Chapter 10 - THE SECOND CRYThe courthouse was placed under emergency lockdown.
Detective Ellis, Officer Cole and federal agents moved toward the sealed family courtroom while Ava watched through a secure hospital connection.
She held Hope against her chest.
Sabrina sat in another protected room holding the child she had carried. Natalie remained beside Emily as officers escorted them toward the court.
Lucas had agreed to testify against Diane and Diana in exchange for protection.
Before he could be transported, his police vehicle was found abandoned beneath an overpass.
The rear door stood open.
One officer was unconscious.
Lucas was gone.
Diane claimed Diana had taken him to prevent his testimony.
Emily believed he escaped willingly.
No one knew which version was true.
Inside the courthouse, the Ava substitute stood before the judge.
She wore Ava’s maternity coat, carried Ava’s driver’s license and possessed fingerprints that matched state records.
Diana sat at the counsel table.
The covered infant seat rested beside her.
The judge looked frightened.
“I was told this hearing concerned immediate child safety.”
Diana placed the guardianship order before him.
“It concerns the identity of a multimillion-dollar beneficiary.”
Federal agents struck the secured door.
It did not open.
The Ava substitute looked directly toward the courtroom camera.
Ava stared back from the hospital screen.
The resemblance was nearly perfect.
Same fair skin.
Same eyes.
Same voice when the woman spoke.
“Lucas burned the wrong wife.”
Ava tightened her hold around Hope.
“What does that mean?”
The substitute opened the infant seat.
No baby lay inside.
It contained the burned maternity sweatshirt, the glowing iron bar from the garage and the original hidden-camera memory card.
Diana smiled.
“The assault was meant to establish that the woman in the hospital was unstable and injured. The surviving Ava would appear unharmed before the court.”
The substitute lifted both hands.
No burns.
No injuries.
“If the public record accepts her as Ava,” Diana continued, “then you become the unidentified woman claiming her child.”
Detective Ellis shouted through the locked door.
“Court records do not override DNA.”
Diana looked toward the camera.
“Which DNA?”
She produced reports showing the substitute shared a close biological relationship with Ava.
Not an unrelated woman altered through surgery.
A sister.
Ava’s father had donated reproductive material to St. Catherine’s before his death. The clinic created embryos outside his marriage.
One became the woman now wearing Ava’s identity.
Maternal Continuity had raised her as a legal replacement.
Ava whispered, “What is your real name?”
The substitute hesitated.
For the first time, fear appeared beneath the practiced expression.
“I was never given one.”
Diana’s confidence hardened.
“You were given a purpose.”
The woman looked toward the locked door.
Then toward Ava’s hospital feed.
“I don’t want her life.”
Diana reached beneath the table.
A gun appeared in her hand.
Federal agents began forcing the courtroom hinges.
The hospital monitors flickered.
Hope started crying against Ava’s chest.
A second infant cry answered through the hospital ventilation system.
Ava froze.
It came from inside the wall behind her bed.
Officer Cole, still at the hospital, tore open the maintenance panel.
Beyond it was a narrow service corridor connected to the maternity floor.
A woman stood in the darkness holding a newborn.
She had Diane’s face.
Diana had never been inside the courtroom.
The woman beside the judge was the other twin.
The real Diana was in Ava’s hospital.
She lifted the child slightly.
Sabrina’s protected room alarm sounded.
Her baby’s crib was empty.
Diana smiled at Ava.
“Lucas did have someone else.”
A man stepped into the corridor behind her.
Lucas.
He held the garage lighter in one hand and Ava’s unsigned property transfer in the other.
“The court only needs one surviving Hope,” he said.
From the hospital room across the hall, another newborn began screaming.
Three infant cries now echoed through the locked maternity floor.
Ava looked down at the baby in her arms.
The identification bracelet had changed.
It no longer read HOPE REED.
It read:
BABY A — MATERNAL IDENTITY UNCONFIRMED
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To be continued...
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