Chapter 4 - The Woman in the NICU
The elevator seemed to descend too slowly.
Every second stretched into something unbearable.
The neonatal specialist stood beside me speaking into her phone.
“Seal both entrances. No one enters or leaves the unit. Confirm Liam Hale and Chloe Hale remain connected to all prescribed support.”
I gripped the wheelchair arms.
“What kind of unauthorized access?”
“A staff credential was used to open their electronic charts.”
“Could someone change their treatment?”
“Not without additional verification.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
She looked down at me.
“Yes. Someone with the proper access could alter medication orders, transfer instructions, or guardianship information.”
Grandfather pressed the elevator button again, as though force might make it move faster.
Marian had remained upstairs with the detectives and technology team. Two security officers accompanied us.
When the doors opened onto the neonatal floor, chaos filled the corridor.
Doctors and nurses moved between stations while security sealed the doors. A supervisor stood beside the reception desk reviewing surveillance footage.
I tried to stand.
The specialist stopped me.
“You cannot walk this far.”
“Then push me.”
A nurse hurried forward and took the wheelchair.
As we entered the NICU, I heard Liam’s monitor before I saw him.
The steady beeping was still there.
Chloe’s tiny chest rose and fell beneath the warm light of her incubator.
Both babies were alive.
I covered my mouth.
The relief was so powerful it became pain.
A nurse named Julia knelt beside me.
“They’re safe. No medication was administered. No equipment was disconnected.”
“What happened?”
“Someone entered a transfer order for both infants.”
“To where?”
“Westbridge Recovery Center.”
The same clinic Dominic had tried to move me to.
The neonatal specialist’s expression hardened.
“That facility does not treat premature infants.”
Julia nodded.
“The order was flagged automatically.”
“Who entered it?”
“A physician credential belonging to Dr. Samuel Price.”
Natalie’s last name was Price.
Grandfather noticed immediately.
“Is he related to the woman upstairs?”
Julia looked at the personnel record.
“Dr. Samuel Price is Natalie Price’s father.”
My stomach turned.
Natalie had not simply become involved with my husband.
Her family was involved too.
“Where is Dr. Price?” Grandfather asked.
“He resigned from this hospital six years ago.”
“Then why are his credentials active?”
“No one knows.”
The technology director approached us with a laptop.
“The login came from a terminal inside the NICU staff lounge.”
Security had already reviewed the hallway cameras. A woman wearing blue scrubs entered the lounge fourteen minutes earlier, remained inside for approximately three minutes, and left through a service corridor.
The camera image showed only part of her face.
She wore a surgical mask and cap.
But something about her posture felt familiar.
“Play it again,” I said.
The director replayed the footage.
The woman walked with her right shoulder slightly lower than her left.
She carried a red leather handbag beneath the disposable gown.
I knew that bag.
I had seen it at family dinners, Christmas parties, and company events.
“It’s Dominic’s mother.”
Grandfather leaned closer to the screen.
“Evelyn Hale?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn had always presented herself as elegant and restrained. She wore pearls to breakfast and corrected waiters who used the wrong fork.
During my pregnancy, she rarely asked about my health. She cared about names, baptism plans, and whether the twins would have Hale as their legal surname.
When I entered the hospital, she sent one text.
Do not embarrass Dominic by creating unnecessary drama.
Now she had entered the NICU disguised as medical staff.
Security searched the service corridor.
They found the discarded gown and mask in a laundry cart, but Evelyn was gone.
Grandfather called the head of security.
“Seal the parking structures and alert the police.”
A nurse checked the infants’ identification bands.
“Mrs. Hale, we also found something unusual in Chloe’s chart.”
She turned the monitor toward me.
A temporary guardianship form had been uploaded alongside the transfer order.
The form designated Dominic and Evelyn Hale as Chloe’s legal guardians if I became medically incapable.
“What about Liam?”
“There was a separate form.”
“And who was named?”
“Dominic and Natalie Price.”
