Chapter 6
The hospital locked down the maternity floor.
Every employee who had entered the NICU was questioned.
Security footage showed a figure in surgical scrubs near Ava’s incubator at 3:14 that morning.
The person wore a mask and kept their face turned away from the cameras.
Their badge belonged to a respiratory therapist who was home sick.
Detective Reed believed Dr. Hale had help inside the hospital.
Ryan believed anyone could be involved.
He questioned every nurse.
He checked every badge.
He followed anyone who came near the bassinet.
By noon, the hospital administrator threatened to remove him.
“If one more person tries to take my daughter, you’ll have to remove me in handcuffs,” he said.
I pulled him aside.
“You need to breathe.”
“My mother bought access to your medical information.”
“We don’t know that.”
“She knew your appointment schedule. Hale had your medical history.”
“That could have come from Margaret.”
“How did Margaret get it?”
I did not have an answer.
Dr. Patel entered with Ava’s results.
“The good news is that her heart and lungs look strong.”
I held my breath.
“And the bad news?”
“Her blood showed a small amount of the same medication found in your system.”
Ryan’s face went white.
“It reached her?”
“Yes, but the level was low. We’ll monitor her closely.”
“Will it cause permanent damage?”
“We don’t see evidence of that.”
“You don’t see it now.”
“That is correct.”
Ryan turned away.
Dr. Patel looked at me.
“Emily, your own blood pressure is still elevated. You need rest.”
“How do I rest when someone inside this hospital photographed my baby?”
“The hospital is assigning a new security team.”
I almost laughed.
“We already had one.”
Dr. Patel’s expression softened.
“I know.”
After she left, Sarah approached Ryan.
“You cannot protect Ava by destroying yourself.”
He looked at her sharply.
“You don’t know me.”
“No. But I know fear.”
“You weren’t there.”
“I wanted to be.”
“You signed away your rights.”
Sarah froze.
Jessica looked at him.
“What are you talking about?”
Ryan held up his phone.
“Reed sent me a document recovered from the clinic.”
Sarah’s face changed.
“What document?”
“A voluntary surrender form.”
She shook her head before he finished.
“I never signed one.”
“It has your name.”
“Margaret forged it.”
“The signature was witnessed by Walter Hale and Henry.”
Sarah stepped backward.
“I was drugged.”
“Did you sign anything?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Try.”
“I woke in different rooms for weeks. They gave me pills. They told me Michael’s death had broken my mind.”
Ryan’s anger collided with his grief.
“Maybe you did surrender me.”
“I didn’t.”
“How can you be sure if you don’t remember?”
“Because I wanted you.”
“You said you had nowhere to live.”
“I would have slept in a car with you.”
“You were alone.”
“You were my family!”
Her voice filled the room.
Ava began crying.
Ryan immediately went to her.
Sarah covered her mouth and turned away.
I touched Ryan’s arm.
“That was cruel.”
“I need the truth.”
“Then ask for it without punishing her for what Margaret did.”
He looked at Ava.
“I don’t know who to believe.”
“You don’t have to decide everything today.”
He lifted our daughter.
“I spent my entire life believing a lie.”
“And Sarah spent hers grieving a child who was alive.”
Ryan’s expression softened, but he did not apologize.
A hospital attorney arrived with a report.
The photograph of Ava had been taken by a temporary nurse named Denise Ward.
She had left the building before security discovered the breach.
Police found five thousand dollars deposited into her account that morning.
The transfer came from an offshore account connected to Walter Hale.
“They bought a nurse,” Ryan said.
The attorney nodded.
“We have terminated our contract with the staffing agency.”
“Congratulations.”
“Ryan,” I warned.
He faced the attorney.
“If anything happens to my daughter, a terminated contract will be the smallest problem this hospital has.”
Detective Reed entered a few minutes later.
He had located Denise Ward at a motel.
She claimed Hale paid her only to photograph Ava and obtain a sample of my blood.
“Why my blood?” I asked.
“She says she doesn’t know.”
Ryan stared at Reed.
“Is that believable?”
“No.”
Reed opened a folder.
“We searched Hale’s daughter’s apartment. We found fertility records, adoption documents, and a list of families.”
Sarah sat down slowly.
“The blue ledger.”
“Not the original, but possibly a copy.”
“How many children?” I asked.
“Fourteen files.”
Jessica whispered, “Fourteen?”
“Some appear to involve legal adoptions. Others contain altered birth information.”
Ryan’s voice was cold.
“How much did they charge for me?”
Reed hesitated.
“Forty thousand dollars.”
“My father paid Hale to steal me.”
“It appears Henry believed the money covered Sarah’s treatment.”
“And you believe that?”
“I believe Henry’s recording shows guilt. Whether he understood everything at the time is harder to prove.”
Ryan rubbed his injured shoulder.
“Dead men get convenient excuses.”
Reed turned to Jessica.
“We also confirmed the call from your phone was made near Margaret’s house. That supports your statement.”
Jessica exhaled.
Ryan did not apologize.
Reed continued.
“However, there’s another issue. Margaret’s attorney filed an emergency petition this morning.”
“For what?” I asked.
