All the nurses who were caring for a man who had been in a coma for more than a year began to become pregnant one after another

The aftermath left the department in a state of shock. The nurses, finally freed from the psychological cage Marcus had built around them, were provided with counseling and legal support. Room 23B was permanently fitted with security cameras, a grim testament to the day the sanctity of the hospital was violated. Elias Thorne remained in his quiet, impenetrable world, unaware that his presence had been used to facilitate such cruelty.

Dr. Vance never looked at his ward the same way again. He had spent his career believing that the greatest threats were biological—viruses, infections, and the failure of organs. He learned, in the flickering light of a surveillance monitor, that the most dangerous monsters are often the ones who walk through the front door with a smile and a bouquet of flowers.