CHAPTER 14 — THE BABY WHO WAS ALREADY BORN
Emily woke beneath bright surgical lights.
Her wrists were not restrained.
But an intravenous line ran into her arm.
A monitor tracked the baby’s heartbeat.
Claire stood beside the bed wearing medical scrubs.
“Where am I?”
“A private clinic.”
“Whose?”
Claire hesitated.
“Preston’s.”
Emily tried to sit up.
Pain tightened across her stomach.
“The crash triggered contractions.”
“No.”
“They are still several minutes apart.”
“Where is Grant?”
“I don’t know.”
“My father?”
“Missing.”
“Lydia?”
“Also missing.”
Emily looked around.
Nathan—or Adrian, or Nicholas—stood near the door.
His face was bruised.
“What should I call you?” Emily asked.
He looked at the floor.
“I don’t know anymore.”
“Did you bring me here?”
“I pulled you from the SUV. Preston’s men arrived before the police.”
Claire checked the fetal monitor.
“We have to leave before the trust activates.”
Emily stared at her.
“What happens when the child is born?”
“The original trust transfers temporary control to the child’s verified biological guardian.”
“And no one knows who that is.”
“Preston has a laboratory report.”
“Which could be forged.”
“Yes.”
The man near the door spoke.
“There is something else.”
He placed an identification bracelet on the bed.
It read:
BABY BENNETT
MOTHER: EMILY BENNETT
TIME OF BIRTH: 11:42 P.M.
Emily looked at the clock.
It was only 10:16.
“I have not delivered.”
Claire’s face tightened.
“Someone has already registered another child under your name.”
Emily felt a contraction.
“Why?”
“To activate the trust before your baby is born.”
The door opened.
A nurse entered carrying a sealed legal notice.
Preston Ashford had filed for emergency custody of Emily Bennett’s newborn son.
A son who supposedly already existed.
Emily tore the paper.
“This is fraud.”
“Fraud becomes power when the right people certify it,” Claire said.
“Who signed the birth record?”
The nurse handed her the second page.
Dr. Samuel Ward.
The dead physician.
Emily stared at the signature.
“He was killed.”
“Someone used his credentials.”
An alarm sounded down the hallway.
The man near the door drew a gun.
Claire lowered her voice.
“Preston found us.”
The clinic lights dimmed.
A voice came through the intercom.
“Emily, do not let Claire deliver the child.”
Charles.
Emily looked upward.
“Where are you?”
The intercom crackled.
“She plans to replace your baby with the registered heir.”
Claire stepped away from the bed.
“That is a lie.”
A second voice interrupted.
Lydia.
“Emily, Claire has the fake infant.”
Claire ran toward the door.
The man blocked her.
“Where is the baby?”
Claire’s eyes filled with tears.
“I was trying to protect him.”
“Him?” Emily asked. “Whose child is he?”
Claire looked toward the ceiling camera.
“The real Nathan’s.”
Emily stopped breathing.
“You said you did not know whether Nathan survived.”
“I lied.”
The door burst open.
Preston entered with two armed guards.
He held a newborn wrapped in a gray blanket.
The child cried softly.
Preston smiled at Emily.
“Meet your son.”
Emily stared at the baby.
“That is not my child.”
“Legally, he is.”
Another contraction tore through her.
The heart monitor accelerated.
Preston handed the infant to Lydia, who appeared behind him.
Emily looked at her half-sister.
“You are working with him?”
Lydia shook her head.
“I am working for the first child registered under the trust.”
Preston placed a document beside Emily’s hand.
“Sign away your claim, and I will allow your real baby to be born safely.”
Emily looked at the false infant.
Then at Lydia.
Then at Claire.
Every person in the room claimed to be protecting a different child.
A doctor rushed in and checked the monitor.
His expression changed.
“We cannot move her.”
Preston frowned.
“Why?”
The doctor looked at Emily.
“The baby is coming now.”
Then the clinic lost power.
In the darkness, a woman screamed.
A newborn began crying.
May you like
And someone whispered beside Emily’s ear:
“Do not let them see whether it is a boy or a girl.”
