Chapter 7 - The Inheritance
The hospital room felt like a vacuum where all the air had been entirely sucked out.
“What do you mean they are gone?” I demanded, grabbing the police officer by his uniform sleeve.
“There were seventy-five people at that gender reveal party!”
“How does an entire party and my daughter just disappear into thin air?”
The officer gently detached my hands from his uniform and stepped back.
“The neighbors told the tactical team that there was no party today,” the officer explained quietly.
“The house has been completely empty and dark since yesterday afternoon.”
The gender reveal party was a complete and total lie.
My mother had entirely fabricated the event just to give me a reason to leave the hospital and abandon my baby.
When I refused to leave the NICU, they moved to their deadly backup plan.
They had lured Kevin to an empty house to ambush him and eliminate the only man who could defend me.
“Why are they doing this to us?” I sobbed, the sheer cruelty of my own flesh and blood breaking my spirit.
“People only commit crimes this elaborate for two reasons, ma'am,” the officer said grimly.
“Revenge, or a massive amount of money.”
The word money echoed in my mind like a loud, tolling bell.
My grandfather, who had passed away two years ago, was an incredibly wealthy man who despised my mother’s greed.
He had bypassed my mother entirely in his will and placed his entire five-million-dollar fortune into an ironclad trust fund.
The trust was legally stipulated to pass directly to his firstborn great-grandchild on their eighteenth birthday.
Brooklyn was the firstborn great-grandchild, and she was the sole heir to the entire fortune.
But if Brooklyn were to tragically die, or be legally removed from my custody due to my supposed insanity, the trust would dissolve.
The money would legally default back to my mother, the next surviving direct relative.
And Courtney’s fiancé, the hospital administrator, knew exactly how to forge the medical records to prove I was crazy.
They weren't just trying to kill Rosalie out of spite.
They were trying to kill Rosalie with a stolen badge to frame me for the murder.
Once I was in prison for killing my own baby, they would easily gain permanent custody of Brooklyn and her five-million-dollar inheritance.
“It's the trust fund,” I gasped, looking wildly at the police officer.
“My mother is trying to frame me for murder so she can steal my daughter's inheritance.”
The officer’s eyes narrowed as the massive puzzle finally clicked into place.
“I am calling the FBI to issue an immediate Amber Alert and freeze every single bank account attached to your family,” the officer stated, rushing back into the hallway.
I walked over to the incubator, watching Rosalie finally resting peacefully after the insulin had been flushed from her tiny system.
I had survived the worst night of my entire life, but my husband was fighting for his life, and my daughter was missing.
Suddenly, the hospital room phone mounted on the wall began to ring loudly.
I hesitated, staring at the flashing red light on the receiver.
I slowly picked up the phone and pressed it against my ear, completely terrified of who was on the other end.
“Hello?” I whispered.
“If you ever want to see Brooklyn alive again, you are going to walk out of that hospital right now.”
It was my mother’s cold, emotionless voice.
“Do not tell the police, and do not hang up this phone.”
“Go to the parking garage, get in your car, and drive to the abandoned warehouse on 4th Street.”
“If I see a single cop following you, I will throw this child into the river.”
She ended the call with a sharp click, leaving me listening to the dead dial tone.
I looked at the armed police officer standing guard outside my door.
May you like
I knew that if I told him about the call, he would never let me leave the hospital.
I grabbed my car keys, took one last look at my sleeping baby, and quietly slipped out the side door of the NICU.
