Chapter 7
The NICU doors locked automatically.
For one terrifying moment, I could only watch through the glass.
Three nurses surrounded Sophie.
One lifted the syringe from the floor without touching it directly.
Another adjusted Sophie’s oxygen.
A doctor rushed in.
“Let me through!”
I hit the glass.
“That’s my daughter!”
A security guard stopped me.
“Ma’am, please.”
“Get away from me!”
Ryan grabbed my shoulders.
“Emily.”
“No!”
I shoved him.
“Someone tried to hurt her.”
“We don’t know that.”
“The syringe!”
My incision burned.
I nearly collapsed.
Ryan caught me.
This time I didn’t fight him.
I physically couldn’t.
Detective Bennett spoke with hospital security.
“Pull every camera from this floor. Last thirty minutes. No one leaves.”
The doctor finally turned toward us.
He stepped into the hallway.
“Mrs. Carter?”
“What happened?”
“Sophie had an apnea episode.”
“Was she injected?”
“We don’t know.”
“The syringe?”
“It was capped.”
I stared at him.
“Capped?”
“Yes.”
“So it wasn’t used?”
“Not as far as we can tell.”
Relief hit me.
Then confusion.
“How did it get there?”
“We’re investigating.”
Detective Bennett looked at the syringe through the glass.
“A message.”
I turned.
“What?”
“If someone wanted to harm Sophie, they had an opportunity.”
“But they didn’t.”
“Which may mean they wanted us to think they did.”
Ryan frowned.
“To scare Emily.”
“Or move Sophie.”
I immediately stiffened.
“No.”
Bennett nodded.
“Exactly.”
The hospital would normally relocate a baby after a security breach.
Someone might be trying to force that transfer.
“Keep her here.”
I looked at the doctor.
“Please.”
“We’re increasing security.”
“No transfer unless I approve it.”
He nodded.
“We won’t move her without discussing it with you.”
Bennett’s phone buzzed.
“Daniel’s apartment.”
I turned.
“What?”
“Officers are there.”
“Is he alive?”
She listened to the call.
Then looked at me.
“He’s gone.”
My stomach dropped.
“Kidnapped?”
“Unknown.”
“Blood?”
“No.”
“Signs of struggle?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
Jessica was moving everyone like pieces on a board.
My mother.
Marcus.
Daniel.
Charles.
Me.
And Sophie.
“Why hasn’t she demanded money?” Ryan asked.
“She doesn’t want money,” Charles said.
We all looked at him.
“She wants proof.”
“Of what?” I asked.
“That Sophie is the heir.”
“How would kidnapping people prove that?”
Charles stared at the floor.
“Because the trust requires verification through a specific attorney.”
“Who?”
“Samuel Price.”
Detective Bennett wrote the name.
“Where is he?”
“Retired. Lives near Fort Worth.”
“Call him.”
Charles did.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Bennett called dispatch.
“Send units.”
Ryan looked at his father.
“What exactly happens if Sophie qualifies?”
Charles sighed.
“The trust becomes irrevocable.”
“And?”
“Eighty million transfers into a managed account.”
“Who manages it?”
“The legal guardian.”
My stomach tightened.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“Unless I’m dead.”
Silence.
Ryan’s jaw hardened.
“And if Emily is dead?”
“If the biological father proves paternity, he could petition for custody.”
Daniel.
Or someone pretending to represent Daniel.
I looked at Charles.
“Can Jessica get anything directly?”
“No.”
“Then who is she doing this for?”
Nobody knew.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A video call.
Bennett reached for it.
“Let me answer.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“She wants me.”
I answered.
Jessica’s face appeared.
Her cheek was bruised from Ryan’s slap.
Her hair was messy.
But she was smiling.
“Hi, Emily.”
My entire body went cold.
“Where is my mother?”
Jessica turned the camera.
Mom was still tied to the chair.
Alive.
Marcus sat beside her.
Also restrained now.
Blood ran from his eyebrow.
Then the camera moved again.
Daniel.
My breath caught.
He was tied to another chair.
“Daniel.”
His eyes lifted.
“Emily.”
Jessica turned the camera back.
“Everyone’s together.”
“Let them go.”
“I will.”
“What do you want?”
“Charles.”
“You already said that.”
“And the key.”
Charles went rigid.
I looked at him.
“What key?”
Jessica smiled.
“Ask Daddy Carter.”
I stared at Charles.
“What key?”
He didn’t answer.
Jessica laughed.
“He never told you?”
“Charles.”
His eyes closed.
“There’s a safe at the old house.”
“And the key opens it?”
“Yes.”
“What’s inside?”
“The original ledgers.”
My breath caught.
“You said you never found them.”
“I didn’t.”
Jessica laughed through the phone.
“Oh, Charles. Still lying when people are bleeding.”
He looked furious.
“How do you know they’re there?”
“Because my father put them there.”
Thomas Monroe.
The investigator.
The blackmailer.
