Chapter 8 - The Second BabySubtitle: This Time They Came for LunaI ran.
I forgot the pain.
Forgot the stitches.
Forgot everything.
When I reached the maternity ward, security had already locked down the floor.
Luna's bassinet was empty.
For three terrifying seconds, I thought they had taken her.
Then I heard crying.
A nurse was holding her in a locked staff room.
I grabbed my daughter.
I pressed her against my chest.
She screamed.
"I have her," the nurse said.
I couldn't speak.
Mike stood near the door.
His expression was furious.
"Karen tried to sign her out."
"How?"
"She had fake identification."
I looked at Luna.
Then at the nurse.
"Was anyone helping her?"
The nurse hesitated.
That hesitation told me everything.
"Who?"
She whispered:
"The newborn unit coordinator."
My stomach dropped.
Another insider.
Another betrayal.
Mike immediately ordered an arrest.
But the coordinator had disappeared.
We searched the nursery.
Then found something beneath Luna's bassinet.
A small envelope.
My name was written on it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Me.
Pregnant.
Standing outside Sterling Holdings.
On the back, someone had written:
YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO MARRY DANIEL.
I stared at the words.
"What does this mean?"
Mike took the photo.
"Maybe your marriage wasn't accidental."
I felt sick.
Daniel had always told me we met by chance.
At a charity event.
He spilled coffee on my dress.
We laughed.
We talked.
Six months later, he proposed.
Now suddenly, I wondered whether any of it had been real.
Victoria read the note.
"Let's investigate the date."
She checked the file.
"This photograph was taken two days before your first date with Daniel."
I stared at her.
"That isn't possible."
"It is."
"But I didn't know him yet."
Mike looked at me.
"Maybe he knew you."
The thought was chilling.
We pulled old records.
Charity event lists.
Corporate guest lists.
Security logs.
Then we found it.
Daniel had attended the same charity event where I'd later meet him.
Three hours before our first conversation.
He had arrived with Richard.
He had been watching me.
Victoria leaned back.
"This wasn't a coincidence."
I felt my stomach twist.
"What was?"
"Your marriage."
The words barely left her mouth before Daniel appeared at the end of the hallway.
I turned.
He looked at the photograph in my hand.
His face went pale.
"Where did you get that?"
I walked toward him.
"You tell me."
He shook his head.
"Elena..."
"Did you know who I was before we met?"
Silence.
"Daniel."
He closed his eyes.
"Yes."
The hallway went silent.
"What did your father want?"
Daniel looked at the floor.
"He told me to marry you."
My heart stopped.
"Why?"
"Because he knew your family."
"My family?"
"Your father was involved in a judicial investigation years ago."
I stared at him.
"What does my father have to do with your family?"
Daniel looked terrified.
Then he whispered:
"Your father had evidence against mine."
Everything inside me went still.
My father had died years ago.
May you like
But suddenly, a dead man's secret had risen from the grave.
And Richard Sterling had spent decades afraid of it.
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