Chapter 7 - THE HOSPITAL TRAP
I stared at the message until the words blurred.
YOUR BABY IS NOT SAFE THERE.
My first instinct was to call the hospital.
My second was to leave immediately.
Arthur took the phone from my hand.
“Don't respond.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever sent this wants you to panic.”
I looked toward the window.
“What if they're telling the truth?”
“They might be.”
That answer frightened me more than anything else.
Bennett stepped closer.
“We need to get you somewhere secure.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Sophia—”
“If someone is inside the hospital, I need to know who.”
Arthur looked at Jonathan.
“Lock down the building.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Already working on it.”
Michael stood near the door, studying the photograph of Lily.
“There is something wrong.”
“What?”
“The message.”
He pointed at my phone.
“Look at the wording.”
I frowned.
“What about it?”
“If someone wanted you dead, they wouldn't warn you.”
“Then why?”
“To make you move.”
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
“Exactly.”
Michael continued.
“They want Sophia out of the house.”
I felt cold.
“Why?”
He looked at me.
“Because somewhere else is less protected.”
Arthur immediately ordered the security team to seal the estate.
Nobody entered.
Nobody left.
But twenty minutes later, the hospital called.
The nurse sounded terrified.
“Mrs. Carter, we received an emergency authorization under your name.”
“What authorization?”
“Someone requested your complete maternity file.”
“Who?”
The nurse hesitated.
“A legal representative.”
“Name?”
“Robert Hale.”
Jonathan and Arthur exchanged looks.
The same fake attorney who had released Victoria.
My heart began racing.
“Did you give them the file?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“But they already accessed the electronic record.”
Arthur immediately grabbed the phone.
“Disconnect her file from the network.”
The nurse said:
“We're trying.”
Then the line went dead.
I looked at Arthur.
“Someone has access to my medical records.”
“Yes.”
“And they know about my baby.”
“Yes.”
“And they know about the trust.”
“Yes.”
I took a slow breath.
“Then we stop reacting.”
Arthur looked at me.
“What do you mean?”
“We set a trap.”
Michael nodded.
“That is exactly what Thomas would expect.”
Bennett looked at me.
“What do you need?”
“Your mother's cooperation.”
His face tightened.
“Victoria?”
“She knows something.”
“She won't talk.”
“She will if she believes Thomas is going to kill her.”
Arthur looked at Jonathan.
“Bring her here.”
Victoria arrived under police escort.
She looked exhausted.
Her hair was disheveled.
Her expensive coat was gone.
She wore a plain gray sweater and looked nothing like the woman who had once ruled Bennett's family.
She saw me.
Then she looked at my stomach.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“Neither should you.”
Victoria lowered her eyes.
I placed the photograph of Lily on the table.
Her face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“You know her.”
“No.”
“Then why were you photographed with her?”
Victoria said nothing.
I placed the second photograph beside it.
Thomas.
Then the third.
Bennett.
Victoria looked at her son.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
She shook her head.
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because if I tell you, he will kill me.”
I leaned forward.
“Thomas?”
She nodded.
“What does he want?”
“The child.”
“Why?”
“Because the child activates the trust.”
“We know that.”
Victoria looked surprised.
“You know?”
“Yes.”
She swallowed.
“Then you don't know the worst part.”
I waited.
“The trust doesn't simply transfer money.”
“What does it do?”
“It identifies the true bloodline.”
Arthur frowned.
Victoria continued.
“If the first child is born with the Monroe marker, the trust becomes permanent.”
“And?”
“The child can never be removed from the inheritance.”
I looked down.
“So that's why they want my baby.”
“No.”
Victoria's voice became quieter.
“They want your baby before the trust activates.”
“Why?”
“Because someone has already created a counterfeit heir.”
Silence.
Bennett stared at her.
“What?”
Victoria looked at him.
“Lily.”
My heart stopped.
“Lily isn't your sister.”
“What?”
“She is.”
Victoria looked at me.
“But she isn't the person you think she is.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Explain.”
“Lily was created as a false beneficiary.”
Jonathan frowned.
“That's impossible.”
Victoria shook her head.
“Not if someone controls the records.”
She explained that Thomas had spent years constructing a false family tree.
Lily had been registered under the Carter name.
She had been given forged documents.
She had been positioned to inherit if I disappeared.
But there was one problem.
The trust required biological proof.
And my unborn child was the first legitimate descendant capable of activating the protection clause.
“So they need my child gone,” I whispered.
Victoria nodded.
“And they need you discredited.”
Bennett looked at her.
“Why did you help them?”
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Thomas threatened me.”
“You stole from Sophia.”
“I was trying to buy time.”
“You tried to take her house.”
“I was told if I didn't, they would hurt you.”
Bennett stared at his mother.
“You could have told me.”
“I was afraid.”
He looked away.
For the first time, I saw genuine regret on Victoria's face.
Then Jonathan's phone rang.
He listened.
His expression changed.
“Someone just accessed Sophia's hospital file.”
“Who?”
“An employee.”
“Name?”
Jonathan looked at me.
“Dr. Samuel Reed.”
My blood went cold.
The same man whose photograph had appeared beside me.
The man everyone said was only a doctor.
Arthur immediately stood.
“Where is he?”
“He left the hospital seven minutes ago.”
“Where did he go?”
Jonathan checked the tracking data.
“To the maternity wing.”
My heart stopped.
“But I'm not there.”
Arthur looked at me.
“That's the point.”
The hospital had been expecting me.
Someone had created a false appointment.
A fake emergency.
A fake authorization.
They weren't trying to get me into the hospital.
They were trying to make everyone believe I had been there.
Then a security alarm sounded.
Someone had breached the estate.
Arthur immediately ordered the doors locked.
The lights went out.
Bennett grabbed my hand.
“Stay behind me.”
I heard footsteps in the hallway.
Then glass shattered.
Michael moved toward the door.
Arthur stopped him.
“Stay back.”
A shadow passed beneath the doorway.
Then silence.
We waited.
Seconds passed.
Finally, the security lights came back.
A guard entered.
“No one found.”
“What was taken?” Arthur asked.
The guard held up a small envelope.
“This was left on the desk.”
My name was written across it.
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Lily.
She was standing outside the hospital.
Behind her was a man.
I recognized him.
Bennett did too.
“That's Dr. Reed.”
I looked at the back.
A message was written there.
THE BABY'S REAL FATHER ISN'T WHO YOU THINK.
I looked at Bennett.
He stared at the photograph.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice whispered:
“Ask your wife about the night she conceived the child.”
Bennett's face changed.
The caller continued.
“Then ask her why she never told you about Daniel Reed.”
The line went dead.
Bennett looked at me.
“Sophia…”
I shook my head.
“I don't know what they're talking about.”
But somewhere inside me, a terrible memory surfaced.
A night from eight months ago.
A hospital.
A storm.
May you like
A man standing beside me.
And a conversation I had completely forgotten.