The room seemed to tilt.
They had divided my children between them.
Not because they loved Liam and Chloe.
Because they believed the twins were keys to my inheritance.
Grandfather read the documents.
“These signatures are forged.”
The nurse nodded.
“We have locked both records.”
I looked through the incubator wall at Chloe.
Her fingers moved faintly against the blanket.
They had tried to reduce her to a signature and an account number.
A fierce clarity settled over me.
Until that moment, part of me remained trapped in disbelief.
I kept wondering how Dominic could have changed.
How the man who held my hand during fertility appointments could become the man who called our children runts.
But perhaps he had not changed.
Perhaps love had been the disguise.
I turned toward Grandfather.
“I want emergency custody.”
“You already have parental rights.”
“I want Dominic barred from making any medical or legal decision for the twins.”
Grandfather nodded.
“Marian will file immediately.”
“And I want a protection order against Dominic, Evelyn, Natalie, Samuel Price, and anyone connected to Westbridge.”
“We’ll arrange it.”
“I don’t want to arrange things anymore.”
He studied my face.
“What do you mean?”
“For three years, everyone around me made decisions while I apologized for taking up space. Dominic controlled the finances. Evelyn controlled the holidays. Natalie walked into my room wearing my clothes. Even you protected my inheritance without forcing me to understand it.”
Grandfather lowered his eyes.
“You’re right.”
“I need the truth. All of it.”
“You’ll have it.”
“Even the parts that make you look bad.”
He met my gaze.
“Especially those.”
A security officer hurried toward us.
“Mr. Sterling, Evelyn Hale was located in the south parking structure.”
“Is she in custody?”
“She locked herself inside a vehicle and claims she has diplomatic medication that could be damaged if officers force entry.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means she’s delaying.”
Grandfather looked toward the NICU.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Audrey—”
“She came for my children. I want to hear what she says.”
The doctor objected, but I refused to remain behind.
They moved me to a private family consultation room near the secure entrance. Evelyn was brought inside several minutes later with a police officer on either side.
She had removed the scrubs and now wore a cream blouse and black trousers. Her hair remained perfectly arranged.
Even under arrest, she looked ready for a charity luncheon.
When she saw me, she sighed.
“Audrey, this melodrama is unnecessary.”
“You entered the NICU using stolen credentials.”
“I was checking on my grandchildren.”
“You submitted transfer orders.”
“I did no such thing.”
“We have video.”
“You have a masked woman carrying a handbag that resembles mine.”
Grandfather placed the red leather bag on the table.
Security had found it in Evelyn’s car.
Inside were a hospital access card, a handwritten password, disposable gloves, and two infant identity labels printed with Liam’s and Chloe’s names.
Evelyn glanced at the evidence without changing expression.
“Those items were planted.”
“By whom?” the detective asked.
“Probably Audrey.”
I almost admired the confidence of the lie.
“I was unconscious for two days.”
“You have always been manipulative.”
Grandfather leaned forward.
“Be careful, Evelyn.”
She looked at him with open contempt.
“This is your fault. You filled her head with the belief that she was special.”
“She is my granddaughter.”
“She is a weak woman who inherited a powerful name.”
I felt the words, but they no longer cut me.
“Why did you want the babies transferred?”
“I wanted them protected.”
“At a center without neonatal care?”
Evelyn’s lips tightened.
“Samuel assured us arrangements had been made.”
The detective immediately wrote something down.
Evelyn realized her mistake.
“Samuel Price?” I asked.
She did not answer.
Grandfather looked toward the officer.
“That sounded like confirmation.”
Evelyn’s composure began to crack.
She turned to me.
“Do you have any idea what Dominic sacrificed for you? He tolerated your anxiety, your inability to manage a household, your endless dependence on doctors. He gave you a life.”
“I gave him thirty-eight million dollars in financing.”
“That money came from Theodore.”
“And the twelve million he stole from my children?”
