Chapter 2 - THE LOCKED DELIVERY SUITEDana ordered Celeste to place the newborn in the bassinet.
Celeste refused.
“She’s mine.”
The baby began crying harder.
Evelyn’s heart rate climbed. The monitor screamed as she watched Celeste tighten her arms around the child.
Vittorio did not raise his voice.
“You are holding a newborn in a sealed medical corridor while threatening her mother. Put her down before someone removes her from you.”
Celeste looked toward Grant.
He did nothing.
The hospital security officers had forced him against the wall. One held his wrists behind his back while another secured the forged legal folder.
Grant’s eyes remained fixed on the elevator.
“You had no right to come here.”
Vittorio’s gaze moved slowly toward him.
“You sent me a message six months ago saying Evelyn never wanted to see me again.”
“She didn’t.”
Evelyn blinked once in fury.
Grant had intercepted every call and letter between father and daughter. He had told Evelyn that Vittorio considered her marriage an embarrassment. He had told Vittorio that Evelyn blamed him for her mother’s death.
Both believed the other had chosen silence.
Dana took another step toward Celeste.
“The child requires medical assessment. Hand her to the nurse.”
“I have custody papers.”
“The papers were signed while Evelyn was medically unable to consent.”
“She approved everything before surgery.”
“Then the hospital will verify the original signatures.”
Celeste glanced at Dr. Vale.
The physician’s face had become gray.
Dana noticed.
“Doctor, step away from the medication cabinet.”
“I need to stabilize the patient.”
“You are no longer authorized to touch her.”
A second medical team entered through the adjoining recovery corridor. They disconnected Evelyn’s IV from Dr. Vale’s pumps and collected every medication bag for forensic testing.
Dr. Nora Gaines examined Evelyn’s pupils.
“Evelyn, blink once if you understand me.”
Evelyn blinked.
“Blink twice if you can feel touch.”
Two blinks.
Nora pressed lightly against Evelyn’s foot.
Evelyn could feel pressure but could not move.
“This is not ordinary spinal anesthesia,” Nora said. “She appears to have received a prolonged neuromuscular blocker without sufficient reversal medication.”
Grant looked toward Dr. Vale.
“You said she would remain unconscious.”
Every person in the room heard him.
Grant realized his mistake immediately.
Celeste turned on him.
“You told me she wouldn’t remember anything.”
“Stop talking.”
Dana’s tablet continued recording.
Vittorio approached Evelyn’s bed.
His hand stopped above hers, uncertain whether he had permission to touch her.
Evelyn blinked once.
He closed his fingers carefully around her hand.
“I believed you hated me,” he whispered.
A tear escaped the corner of her eye.
“I should have come anyway.”
On the other side of the room, a nurse removed the newborn bracelet.
The outer band listed Evelyn as the delivering patient. The concealed label beneath it identified Bianca Voss as “genetic source.”
Celeste stared at the name.
“That is impossible.”
Dana asked, “Who is Bianca Voss?”
No one answered.
Dr. Vale looked toward the floor.
Vittorio saw the recognition in his face.
“You know her.”
“She was a patient.”
“Was?”
Dr. Vale’s silence became more alarming than an answer.
Dana ordered the newborn taken into a secure neonatal examination room where neither Grant nor Celeste could access her.
Celeste lunged for the bassinet.
Security caught her before she reached it.
“You can’t take my daughter!”
Evelyn’s pulse rose again.
Nora leaned close.
“The baby is safe. Stay with my voice.”
Grant shouted from the wall.
“Celeste, stop. You’re making this worse.”
She twisted toward him.
“You promised the embryo was ours.”
Vittorio turned slowly.
“Ours?”
Grant stared at the floor.
Celeste began laughing in disbelief.
“You still think you can hide it?”
Dana placed the sealed bracelet inside an evidence pouch.
“Hide what?”
Celeste looked directly at Evelyn.
“Your husband paid Dr. Vale to implant our embryo into you.”
Evelyn’s monitor erupted.
Grant shouted that Celeste was lying.
But Dr. Vale did not deny it.
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And somewhere beneath the hospital, an encrypted file associated with the name Bianca Voss automatically began deleting itself.
👉 Celeste claimed Evelyn had unknowingly carried Grant’s child—but the hidden bracelet named an entirely different genetic mother.
