“What do you mean they are already there?” Daniel asked, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.

I sat up further in bed, the sheets bunching in my hands.

“Daniel, what is it?” I asked, my voice rising in panic.

Daniel didn’t answer me. He was listening to Ruth, his eyes fixed on the rain-slicked window.

“Get out of there, Ruth,” Daniel said into the phone.

“Don’t let them see you with the papers.”

He listened for another second, and then the line went completely dead.

Daniel lowered the phone, his face pale in the harsh fluorescent light of the hospital room.

“Daniel, tell me what is happening,” I pleaded, grabbing his sleeve.

“The board’s lawyers,” Daniel said, his voice hollow.

“They didn’t wait for the morning.”

“They are at the estate now with a police escort.”

“They are serving the emergency custody order tonight.”

“No,” I whispered, the word catching in my throat.

I tried to swing my legs out of the hospital bed.

My feet touched the cold linoleum floor, but my knees buckled instantly.

Daniel caught me, his hands firm around my waist.