Chapter 9 - My Daughter Chose the Worst Possible Night
I was in labor.
I knew that.
Dr. Hannah Pike knew that.
Apparently, everyone knew it except the part of my brain convinced I still needed to deal with Gavin Shaw.
“No,” Hannah said.
She stood beside my hospital bed.
“I didn’t ask.”
“You were thinking it.”
I looked toward Dad.
He had shown the message to Detective Torres.
The hospital immediately activated security protocols.
No fire was discovered.
No explosive device.
Police believed the threat was designed to force me outside.
“Then Gavin is nearby.”
Torres nodded.
“Probably.”
Another contraction hit.
I closed my eyes and breathed.
Thirty-four weeks.
My daughter was early.
Hannah explained that they would try to slow the labor if possible.
The baby’s heartbeat was strong.
Steroids were administered to help lung development.
I tried to focus only on that.
Then the lights went out.
Every machine switched to emergency power.
Alarms sounded.
Dad stood instantly.
Torres touched her radio.
“Security?”
Static.
Hospital staff rushed into the hallway.
Someone shouted that the main electrical system had failed.
Backup generators were running.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Torres gestured for me not to answer.
I did.
Gavin’s voice.
“Hello, Evelyn.”
I had known him my whole life.
Yet I had never heard his true voice until that moment.
No warmth.
No uncle.
No friend.
Just a man who believed people were pieces on a board.
“You threatened a hospital.”
“I threatened you.”
“There are babies here.”
“Then don’t make me impatient.”
Torres quietly activated recording equipment.
“What do you want?”
“Katherine’s drive.”
“Federal investigators have it.”
“Copies exist.”
“You think I have one?”
“I know you do.”
He was right.
Noah had created multiple encrypted backups.
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
Another contraction twisted through me.
I breathed through it.
Gavin heard.
“You’re in labor.”
“Concerned?”
“Not particularly.”
Dad closed his eyes.
The cruelty was finally complete.
Gavin continued.
“Your mother created an extraordinary amount of trouble because she couldn’t understand one simple truth.”
“What?”
“Companies survive by burying things.”
“No.”
I looked through the hospital window at the city.
“Cowards survive by burying things.”
Silence.
That bothered him.
Good.
“You sound like her.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Your mother died believing Charles betrayed her.”
Dad flinched.
I answered calmly.
“And you spent seven years afraid she left proof.”
“I’m not afraid of dead people.”
“Then why have you destroyed your entire life searching her grave?”
He hung up.
Torres almost smiled.
“We got a location trace.”
“Where?”
“Parking structure.”
Officers moved.
Five minutes later, they found a phone taped beneath a car.
Gavin had anticipated the trace.
But cameras caught the man who placed it.
Adrian.
Police followed him.
He ran.
The chase lasted fourteen minutes.
Adrian was arrested near the river.
Gavin remained missing.
Adrian refused to speak.
Then labor progressed.
By midnight, Hannah stopped trying to delay it.
“Your daughter has apparently made a decision.”
I laughed weakly.
“She’s a Mercer.”
Dad squeezed my hand.
“No stubbornness in this family.”
I glared at him.
He smiled for the first time in days.
At 2:41 a.m., my daughter entered the world screaming.
Four pounds, thirteen ounces.
Tiny.
Angry.
Perfect.
They placed her against me for less than a minute before taking her to neonatal care.
I kissed her forehead.
“Hi, Katherine.”
Dad froze.
I had never told him the name.
“Katherine?”
“Katherine Rose.”
His face crumpled.
He kissed my forehead and cried.
For one beautiful minute, the entire conspiracy disappeared.
There was only my daughter.
Then Detective Torres entered.
Her expression destroyed the peace.
“What happened?”
“We need to move you.”
“Why?”
She closed the door.
“Adrian talked.”
My father stood.
“What did he say?”
“Gavin isn’t trying to get into the hospital.”
Torres looked through the glass toward the neonatal wing.
“He already has someone working inside.”
My heart stopped.
“Who?”
“A nurse.”
“No.”
“He paid her six months ago.”
I tried to sit up.
Pain tore through me.
“My baby.”
“She’s protected.”
“How do you know?”
Torres didn’t answer fast enough.
I ripped the monitor from my finger.
“Evelyn—”
“Take me to her.”
Dad moved beside me.
We entered the neonatal unit surrounded by police.
Katherine Rose’s bassinet was empty.
A nurse stood nearby crying.
“She was here thirty seconds ago.”
The security alarm screamed.
Elevators locked.
Doors sealed.
Every officer moved.
I could barely stand.
Then a voice came from the stairwell.
“Stop!”
Noah.
He emerged carrying my daughter.
Behind him, two hospital guards restrained a woman in scrubs.
My knees nearly gave out.
Noah walked toward me.
“She tried to put the baby into a transport bassinet.”
I took Katherine into my arms.
She was crying.
So was I.
The nurse was arrested.
Her phone contained messages from Gavin.
One final instruction had been sent three minutes earlier.
IF YOU CAN’T GET THE CHILD, GET THE BLOOD.
Noah frowned.
“Blood?”
Hannah looked at the message.
Then her face changed.
“He needs DNA.”
“Why?”
She glanced at me.
“Because the paternity challenge isn’t fake.”
The room went quiet.
I stared at her.
“What are you saying?”
“There may be something about your daughter’s DNA Gavin believes will prove.”
Noah looked toward Adrian’s paternity filing.
Then he understood first.
“Not who the father is.”
May you like
He looked at Dad.
“Who Evelyn’s father is.”