“Grandparent visitation.”
I stared at him.
“She poisoned me.”
“The petition claims you fabricated the assault because you wanted to isolate Ryan from his family.”
Ryan laughed in disbelief.
“She was arrested at a church while holding a knife to Jessica.”
“Her attorney says Margaret acted in self-defense after Jessica and Sarah lured her there.”
“She kidnapped Sarah!”
“The petition will almost certainly fail. But it gives her attorney access to certain family records.”
I understood.
“She is using the court to learn where we go.”
“That is possible.”
Ryan’s phone rang.
The caller ID showed Margaret’s attorney, Benjamin Cole.
He answered on speaker.
“Withdraw the petition.”
Cole’s voice was smooth.
“My client is concerned for her granddaughter.”
“Your client put drugs in my wife.”
“That allegation has not been proven.”
“I watched her force the mixture into Emily’s mouth.”
“You returned during a misunderstanding.”
Ryan’s grip tightened around the phone.
“What do you want?”
“My client wants a private conversation.”
“No.”
“She has information regarding the identity of your biological father.”
“Sarah already told me.”
“Michael Turner?”
Sarah looked up.
Cole continued.
“Mr. Turner was not your biological father.”
Sarah stood.
“That’s a lie.”
Cole ignored her.
“My client has DNA evidence.”
Ryan’s face went still.
“What evidence?”
“A paternity test completed shortly before Henry Carter’s death.”
Sarah shook her head.
“Michael was his father.”
Cole spoke calmly.
“The test says otherwise.”
“Whose DNA was compared?” Ryan asked.
“Yours and Henry’s.”
The room fell silent.
Jessica stared at Ryan.
“No.”
Cole continued.
“According to the results, Henry Carter was your biological father.”
Sarah looked as though the floor had disappeared beneath her.
“That’s impossible.”
Ryan turned toward her.
“You said Henry was your cousin.”
“He was.”
“Was he my father?”
“No!”
Cole’s voice came through the phone.
“My client will explain the circumstances if Ryan visits her tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“The county detention center. Alone.”
Ryan ended the call.
Sarah rushed toward him.
“She is lying.”
“Did you sleep with Henry?”
“No.”
“Were you assaulted?”
“No.”
“Then why would a DNA test say he was my father?”
“I don’t know.”
Jessica sat with both hands over her mouth.
“My father would never—”
Sarah faced her.
“Your father helped steal my son.”
“That doesn’t mean he—”
“You didn’t know him as well as you thought.”
Ryan looked at both women.
“Apparently none of us knew anyone.”
Reed advised him not to meet Margaret.
Ryan decided he would.
“You’ll be walking into her game,” I said.
“I need to hear what she says.”
“She will use whatever hurts you most.”
“She already has.”
“Then why give her another chance?”
“Because if Henry was my father, that makes Jessica my half-sister. It changes the criminal case. It changes everything.”
“It does not change who you are.”
“It changes where I came from.”
I reached for him.
He stepped back.
The movement hurt more than I expected.
“I need air,” he said.
He left with a security guard.
Sarah stared at the closed door.
“I never betrayed Michael.”
“I believe you,” I said.
“You don’t know me.”
“I know Margaret lies when the truth starts closing around her.”
Jessica picked up her father’s photograph from the table.
“What if the test is real?”
Sarah’s eyes hardened.
“Then Henry did something to me that I don’t remember.”
Jessica lowered the photograph.
The meaning settled over us.
Sarah had been sedated repeatedly during her pregnancy.
Dr. Hale controlled her medical care.
Henry had access to her while she was vulnerable.
I felt sick.
An alarm suddenly sounded in the hallway.
The lights flickered once.
Then the power went out.
Emergency lights appeared a second later, painting the room red.
Ava’s monitor continued on battery power.
One of the guards opened the door.
“Stay inside.”
A scream came from the nurses’ station.
Then we heard someone shout.
“Fire on the third floor!”
The hospital intercom ordered staff to prepare for evacuation.
I tried to stand.
Pain tore through my incision.
Jessica grabbed the wheelchair.
Sarah lifted Ava’s portable carrier.
The door opened again.
A man in firefighter gear entered.
“We need to move you now.”
The helmet covered most of his face.
He reached for Ava.
Sarah pulled the carrier back.
“I have her.”
“Ma’am, give me the infant.”
“No.”
His voice changed.
“Give her to me.”
Jessica saw the tattoo on his wrist.
A black snake curling around a medical symbol.
She had seen it before in family photographs.
“Walter.”
The man looked at her.
Sarah screamed.
Dr. Hale reached beneath his fire jacket.
But Ryan appeared behind him and drove his injured shoulder into the old doctor’s back.
Hale crashed into the wall.
The object in his hand fell to the floor.
A loaded syringe.
Ryan kicked it away.
Security guards rushed in and pinned Hale down.
The fire alarm stopped.
There had been no fire.
Someone had pulled the alarm and cut power to part of the building.
Ryan stood over Hale.
“You came for my daughter.”
Hale smiled through a split lip.
“No.”
May you like
His eyes moved toward me.
“I came for the only witness who can prove what was in Margaret’s mixture.”
