Chapter 4 - The Trapped Mother
Back in the hospital, the news reached me like a physical blow to the chest.
My mother wept quietly in the corner while Rachel held me as I sobbed until I had no tears left. The man I loved, the gentle father who had helped me paint the nursery, who had rubbed my back through morning sickness, had been dead for half my pregnancy.
The man who had touched me, who had slept in my bed, who had demanded a DNA test in front of my family... was his killer.
"Why?" I whispered to the empty air of the hospital room, looking at Addison sleeping peacefully in her bassinet. "Why did he demand the test if he knew he wasn't Ethan?"
Agent Vance walked into the room, holding the encrypted hard drive recovered from the cabin cellar.
"We cracked the drive, Sarah," Vance said, sitting down. "Julian didn't just steal Ethan's life for the money. The 4.2 million trust fund was locked under a dual-authorization clause that required your signature once the baby was born."
I blinked through my tears. "My signature?"
"Yes. Ethan's grandfather set up the trust so that the capital couldn't be liquidated unless Ethan and his wife produced an heir," Vance explained. "Julian knew he couldn't fake his way through the final trust payout without a baby. But Julian was arrogant. As the pregnancy progressed, he realized something terrifying: when the baby was born, blood work might be required for state birth records or medical insurance."
"So he tried to get ahead of it," Rachel realized, stepping forward. "He planned to accuse Sarah of cheating all along!"
"Exactly," Vance said. "Julian’s plan was diabolical. He staged the outburst in the delivery room to make Sarah look like a cheating wife. He assumed that when the test showed a 0% match, everyone would blame Sarah. He planned to use the 'infidelity' to file for an emergency divorce, claim sole control of Ethan's assets, and sue Sarah for fraud, taking the trust money for himself while leaving her ruined and discredited."
"He didn't realize the hospital would pull Ethan's old bone marrow registry swab," I said, a cold realization settling in my chest.
"He had no idea Ethan was on that registry," Vance confirmed. "Julian thought he was the smartest man in the room. He thought DNA would destroy you. Instead, it exposed him."
Suddenly, the lights in the hospital room flickered.
BZZZZT.
The monitors hummed loudly, and the overhead fluorescent lights went dark. The backup emergency red lights clicked on, casting a blood-red glow over the room.
Through the hallway, screaming began.
"What's going on?" my mother shrieked, jumping up.
Agent Vance drew his sidearm instantly, moving toward the door. "Stay behind me!"
May you like
The hospital's PA system crackled to life, but instead of an emergency code, a harsh, familiar voice echoed through the speakers throughout St. Mary's Medical Center.
"Hello, Sarah," Julian's voice rasped through the speakers. "Did you really think a few hospital guards could hold me? I know you're up there on the 4th floor. And before I leave this city, I'm taking what's mine."
