your body reset. Take a cycle off. Emotionally and physically, that can be important too. You could try naturally for a while again to give yourself a break.”
Dr. Khalid paused, her voice softening. “But this is your timeline, Lisa. We’ll go at your pace. I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk more.”
“Thanks,” she whispered. “I’ll… think about it.”
“Of course. Take care of yourself.”
The call ended with a soft beep. Lisa stood motionless in the kitchen, staring at the darkened screen, the doctor’s words still floating in her mind like faint echoes. She didn’t realize her hand was trembling until she set the phone down and saw it shaking.
Suddenly, her life didn’t seem like hers anymore. Everything was drastically different from two weeks ago. She wandered to the bedroom in a daze. The air felt thick and soupy. Her bones grew heavy as she plopped on the bed and slid under the duvet. But her eyes stayed open as she stared into the darkness.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when the door creaked open. It must be Jim. The fabric rustled as he undressed. The bed shifted as he lay down beside her. He reached out, his hand just grazing behind her back for a second too long. Then he withdrew it.
Lisa forced her breathing to be slow and rhythmic. Pretending to be asleep was easier than trying to deal with him. It was their new routine that they had fallen into. He would try totalk to her and she would pretend to be asleep. It was easier than looking at his face.
But not tonight.
Something came over her. A fire. A need to assert. She rolled over to him.
“Lisa, I—” She swallowed his words with a furious kiss. He protested, mumbling something against her mouth but she didn’t stop. She kept the pressure and slid her hand down. He wrapped his hand around her wrist and forcefully pushed her away. “What are you doing?”
In the dark, she could barely make out the silhouette of his face. Instead she kissed him again, this time more aggressively, letting him know what she wanted. Finally, with a groan he gave in and responded, molding his body into hers. Her skin burned not with passion but with the memories of his betrayal.
She didn’t want to talk to him. She didn’t care to. She didn’t care about anything anymore.
FORTY-ONE
PAST
The elevator doors slid open with a hushed chime. The woman stepped out onto the top floor of one of the tallest buildings in Seattle. The dim glow of recessed lighting cast an amber tint over the plush carpeting. She inhaled deeply, smelling the familiar polished mahogany, aged whiskey, and expensive cologne. The hallway stretched long and silent before her. Most of the offices had already gone dark for the night, their glass walls reflecting the city skyline beyond.
She could still remember the first time she’d arrived at this building. She was just a child, holding a big hand she’d once trusted. It didn’t take long for her to smell the secrets this building drew its power from. It didn’t take long for her to become one of its secrets too.
A storm brewed outside, flickering threads of lightning illuminating the high-rise buildings like silent explosions.
Her heels sank into the carpet as she made her way to an office. Not hers, she didn’t work here. There it was at the end of the hall, behind a set of double doors carved from dark wood and brass. The nameplate gleamed under the dim light. She came to a halt, her heart rattling. In the pregnant silence, her erratic breathing was loud in her ears.
