Chapter 1 - THE NAME ON THE LINE
For several seconds, I could only stare at Luka Moretti’s signature.
The black ink looked impossibly dark against the white paper.
Luka Moretti.
Father.
My daughter shifted against my chest and made a tiny sound.
That sound finally broke through my shock.
“You can’t just do that.”
Luka’s eyes lifted to mine.
“I just did.”
The nurse holding the folder looked almost as stunned as I was.
“Sir, this document has legal consequences.”
“I know exactly what it means.”
I tightened my arms around my daughter.
“You don’t even know me.”
Something changed in Luka’s expression.
Not guilt.
Pain.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Ava.”
My entire body went still.
I had never told him my name.
The nurse had called me Mrs. Bennett earlier, but nobody in the hallway had used Ava.
“How do you know my name?”
Luka glanced toward the corridor where Ethan had disappeared with Vanessa.
Then he looked at the security camera mounted above the nurses’ station.
“We shouldn’t have this conversation here.”
My pulse quickened.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
His voice stayed calm.
“You just gave birth.”
“You’re exhausted.”
“You’ve been abandoned by a man who knows more about what happened to you than he wants you to realize.”
My stomach tightened.
“What happened to me?”
Before Luka could answer, a hospital administrator hurried around the corner.
Two security officers followed him.
The administrator was a thin man in a gray suit with a badge reading DR. HAROLD PIKE.
His eyes went immediately to Luka.
“Mr. Moretti.”
The color drained from his face.
Luka noticed.
So did I.
“Dr. Pike.”
Pike swallowed.
“You’re not authorized to be on this floor.”
“That’s interesting.”
Luka slowly slipped one hand into his coat.
Both security officers tensed.
He removed nothing more threatening than a folded sheet of paper.
“My attorney was told this morning that Saint Vincent had no record of an M-17 file.”
Pike’s expression changed.
Barely.
But enough.
Luka saw it.
“What is M-17?” I asked.
Pike looked at me sharply.
“No idea.”
Luka gave a quiet humorless laugh.
“That was fast.”
Pike turned toward the nurse.
“Take Mrs. Bennett back to her room.”
Then he pointed at Luka.
“Escort him from the building.”
Neither security officer moved.
One of them looked uncomfortable.
Luka unfolded the document in his hand.
“You may want to read the court order before touching me.”
Pike stared at the paper.
His jaw tightened.
My daughter began crying.
I looked down immediately.
“It’s okay, sweetheart.”
Then Pike said something that made every instinct in me scream.
“Mrs. Bennett’s infant needs to be transferred.”
I looked up.
“Transferred where?”
“Neonatal observation.”
“She was cleared twenty minutes ago.”
“Her status changed.”
Luka stepped between Pike and me.
“No.”
Pike’s voice hardened.
“You have no medical authority here.”
“And you have no reason to move that baby unless you’re trying to separate her from her mother.”
Pike’s eyes flicked toward the ceiling camera again.
That was when Luka leaned closer to me.
“Whatever happens next, Ava, do not let them take your daughter anywhere without you.”
Fear crawled across my skin.
“Why?”
Luka’s answer was barely above a whisper.
“Because twenty-five years ago, this hospital made your father the same promise.”
I stopped breathing.
“My father?”
May you like
Luka looked directly into my eyes.
“And they broke it.”
