So cold.
The next morning.
Oswald was in the hallway outside the prenatal exam center, waiting for Wanda to finish her routine checkup.
A courier walked up and handed him a same-day express package.
He tore the wrapping open without thinking.
Three things inside.
First, a DNA paternity test report. The conclusion confirmed that Oswald Delgado was the biological father of Carissa Henson.
Next, a badly worn wooden guitar pick with a tiny letter D carved into its side.
Last, a letter written in blood. One line on the paper.
As you wished. Your debts are settled.
He hadn't finished reading the last word.
A heavy crash came from the direction of the emergency wing.
Something falling from a height. A sound both dull and sharp at once.
A nurse's scream cut through the entire floor.
A crowd formed a ring in the plaza below. On the ground, a pool of blood was spreading.
Oswald pushed through the crowd and looked down at the woman in the blue delivery vest.
She lay on the ground, eyes half open, blood at the corner of her mouth. Her expression was perfectly calm.
