Chapter 4 - Someone Wanted the Baby Gone
Three days later, Rebecca withdrew her surrender.
The hospital created a reunification plan.
Sebastian paid for nothing directly.
He insisted on that.
Instead, his charitable foundation funded an existing housing program for mothers of premature infants.
Rebecca qualified under the same rules as everyone else.
“You planned that carefully,” I told him.
“I have lawyers.”
“Approximately seven hundred of them?”
“Feels like it.”
Bed nine finally had a name.
Noah Miller.
Rebecca chose it while Sebastian was holding him.
“Noah,” Sebastian repeated.
“You hate it?” Rebecca asked.
“No.”
“You made a face.”
“This is my face.”
I laughed.
Rebecca did too.
Sebastian looked offended.
Then Noah sneezed.
Sebastian immediately looked concerned.
“Is that normal?”
I stared at him.
“You're afraid of a sneeze?”
“He weighs four pounds.”
“The federal government couldn't scare you, but a four-pound baby can?”
“Apparently.”
Everything seemed to be improving.
Until Thursday night.
I arrived for my shift and found Sebastian standing beside the nurses’ station with Marco.
Both looked furious.
“What happened?”
Marco handed me a document.
A complaint had been filed against Sebastian.
Anonymous.
It claimed he had bribed hospital employees for access to Noah.
“This is false.”
“I know,” Sebastian said.
“Administration knows you're approved.”
“They suspended my volunteer access pending review.”
“What?”
“Standard procedure.”
Sebastian looked toward Noah's room.
Rebecca was inside holding her son.
“Who filed it?”
“Anonymous.”
Marco spoke quietly.
“We're investigating.”
I looked at him.
“This isn't one of your businesses.”
“No.”
“So don't treat the hospital like one.”
Sebastian raised a hand.
“Marco.”
Marco stepped back.
Sebastian looked at me.
“I'll wait outside.”
“You're accepting this?”
“If I fight hospital security, I prove the complaint right.”
That was smarter than I'd expected.
He turned toward the elevators.
Rebecca suddenly appeared.
“Sebastian?”
He stopped.
“They won't let you in?”
“Temporary.”
“Because of me?”
“No.”
Rebecca looked frightened.
“Someone called me too.”
Sebastian slowly turned.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“What did they say?”
She hesitated.
“Rebecca.”
“A man told me to take Noah and disappear.”
Marco's entire posture changed.
“What exactly did he say?”
Rebecca repeated it.
Sebastian went still.
“Did he threaten you?”
“He said accepting help from a Moretti would destroy my son's life.”
I looked at Sebastian.
“Who would do this?”
His answer came immediately.
“Someone who knows about Lucia.”
Marco stared at him.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“You think this is connected?”
Sebastian nodded.
“Seventeen years ago, someone leaked my mother's medical information to the press while Lucia was dying.”
My stomach turned.
“Why?”
“My father was involved in a succession fight inside the family businesses.”
Marco continued for him.
“Sebastian disappeared from everything for eleven days because he stayed at the hospital.”
Sebastian looked toward Noah.
“Someone believed Lucia made me weak.”
“Who?”
Sebastian didn't answer.
Marco did.
“Vittorio.”
I stared at him.
“His uncle?”
“We never proved it.”
Sebastian's phone rang.
Marco checked the number.
His face changed.
“It's Vittorio.”
Sebastian answered.
“What?”
I couldn't hear the other side.
But Sebastian's expression became colder with every second.
Finally he said:
“If you come anywhere near Rebecca or that child, you'll regret it.”
He hung up.
“What did he say?”
Sebastian looked at me.
“He wants to meet.”
“Where?”
“My mother's house.”
Marco shook his head.
“Don't go alone.”
“I won't.”
Sebastian looked at me.
“You're coming.”
I stared at him.
“Absolutely not.”
“You wanted answers.”
“I wanted answers inside a hospital.”
“You'll get them.”
“Sebastian—”
His expression changed.
Not threatening.
Afraid.
“Claire, somebody has been carrying a seventeen-year-old secret.”
May you like
He looked toward Noah.
“And I think that secret is why they want me away from him.”
