Chapter 2
"I can show you."
Eli's voice shook so badly that I almost didn't recognize it.
Luke turned pale.
"Eli, stop."
Security Officer Daniels moved between them.
"Sir, you need to stay where you are."
Luke raised both hands.
"This is getting completely out of control. He's six years old. He's confused."
"I'm not confused!" Eli shouted.
The sound tore through me.
I had known Eli since he was three.
He was quiet around strangers, gentle with animals, and so afraid of getting in trouble that he apologized when other people bumped into him.
I had never heard him speak to his father like that.
Camille placed the other mother's baby back into the empty bassinet.
The woman stood beside her, crying and shaking.
"I'm Maya," she whispered to me.
"I'm Claire."
Our eyes met.
Two mothers standing inside the same nightmare.
One had found her baby.
The other hadn't.
Daniels spoke into his radio.
"Possible infant identification breach. Child witness says missing newborn may still be on the unit."
Then he looked at Eli.
"Can you tell me where?"
Eli pointed down the hallway.
"The room with the blue couch."
Luke closed his eyes.
Just for a second.
But I saw it.
So did Daniels.
"What room?" another officer asked.
"The family room," Camille said. "At the end of the east corridor."
"I'll go with you," I said.
Camille immediately shook her head.
"You had abdominal surgery less than twelve hours ago."
"My daughter is missing."
"Claire—"
"My daughter is missing."
No one argued again.
Camille brought a wheelchair.
Every movement sent pain ripping through my incision, but I barely felt it.
Two officers went ahead.
Camille pushed me behind them.
Eli walked beside us with one hand gripping the side of my chair.
Luke tried to follow.
Daniels blocked him.
"You stay here."
"That's my daughter too."
"Then you should be very interested in cooperating."
The hallway suddenly felt miles long.
Doors were closed.
Nurses stood outside rooms checking bands.
A security alarm pulsed softly through the unit.
I kept staring at the back of Eli's head.
"What did you see?" I whispered.
He looked at me.
His eyes filled.
"Dad told me to stay with Grandma."
My stomach tightened.
"Grandma Margaret?"
He nodded.
"She was here?"
"She came after you went to sleep."
My hands went cold.
Margaret had told me that morning she couldn't visit because she had a migraine.
Eli kept talking.
"Dad said he needed to check something. I followed him because I wanted to see June again."
Luke had carried June from the nursery earlier, telling me the pediatrician needed to examine her.
At least that was what he said.
"What happened?"
Eli swallowed.
"I saw Dad take June into the room with Aunt Rachel."
My heart stopped.
Rachel.
Luke's younger sister.
She was also in the hospital.
She had been admitted two days earlier because of complications with her pregnancy.
Her daughter had a serious heart condition.
Luke had told me that morning that Rachel's baby hadn't survived.
I had cried for her.
I had asked Luke if we should postpone visitors.
I had even told him I didn't want Rachel seeing June if it would hurt too much.
He had held my hand and said, "You're always thinking about everyone else."
Now Eli was telling me my newborn had been taken into Rachel's room.
The officers reached the family consultation room.
The door was locked.
A nurse swiped her badge.
Nothing.
She tried again.
Red light.
"That's impossible," Camille whispered.
Daniels stepped forward.
"Override it."
The nurse ran to the wall terminal.
Her fingers flew over the screen.
"The room was manually secured from the inside."
My breathing became shallow.
"Open it."
"Ma'am—"
"OPEN IT!"
Daniels knocked hard.
"Hospital security. Open the door immediately."
Silence.
Then a baby cried.
My baby.
A mother knows.
People can argue science, memory, exhaustion, hormones.
I didn't care.
That cry entered my body like electricity.
"June!"
I tried to stand.
Pain exploded across my abdomen.
Camille caught my shoulders.
The officers forced the door.
It swung inward.
Margaret stood near the window.
Luke's mother was wearing a cream-colored coat and holding a large leather handbag.
Rachel sat on the blue couch.
And in her arms was June.
My daughter was wrapped in a pink blanket I had never seen before.
For one beautiful second, nothing else mattered.
"June."
Rachel looked at me.
Her face was soaked with tears.
"Claire…"
"Give me my baby."
She tightened her arms around June.