“He was correcting an imbalance.”
I stared at her.
She truly believed it.
In Evelyn’s mind, anything connected to me belonged to Dominic by right.
“The transfer failed,” I said. “The trust money will be recovered.”
Her eyes flickered.
It was subtle, but I saw it.
“What?” I asked.
She looked away.
“The twelve million wasn’t the real target, was it?”
Silence.
“The two hundred and forty million was not the real target either.”
Grandfather watched her carefully.
Evelyn folded her hands.
“You are imagining conspiracies.”
“No,” I said. “You divided guardianship of my children. You needed control of both twins. Why?”
Her expression became still.
The answer struck me before she spoke.
“My mother’s shares.”
Grandfather turned toward me.
The trust gave me ownership of twenty-one percent of the hospital network.
“What happens to my shares if I die?”
“Audrey,” he warned.
“Tell me.”
He hesitated.
“If you die without an updated estate plan, ownership passes equally to your biological children.”
“And if my children are minors?”
“Their legal guardians exercise certain shareholder rights through court supervision.”
Dominic and Evelyn would control Chloe’s interest.
Dominic and Natalie would control Liam’s.
Together, they could gain access to my mother’s shares.
Grandfather’s voting control would be threatened.
The attempted transfer orders were not only about kidnapping the babies.
They were preparation for a corporate takeover.
And for that plan to work, I could not remain alive.
Evelyn saw the realization on my face.
“You nearly died naturally,” she said quietly. “No one caused that.”
The detective stopped writing.
“What exactly do you mean by naturally?”
Evelyn immediately looked toward him.
“I mean childbirth is dangerous.”
“You said nearly died,” I whispered.
Everyone else had used the phrase because doctors told them.
But Evelyn had not visited me.
Hospital staff had released no public information about my condition.
“How did you know how close I came?”
She pushed back from the table.
“This interview is over.”
The police officer stopped her from standing.
The door opened.
Marian entered carrying a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a small glass medication vial.
“This was found in Evelyn’s handbag,” she said.
The neonatal specialist examined the label.
Her face changed.
“What is it?” I asked.
“A concentrated blood-pressure medication.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“In the wrong dosage, it could cause a severe cardiovascular event.”
Marian looked at the detective.
“The lot number traces back to the operating suite used during Audrey’s delivery.”
Evelyn’s face finally lost all color.
I stared at the vial.
My pregnancy complication had been real.
But perhaps the moment I nearly died had not been entirely natural.
Someone had accessed my operating room.
Someone had forged my medical proxy.
Someone had tried to move me away from intensive care.
The betrayal was no longer about money.
It was attempted murder.
Evelyn leaned toward me.
“You should have stayed away from the Sterling family,” she whispered.
I held her gaze.
“I am the Sterling family.”
Police led her from the room.
As the door closed, Grandfather sat beside me.
His hands trembled.
I had never seen that before.
“We need to move you and the babies to a protected wing,” he said.
“No.”
“Audrey, someone may have tried to kill you.”
“That is why I’m not hiding.”
“You need to recover.”
“I will recover.”
I looked through the glass toward Liam and Chloe.
Their existence had exposed every lie surrounding me.
“I want Dominic to believe I’m weak,” I said. “I want him to believe the surgery, the betrayal, and the fear have broken me.”
Grandfather studied me.
“And then?”
“Then we follow the money.”
At that moment, Marian’s phone vibrated.
She read the message and looked up.
“Dominic’s company servers are being erased remotely.”
“Can we stop it?” Grandfather asked.
“The technology team is trying.”
“Where is the command coming from?”
Marian turned the phone toward us.
The signal originated from Westbridge Recovery Center.
The facility where Dominic wanted to send me.
The facility where Evelyn wanted to send my premature babies.
And according to the ownership database, Westbridge was not controlled by Samuel Price.
May you like
It belonged to a charitable foundation established sixteen years earlier.
A foundation created in my dead mother’s name.