Jessica continued.
“My father knew he was going to die.”
Charles paled.
“He didn’t die accidentally, did he?” I asked.
Jessica’s smile disappeared.
“No.”
“Who killed him?”
She looked at Charles.
“Ask him.”
Ryan stared at his father.
“Dad?”
Charles said nothing.
Jessica leaned closer to the camera.
“My father spent twenty years cleaning up Carter family messes. He followed people. Paid people. Threatened people. Buried evidence.”
Her voice shook.
“And when he tried to stop, Charles killed him.”
Charles snapped.
“That’s a lie.”
“Is it?”
“I didn’t touch Thomas.”
“You ordered his car sabotaged.”
“No.”
Jessica looked at me.
“You see? This is why I had to do everything myself.”
“You drove a car into me.”
“Yes.”
The casual admission stunned everyone.
Detective Bennett moved closer, silently recording.
“You admit it?”
Jessica shrugged.
“I wasn’t trying to kill you.”
“You hit an eight-month-pregnant woman with an SUV.”
“I knew where to hit.”
My stomach turned.
“You’re insane.”
“No.”
Her eyes filled with tears for the first time.
“I needed Sophie delivered before the trust deadline.”
Charles went completely still.
“What deadline?”
Jessica smiled.
“You forgot?”
“What deadline?” Ryan demanded.
Charles whispered,
“My father’s hundredth birthday.”
I stared.
“What?”
“The trust expires if the beneficiary isn’t verified before the date my father would have turned one hundred.”
“When?”
Charles checked his phone.
His face drained.
“Tomorrow.”
Jessica nodded.
“There it is.”
I felt sick.
“You made me deliver early because you need Sophie’s DNA verified tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
Ryan lunged toward the phone as if he could reach through it.
“You almost killed them!”
Jessica laughed.
“You’ve been hurting Emily for eight months, Ryan. Don’t pretend you care because I used a car.”
Ryan stopped.
The words landed.
She continued.
“You were so easy.”
“Shut up.”
“One photograph.”
“Shut up.”
“One anonymous message.”
“Jessica.”
“And you ran straight into my arms.”
Ryan turned away.
I hated that she was right.
Jessica looked at me.
“I’m sorry about that part.”
“No, you’re not.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“I’m not.”
I gripped the phone.
“Why do you care who gets the trust?”
“Because it belongs to someone who was robbed.”
“Who?”
Her smile faded.
“My father.”
Charles shook his head.
“Thomas wasn’t a Carter.”
“No.”
Jessica looked at him.
“But his mother was.”
Charles froze.
“What?”
Jessica leaned back.
“Thomas Monroe was your father’s son.”
The hallway went silent.
Ryan whispered, “Another one?”
Jessica laughed.
“Your grandfather collected children like secrets.”
Charles looked shocked.
“I never knew.”
“My father did.”
“But the DNA test—”
“My father never took one.”
Charles stopped.
I remembered what he had said.
Marcus had been tested.
Daniel had been tested.
The beneficiary remained unknown.
Jessica continued.
“My father believed he was the heir. But the trust requires a descendant of both Carter and Warren.”
I stared at her.
“Then Sophie…”
“Is the bridge.”
“How?”
Jessica’s eyes moved toward Daniel on-screen.
I felt my stomach turn.
“No.”
“She is Daniel’s daughter,” Jessica said.
Daniel shouted from behind her.
“You don’t know that!”
Jessica turned.
“I know exactly what I did.”
He struggled against the chair.
“You stole from that clinic.”
“Yes.”
“You used my sample.”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Ryan grabbed the wall.
Charles whispered something I couldn’t hear.
I stared at Jessica.
“You impregnated me.”
She smiled.
“You wanted a baby.”
The cruelty of the sentence made my vision blur.
“You drugged me.”
“I needed access.”
“You violated my body.”
Her smile disappeared.
“I never touched you sexually.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“I used a medical procedure.”
“Without my consent!”
“Yes.”
My voice broke.
“You created my daughter as part of a financial plan.”
“No.”
Jessica’s expression shifted.
“Your daughter is innocent.”
“Don’t talk about her.”
“I’m the reason she exists.”
“You’re the reason she almost died.”
Jessica went silent.
Then she looked almost offended.
“I knew the hospital was across the street.”
“You calculated it?”
“Yes.”
I started crying from rage.
Ryan took the phone from my shaking hand.
“If Sophie is Daniel’s daughter, how does that help Thomas? Daniel is Dad’s son, and Emily is Michael Warren’s daughter. That makes Sophie eligible herself.”
Jessica smiled.
“Exactly.”
“Then Thomas’s connection doesn’t matter.”
“It does for the administrator clause.”
Charles suddenly understood.
“No.”
Jessica looked pleased.
“What?” I demanded.
Charles turned to me.
“If the qualifying beneficiary is a minor, the original executor chooses a co-trustee from the descendants of my father.”
“Who is the executor?”
