Chapter 15 - The Second Baby
Simone went into premature labor.
The irony was almost unbearable.
Only hours earlier, she had been part of the plan against Leah.
Now she was lying on a hospital bed, terrified that someone might make decisions about her child without her consent.
Nathan remained outside the delivery room.
He did not ask Leah to forgive him.
He did not attempt to explain anything else.
He simply sat with his head in his hands.
Leah watched from across the corridor.
“Do you love her?”
Nathan looked up.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I don’t think I know what love is anymore.”
Leah looked down at Eli.
“I do.”
Nathan swallowed.
Leah continued.
“Love doesn’t make someone smaller so you can control them.”
“It doesn’t use their fear against them.”
“It doesn’t forge signatures.”
“It doesn’t call betrayal protection.”
Nathan nodded.
“I know.”
“No.”
“You’re beginning to know.”
Three hours later, Simone delivered a premature baby girl.
Four pounds, eight ounces.
The baby required respiratory support but was expected to survive.
Nathan cried when the doctor told him.
Leah felt no jealousy.
Only exhaustion.
A police detective arrived that afternoon.
Her name was Elena Brooks.
She sat beside Leah’s bed.
“We found Doreen.”
“Where?”
“Her attorney’s office.”
“She claims she was trying to leave the hospital because she felt threatened.”
Leah almost laughed.
“And the discharge order?”
“We’re investigating unauthorized access.”
“Hospital IT traced the login to an administrative terminal.”
“Who used it?”
Detective Brooks paused.
“A fundraising office.”
Leah understood.
Doreen.
The woman had spent years donating money to the hospital.
She knew staff.
She knew systems.
She knew which doors opened when alarms sounded.
Detective Brooks continued.
“We also recovered documents from her vehicle.”
“What documents?”
“Petitions for emergency custody.”
“They were already prepared.”
Leah felt sick.
“How long ago?”
“Three weeks.”
Three weeks.
Before Leah entered the hospital.
Before her nightmare.
Before the fake psychiatric note.
This had never been a reaction to anything Leah did.
It had been planned.
Detective Brooks handed her a plastic evidence sleeve.
Inside was a handwritten page.
Doreen’s handwriting filled the paper.
DELIVERY.
PSYCH CONSULT.
TEMPORARY HOLD.
NATHAN TAKES INFANT.
FILE BEFORE RELEASE.
Leah stared at it.
At the bottom was one final line.
IF LEAH RESISTS, USE SIMONE.
Leah looked toward the delivery room.
Simone had not been the other woman.
Not really.
May you like
She had been another weapon.
And when Doreen finished using her, she had become disposable too.