Margaret stepped between us.
"Everyone needs to calm down."
I stared at her.
"Move."
"You just had major surgery."
"Move away from my child."
Margaret's face changed.
I had seen her irritated before.
Cold.
Controlling.
Judgmental.
But I had never seen fear.
Until then.
Rachel suddenly began sobbing.
"Mom said you agreed."
I froze.
"What?"
Margaret snapped around.
"Rachel, don't."
Rachel looked from her mother to me.
"She said you knew."
"Knew what?"
"That we were going to take her home."
The room disappeared around me.
Camille whispered, "Oh my God."
Margaret lifted her chin.
"This isn't what it sounds like."
"It sounds like you were stealing my daughter."
"No one was stealing anyone."
Rachel rocked June against her chest.
"My baby died."
Her voice broke.
"I held her for twenty-three minutes, Claire."
My anger collided with grief.
For a fraction of a second, I saw a devastated mother.
Then June cried.
And Rachel pulled her closer.
Something primal took over.
"Give me my daughter."
Rachel stared at me.
"Luke promised."
My eyes snapped toward the doorway.
Luke wasn't there.
Daniels had kept him behind.
"What did Luke promise you?"
Margaret stepped forward.
"She is sedated and grieving."
Rachel shouted, "He promised I wouldn't leave this hospital without a baby!"
Nobody moved.
Even the officers looked stunned.
Rachel realized what she had said.
Her mouth fell open.
Margaret's face turned white.
I whispered, "When?"
Rachel looked at me with terror.
"When what?"
"When did my husband promise you my daughter?"
Tears ran down her cheeks.
"Three weeks ago."
My heart seemed to split open.
Three weeks ago.
Before my scheduled C-section.
Before Rachel went into labor.
Before anyone knew whether Rachel's child would survive delivery.
Luke had promised his sister that she would leave the hospital with a baby.
Mine.
Camille stepped forward carefully.
"Rachel, I need you to hand June to me."
"No."
"Your niece needs to be examined."
Rachel shook her head.
"She's fine."
"We have an identification-band breach and an unauthorized relocation. I have to confirm her identity."
Margaret reached for Rachel.
Daniels immediately said, "Do not touch the baby."
Margaret stopped.
Rachel began trembling.
"I'm sorry."
She looked directly at me.
"I swear, Claire, I thought you knew."
"Give her back."
Rachel stared down at June.
Her face collapsed.
Then slowly, painfully, she extended her arms.
Camille took June.
The instant my baby was placed against my chest, I broke.
I pressed my face against her tiny head and sobbed.
She smelled like soap and milk and something that was only her.
Her fingers opened against my gown.
"Mommy's here," I whispered. "Mommy's here."
Eli came close.
"Is that really June?"
Camille checked behind both ears.
"No birthmark."
She compared the hospital number on June's remaining wrist band with my file.
Then she scanned it.
Red.
Camille frowned.
She tried again.
Red.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"The system doesn't recognize this band."
June's wrist band looked intact.
But Camille examined the underside.
Her expression hardened.
"This isn't her original band."
The officer beside her said, "What does that mean?"
"It means somebody printed a replacement."
Margaret said nothing.
Rachel covered her mouth.
Daniels radioed for hospital administration and police.
Then he looked at Margaret.
"How did you get into this room?"
"I walked."
"It's a restricted room during a Code Pink."
"I was already inside before the lockdown."
"Who locked the door?"
Margaret didn't answer.
Daniels turned to Rachel.
"Who locked it?"
Rachel whispered, "Luke."
My entire body went cold.
The door behind us opened.
A hospital administrator entered with two police officers.
One of them looked directly at Margaret.
"No one leaves."
Margaret finally lost her composure.
"This is a family matter."
The officer stared at her.
"Not anymore."
I held June tighter.
Then Eli tugged my sleeve.
"Claire?"
I looked down.
He was crying silently.
"What, sweetheart?"
"Dad told Grandma the cameras wouldn't see them."
Every head in the room turned.
Eli wiped his nose.
"He said he built a blind spot."
And suddenly everyone understood the same terrifying thing.
May you like
Luke hadn't simply learned how to defeat the hospital's newborn security system.
He had helped choose it.
