Chapter 14 - A Life in the Storm"Your Honor!" Reed called out, rushing toward the bench. "The witness is in active labor!"
The courtroom erupted into instant, chaotic murmurs. Judge Thorne slammed her wooden gavel down three times. "Order! Order in the court! Clear the gallery! Call the paramedics!"
Federal marshals immediately formed a protective wall around the witness stand, blocking Richard and Brooke’s defense team as Luke vaulted over the gallery railing and slid onto his knees beside Grace.
"Grace... Grace, I'm here," Luke gasped, taking her ice-cold hand as she leaned against the wooden railing of the witness box, breathing through a sharp, powerful contraction.
"Luke..." Grace gasped, a tear breaking through her lashes, but her face was filled with a sudden, radiant joy. "It's time... the baby is coming..."
Sergeant Miller and two female marshals helped Luke guide Grace down from the stand and into a rolling wheelchair brought swiftly from the courthouse medical bay.
As they rolled Grace through the center aisle toward the double exit doors, Luke paused for one fraction of a second beside the defense table.
He looked down at Richard and Brooke Whitmore.
Brooke was staring at Grace’s swollen belly with a hollow, completely defeated expression, realizing that every lie she had spun, every dollar her father had spent, had failed to destroy the life before her.
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"It's over, Brooke," Luke said, his voice quiet, cold, and final. "You built a mountain of glass, and today it shattered."
Without waiting for a response, Luke turned his back on them forever and ran through the heavy oak doors beside his family.
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