Chapter 2 - The Transfer Order
Hospital security arrived within minutes.
The doors were locked.
The bassinets were moved behind Nurse Claire.
And for the first time since Sofia married Julian Hale, nobody cared that Bianca demanded special treatment.
“You cannot detain us,” Bianca snapped.
Security supervisor Marcus Reed answered calmly.
“We’re not detaining anyone. We’re securing three infants while we determine whether someone attempted an unauthorized removal.”
Lorenzo watched Bianca carefully.
She wasn’t angry about being accused.
She was terrified of what they might find.
Sofia remained in the chair with her son pressed against her chest.
She had named him Nicholas.
Nico.
He was eighteen hours old.
Until that morning, Sofia thought the worst part of becoming a mother had been an emergency delivery after twenty-seven hours of labor.
Now her husband was standing across the room refusing to explain why his brother had tried to walk away with her baby.
“Julian.”
He wouldn’t meet her eyes.
“Why was Victor holding Nico?”
“He was helping.”
“Helping with what?”
Victor interrupted.
“The baby needed a transfer.”
Claire immediately shook her head.
“No physician ordered a transfer.”
Victor glared at her.
“You don’t know everything happening in this family.”
Claire stepped closer to Sofia.
“I know nobody removes a newborn without confirming the mother’s authorization.”
Lorenzo took the transfer form.
The forged signature looked frighteningly close to Sofia’s.
That meant whoever created it had access to her handwriting.
Then Marcus returned from the hallway.
“The transport representative is gone.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
“When?”
“About two minutes after the disturbance started upstairs.”
“Name?”
“Ethan Cole. At least that’s what he wrote at reception.”
Security pulled the lobby camera footage.
A tall man wearing medical transport clothing had entered at 8:41 a.m.
He carried an infant transport carrier.
At 9:03, he received a phone call.
At 9:05, he left without a baby.
Marcus froze the image.
Sofia leaned forward.
“I’ve seen him.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Where?”
She stared at Julian.
“At our house.”
Julian’s face changed.
Sofia remembered a dinner six weeks earlier.
Julian introduced the man as a consultant working with Victor.
She hadn’t thought twice about it.
Now the same man had arrived at the hospital expecting her newborn.
Lorenzo turned toward Julian.
“You want to explain that?”
Julian’s voice hardened.
“My business dealings are none of your concern.”
“When those dealings involve my grandson, they become my concern.”
Bianca suddenly sat down.
Her hands were trembling.
Sofia saw it.
“Bianca?”
The older woman looked up.
For years Bianca had treated Sofia like an outsider who had somehow stolen her son.
But this wasn’t resentment.
It was panic.
Sofia whispered, “What were you going to do with my baby?”
Bianca answered too quickly.
“Nothing.”
Then Claire remembered something.
“The wristband.”
She looked at Nico’s ankle.
The hospital identification band was intact.
But beneath it was a second strip of plastic.
Claire carefully examined it.
Her expression changed.
“This isn’t ours.”
Printed on the hidden band was another name.
BABY MERCER.
Sofia stopped breathing.
“Who is Mercer?”
Nobody answered.
Except Victor.
May you like
Very quietly, he said:
“They were supposed to remove that.”