“Samuel Price.”
“And you think he would choose Thomas?”
Jessica laughed.
“Thomas is dead.”
She leaned closer.
“But I’m his daughter.”
My stomach dropped.
Jessica wasn’t just trying to prove Sophie was heir.
She planned to become co-trustee.
Control of eighty million dollars.
“Samuel would never choose you,” Charles said.
Jessica’s smile widened.
“He already did.”
Charles froze.
“What?”
She moved the camera.
Another man sat in the corner.
Older.
White hair.
Bruised face.
Samuel Price.
“Say hello, Charles.”
Bennett whispered, “We have confirmation.”
Jessica turned the camera back.
“Midnight tomorrow. Sophie’s blood sample. Charles. The safe key.”
“And then?”
“Your mother walks free.”
“Marcus?”
“Maybe.”
“Daniel?”
Her eyes hardened.
“He knows too much.”
“No.”
Daniel shouted.
“Emily, don’t give her anything!”
Jessica struck him across the face.
I screamed.
“Stop!”
Daniel lifted his head.
A small cut appeared at his lip.
“I’m okay.”
Jessica grabbed his hair.
“You know what your problem is?”
Daniel glared at her.
“You think you’re better than all of us.”
“No.”
“You grew up loved.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You think my childhood was normal?”
“At least someone wanted you.”
The pain in Jessica’s voice was real.
For a second, I saw the child behind everything.
Then she tightened her grip on Daniel’s hair.
And whatever sympathy might have existed disappeared.
“Jessica.”
She looked at me.
“I’ll bring Charles.”
Bennett immediately shook her head.
I ignored her.
“And the key.”
Charles stared at me.
“But Sophie stays here.”
Jessica smiled.
“I don’t need Sophie.”
“You said you need her blood.”
“A sample.”
“No.”
“Then your mother dies.”
I looked at Mom on the screen.
Her eyes filled with tears.
She shook her head.
“Don’t.”
Jessica turned the camera back.
“You have until ten tonight.”
The call ended.
Bennett stared at me.
“You are not going alone.”
“I know.”
Charles looked surprised.
I turned toward him.
“You’re going to take me to that house.”
“Emily—”
“And you’re going to give me the key.”
He swallowed.
“Okay.”
Ryan stepped forward.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“No.”
He stared at me.
“Why?”
“Because Jessica wants you angry.”
“What?”
“She’s been controlling you through jealousy and guilt since this started.”
I looked at him.
“She knows exactly which buttons to push.”
His face tightened.
“I won’t leave you.”
“You left me once.”
The words hurt us both.
Then I added,
“This time, stay with Sophie.”
Ryan looked through the glass at the tiny incubator.
His eyes filled.
I touched his arm.
“Whatever the DNA says, she needs someone here who loves her.”
Ryan looked at me.
“I love her.”
“Then prove it.”
He nodded slowly.
I turned toward Bennett.
“Can you track Jessica’s video?”
“Working on it.”
“What do you need from me?”
“Time.”
“We don’t have time.”
“No.”
She looked at Charles.
“But we might have something better.”
“What?”
“The old Carter house has been abandoned for eleven years, right?”
“Yes.”
“Utilities?”
“Disconnected.”
“Internet?”
“No.”
“Security system?”
Charles paused.
“My father had one.”
“Was it removed?”
“I don’t know.”
Bennett smiled slightly.
“Old systems often have hardwired lines.”
She made a call.
Ten minutes later, a technician confirmed something none of us expected.
One underground line from the property was still active.
Not internet.
Not phone.
A private alarm circuit.
And thirty minutes after that, the police found a signal.
The basement motion sensor had triggered three times that afternoon.
Bennett looked at me.
“They’re there.”
My heart raced.
“Then go.”
“We will.”
Charles grabbed her arm.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“The basement sensor.”
“What about it?”
Charles’s face had gone white.
“My father didn’t have a basement.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
He pointed at the property blueprint on Bennett’s tablet.
“That room shouldn’t exist.”
Bennett enlarged the floor plan.
Below the house was a rectangular space.
No exterior entrance.
No stairway shown.
Hidden.
I looked at Charles.
“What was your father hiding?”
Charles shook his head slowly.
“I have no idea.”
Then another sensor activated.
A door contact.
Inside that hidden basement.
And a live signal appeared.
Not from an alarm.
From a medical monitoring device.
Detective Bennett stared at the screen.
“Someone’s heart rate is being monitored down there.”
My skin turned cold.
“Whose?”
She couldn’t answer.
But five seconds later, the monitoring system transmitted a patient label.
BENJAMIN CARTER.
Charles dropped the tablet.
Ryan stared at him.
“Who is Benjamin?”
Charles couldn’t speak.
I grabbed his arm.
“Who?”
He looked at me with tears in his eyes.
“My father.”
I stopped breathing.
“Your father is dead.”
May you like
Charles whispered,
“That’s what I’ve believed for eleven years.”
