Jenna Roland's abdomen erupted in searing pain, as if thousands of steel needles were twisting inside her.

She dug her nails into Vanessa Galatea's wrist with bone-crushing force.

Vanessa cried out and violently shook her off.

Four deep gashes oozed blood on the pale skin, the flesh grotesquely torn.

"You bitch!" Vanessa's eyes flashed with venom before her palm cracked across Jenna's face.

Jenna's cheek bloomed crimson, a trickle of blood escaping her split lip.

As Vanessa turned to leave, her gaze caught on the scarlet stain spreading across the white hospital sheets.

Her pupils contracted in panic before she fled the room.

......

Stella Laurent pushed open the hospital door, takeout bag in hand. The metallic tang of blood assaulted her senses.

The bed stood empty, its sheets drenched in shocking red.

The food container hit the floor with a splatter of spilled broth.

Staggering to the nurses' station, her voice trembled. "Where's Jenna? What happened?"

A nurse looked up urgently. "She hemorrhaged suddenly. They're operating on the third floor!"

Stella's knees buckled.

Fumbling for her phone, she dialed Ethan Roscente.

"Mr. Roscente... Jenna's hemorrhaging—"

A deafening crash came through the receiver.

Ethan overturned his coffee cup as he bolted from the conference table, dark liquid ruining documents.

He ran four red lights, tires screeching against asphalt.

His pounding footsteps echoed through hospital stairwells.

When he reached the OR doors, his dress shirt clung to him, soaked with sweat.

"What happened?" He gripped Stella's shoulders. "She was fine this morning!"

Stella shook her head, tears hitting the linoleum. "I only left to get food..."

Ethan staggered back, slamming against the wall.

The glowing surgery sign burned his retinas.

He remembered Jenna's pallid face, her weak request for wonton soup.

Now that soup lay abandoned on the hospital floor.