Chapter 5 - The Missing Father
I stared at the nurse in absolute, horrifying disbelief, my mind struggling to process her impossible words.
"Her father is sitting in the back of a police cruiser in handcuffs! Who exactly checked her out?" I screamed frantically.
The nurse looked completely terrified by my outburst and quickly pointed a shaking finger toward the main hospital exit.
"He showed me his ID, it said he was David Miller, her biological father!" she stammered defensively.
The name hit me like a physical, devastating blow to the chest, completely knocking the air out of my lungs.
David Miller had completely abandoned us when Katie was just a baby, disappearing over nine years ago.
He had never paid a single cent of child support, never called, and had actively avoided all contact with his own daughter.
"Why would David take her? He doesn't even know her!" I yelled, turning to Detective Reynolds who had just rushed into the room.
Reynolds immediately grabbed his police radio, barking urgent orders to completely lock down the entire hospital and check all security cameras.
"Amanda, think very carefully. Has David ever reached out to you or Andrew recently?" Reynolds asked, his face tight with grim concern.
"Never! Andrew officially adopted Katie three years ago, David legally terminated his parental rights to avoid paying," I explained rapidly.
Reynolds cursed softly under his breath, realizing that David checking her out was technically a legal gray area because of old hospital records.
"We will find them, Amanda. He can't get far with a child who just suffered massive brain trauma," Reynolds promised fiercely.
We rushed to the hospital's security room, staring intensely at the grainy footage from the main lobby cameras.
The video clearly showed David, looking much older and far more disheveled than I remembered, aggressively pushing Katie in a wheelchair toward the exit.
Katie looked completely dazed and terrified, clutching a small teddy bear tightly to her chest.
David loaded her into the back of a beat-up, rusty gray sedan and sped away into the dark, rainy night.
"Get an Amber Alert out immediately, I want every state trooper looking for that gray sedan," Reynolds commanded the security team.
I paced the small security room like a trapped, desperate animal, trying to understand David's insane motive for returning now.
Suddenly, my cell phone buzzed loudly in my pocket, the unknown number flashing brightly on the screen.
I answered the call immediately, putting it on speakerphone so Reynolds could hear every single word.
"Hello, Amanda. It's been a very long time," David's raspy, arrogant voice echoed through the speaker.
"David, where is my daughter? Bring her back right now or the police will hunt you down!" I yelled aggressively.
David laughed, a cold, hollow sound that made my skin crawl with intense revulsion.
"I hear Andrew just got arrested for trying to kill my little girl for a massive insurance payout," David stated calmly.
"How do you even know about that?" I demanded, deeply confused by his sudden, intimate knowledge of the situation.
"Because I'm the one who told the hitman to demand more money from Andrew, completely draining his accounts," David revealed proudly.
He had been secretly tracking Andrew's finances for months, waiting for the perfect opportunity to extort my wealthy husband.
"I saved Katie from the hospital so Andrew's goons couldn't finish the job, Amanda. You should actually be thanking me," David mocked.
"You kidnapped a critically injured child, David! Bring her back to the hospital immediately!" I pleaded desperately.
"I will give her back, Amanda, but it's going to cost you," he said, his true, greedy motive finally revealing itself completely.
"I want the two million dollars Andrew was going to get from that life insurance policy, or you will never see Katie again."
Before I could respond, the line went completely dead, leaving a heavy, terrifying silence in the security room.
Reynolds immediately began tracing the cell phone ping, his fingers flying rapidly across his digital keyboard.
"He's not demanding money from a bank, Amanda," Reynolds said, looking up with a deeply troubled expression on his face.
"He wants the money from the illegal offshore account Andrew set up last week."
"I don't have access to Andrew's offshore accounts!" I cried out in utter despair.
"I know," Reynolds said grimly, "but I know exactly who does."
May you like
He pointed to a blinking red dot on the digital map displayed on his computer monitor.
"The phone ping just registered at Barbara's private country club estate outside the city limits."
