Then I looked at the guards.
“My husband threatened me,” I said.
Ryan’s expression cracked.
“I did not.”
Dana spoke before I could. “He said, ‘You’re going to regret humiliating me.’ Given the patient’s condition and prior statements, I would like him removed until the attending physician and social worker can assess.”
Ryan looked stunned.
Not because he was innocent.
Because consequences had arrived without asking his permission.
“This is insane,” he said. “Claire, tell them.”
I said nothing.
The security officer stepped closer. “Sir, we need you to come with us.”
“I am not leaving my wife and child with him.” Ryan pointed at Eli.
Eli’s jaw tightened, but he stayed silent.
The guard said, “Sir.”
Ryan looked at me one last time.
The anger in his face frightened me.
But beneath it was something that frightened me more.
Disbelief.
He genuinely had not thought I would stop protecting him from his own behavior.
