Chapter 17 - THE FLIGHT
Police searched airports, train stations, and private airfields.
Vanessa’s photograph appeared on every news channel.
Emma refused to return to the secure apartment without Grace.
The baby was due to leave the hospital the following morning.
Ruiz doubled security around the neonatal unit.
Ethan remained beside Grace’s incubator throughout the night.
At two in the morning, the fire alarm sounded.
Red lights flashed across the corridor.
Nurses began moving patients.
Smoke appeared near the main elevators.
Ruiz immediately recognized the pattern.
“It’s a diversion.”
Emma ran toward Grace’s room.
A woman in blue medical scrubs stood beside the incubator.
Her mask concealed most of her face.
She lifted Grace into a portable carrier.
Emma stopped in the doorway.
“Put her down, Vanessa.”
The woman turned.
Vanessa removed the mask.
A bandage covered her injured shoulder.
“You took everything from me.”
“She is a premature baby.”
“She is the reason Ethan betrayed us.”
“No.”
Emma stepped closer.
“The truth is the reason.”
Vanessa held a syringe near Grace’s breathing tube.
Emma froze.
“You wouldn’t hurt her.”
“You thought I wouldn’t push you.”
Ethan appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Vanessa tightened her grip on the carrier.
“Stay back.”
Ethan stopped.
“Take me instead.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You always believed you were the hero.”
“I never believed that.”
He moved one step closer.
“I left a dying man beside the road.”
“You did what Mother told you.”
“And I have hated myself ever since.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears.
“She loved you more.”
“No.”
Ethan shook his head.
“She controlled me more.”
Ruiz approached silently from the side corridor.
Emma kept Vanessa’s attention.
“Grace needs oxygen.”
Vanessa glanced down.
The movement lasted less than a second.
Emma lunged.
She seized Vanessa’s wrist.
The syringe fell.
Ethan caught the carrier before it struck the floor.
Ruiz forced Vanessa against the wall and handcuffed her.
Grace began crying.
It was louder than the first cry Emma had heard in the delivery room.
Emma gathered her daughter against her chest.
Vanessa stared at them from the floor.
“You think this ends with me?”
Ruiz pulled her upright.
Vanessa smiled through her tears.
“My mother kept one final secret.”
“What secret?” Emma asked.
May you like
Vanessa looked toward Ethan.
“Ask him who signed your marriage license.”
