Chapter 1 - The Woman They Thought Was WorthlessSubtitle: One Baby Was Never Enough for ThemThe first thing I heard after waking from the C-section was my daughter crying.
The second was my son.
Two tiny, furious voices filled the recovery suite, and for a few seconds, I forgot the stabbing pain beneath my ribs, the IV in my arm, and the fact that every breath felt like someone pulling a knife through my abdomen.
Leo was in the bassinet beside my bed.
Luna was in the other.
My twins.
My babies.
I stared at them through tears.
They were worth every second of pain.
Then the door slammed open.
I flinched.
Mrs. Sterling walked in like she owned the hospital.
She wore a cream fur coat despite the October heat, diamond earrings that could have paid my hospital bill ten times over, and a perfume so strong it burned my nose.
She didn't look at the babies.
She looked at me.
Then at the room.
Her lips curled.
"VIP suite?"
I knew that tone.
She hated this room because she believed I didn't deserve it.
She kicked the side of my bed.
Pain exploded through my abdomen.
I gripped the sheets.
"What are you doing here?"
"Checking on my grandchildren."
Her eyes moved toward Leo.
Then she smiled.
Not warmly.
Hungrily.
She reached into her designer handbag and threw a stack of papers onto the table.
"Sign."
I stared at them.
"What's this?"
"Relinquishment of parental rights."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
She sighed as though I were an idiot.
"Don't make this difficult, Elena."
I looked at the document.
Then at her.
"You want me to give up my son?"
"One of them."
She pointed at Leo.
"You can keep the girl."
The room suddenly felt colder.
"Why?"
She gave me a disgusted look.
"Because Karen needs him."
My sister-in-law.
Karen.
The woman who had cried at my baby shower and repeatedly whispered that she would give anything to have a child.
The woman who hadn't visited me once after the surgery.
"Karen is infertile," Mrs. Sterling continued. "She can't have children. She needs a son."
"She needs therapy."
Her face hardened.
"You have two. She has none. It's only fair."
I laughed because I honestly thought she was joking.
She wasn't.
"You can't handle two babies anyway," she said. "You don't have a job. You contribute nothing. Daniel works all day while you sit at home spending his money."
That old accusation again.
The unemployed wife.
The freeloader.
The woman who supposedly did nothing.
That was what I had allowed them to believe.
I had never corrected them.
Because I needed to know what kind of people they really were.
And now I knew.
"Get out."
Mrs. Sterling's eyes narrowed.
"No."
She walked toward Leo.
I immediately pressed my palm against the mattress and tried to sit up.
Every muscle in my body screamed.
"Don't touch him."
She ignored me.
"He belongs with Karen."
"He belongs with me."
"He belongs to this family."
I reached for the bassinet.
Mrs. Sterling suddenly grabbed Leo.
He screamed.
Something inside me snapped.
"PUT HIM DOWN!"
She turned.
"You are being hysterical."
I struggled to stand.
The pain nearly made me collapse.
"Give me my son."
Instead, she slapped me.
Hard.
My head struck the bed rail.
For a second, everything went white.
Then I heard Leo crying.
That sound brought me back.
I lunged toward him.
Mrs. Sterling held him tighter.
"You insolent brat!"
I hit the red emergency button on the wall.
CODE GRAY.
SECURITY.
The alarm sounded.
Within seconds, the door flew open.
Four security officers rushed inside.
The first was Chief Mike Harrison.
Mrs. Sterling dropped into a chair and immediately screamed.
"Help!"
Mike's hand went toward his radio.
"She attacked me!" Mrs. Sterling sobbed. "She's mentally unstable! She tried to hurt the baby!"
One officer stepped toward me.
My lip was bleeding.
My hair was disheveled.
I was still wearing the hospital gown.
I probably looked exactly like the unstable woman she described.
"Ma'am, please step away from the infant."
I stared at him.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Mike walked closer.
His eyes moved from me to Mrs. Sterling.
Then back to me.
He froze.
His face changed.
Recognition.
Disbelief.
Fear.
"Judge Vance?"
The room went silent.
Mike slowly removed his cap.
Every officer lowered his weapon.
Mrs. Sterling blinked.
"What did you just call her?"
Mike didn't answer.
He looked at me.
I held his gaze.
For the first time since my surgery, I stopped pretending.
"Please," I said quietly, "get my son back."
Mike turned toward Mrs. Sterling.
His voice became ice.
"Put the baby down."
Mrs. Sterling shook her head.
"But..."
"Now."
She obeyed.
Mike took Leo and placed him beside Luna.
Then he looked at me.
"Your Honor, should I call the district attorney?"
I swallowed.
"Call everyone."
Then my phone began ringing.
The caller ID made my blood run cold.
It was my husband.
Daniel Sterling.
And when I answered, he said five words that proved this had never been Mrs. Sterling's idea alone.
"Mom says you attacked her."
I closed my eyes.
"So this was your plan too?"
There was a pause.
Then Daniel whispered:
"Elena... you don't understand what you've done."
I opened my eyes.
"I understand perfectly."
May you like
He didn't know it yet.
But before sunrise, the Sterling family would learn exactly who they had just tried to steal a child from.
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