Chapter 5 - Lucia's Last Night
I did not go to Sebastian's mother's house.
I was a NICU nurse, not a detective.
Marco went.
Two hours later, Sebastian returned to the hospital alone.
I found him sitting outside the NICU.
His face told me everything had gone badly.
“What happened?”
He handed me an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Sebastian at twenty-two.
Holding premature baby Lucia.
Behind it was a letter.
His mother's handwriting.
“You've seen this before?”
“No.”
“Where was it?”
“Vittorio had it.”
I looked up.
“Why?”
Sebastian stared straight ahead.
“Because my mother gave him instructions before she died.”
“What instructions?”
“If Lucia survived, Vittorio was supposed to help me raise her.”
“And?”
“He didn't.”
I felt cold.
“What did he do?”
“Nothing criminal.”
Sebastian said the words bitterly.
“That's the worst part.”
Vittorio had believed Lucia would become a liability.
A motherless premature infant.
A twenty-two-year-old Sebastian trying to raise her.
Family instability.
Business enemies.
So Vittorio pressured Sebastian's father to stop visiting the hospital.
Sebastian refused.
Then Vittorio used his influence to prevent private specialists from being brought in.
“Would those doctors have saved her?”
“I don't know.”
“Sebastian—”
“I will never know.”
He looked at the bracelet.
“That is what I've hated for seventeen years.”
I sat beside him.
“Why target Noah?”
“He didn't.”
“What?”
“Vittorio filed the complaint.”
“So he did target him.”
“He targeted me.”
Sebastian looked exhausted.
“He thought I was trying to replace Lucia.”
“Were you?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“Noah isn't Lucia.”
He looked through the NICU glass.
“Lucia died. Nothing changes that.”
Then his voice softened.
“But Noah is alive.”
Rebecca approached.
She had heard enough.
“Sebastian?”
He stood.
She looked at the envelope.
“Is everything okay?”
“No.”
She nodded slowly.
“Then tell me the truth.”
So he did.
All of it.
When he finished, Rebecca asked one question.
“Do you regret holding Noah?”
Sebastian looked almost offended.
“Never.”
“Then stop letting your uncle decide what Lucia means.”
Sebastian stared at her.
Rebecca pointed toward her son.
“You told me being afraid isn't the same as not wanting my baby.”
She stepped closer.
“Maybe being guilty isn't the same as being guilty.”
That silenced him.
I smiled slightly.
“She has you there.”
“I noticed.”
The next morning, hospital administration completed its review.
The complaint was dismissed.
Sebastian's volunteer privileges were restored.
He returned to bed nine.
Noah was awake.
Sebastian sat beside him.
“Miss me?”
Noah yawned.
Sebastian frowned.
“That's disrespectful.”
I laughed.
Then Noah's monitor alarmed.
Sebastian immediately stood.
“Claire?”
I checked the numbers.
His oxygen was falling.
“Call respiratory.”
Rebecca appeared.
“What happened?”
“Stay back.”
Noah's breathing became shallow.
Doctors rushed in.
Rebecca started crying.
Sebastian caught her before her knees gave out.
“Look at me.”
“My baby—”
“Look at me, Rebecca.”
She did.
“He's fighting.”
“You don't know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“How?”
Sebastian's eyes filled.
“Because I've held two babies this small.”
May you like
He looked toward Noah.
“And I know what fighting looks like.”
