Chapter 10 - The Judge in Serena’s Pocket
Lily blocked the door to Ethan’s room.
“You are not touching him.”
The federal marshals stepped forward.
Serena held up the court order.
“She is interfering with a lawful guardianship transfer.”
Thomas studied the judge.
“This order was signed less than twenty minutes ago.”
The judge adjusted his glasses.
“Emergency circumstances required immediate action.”
“You did not review the medical evidence.”
“I reviewed the available record.”
“You reviewed a forged transfer and Damon’s confession.”
The judge’s face tightened.
“My decision stands.”
Lily looked at the detective.
He avoided her eyes.
Everyone in the corridor had already chosen a side.
Not based on truth.
Based on power.
Serena moved closer.
“Step aside.”
“No.”
“Then they will arrest you in front of Ethan.”
Lily lowered her voice.
“He is afraid of you.”
“He is fourteen months old.”
“He knows.”
For one instant, Serena’s perfect expression cracked.
Then she turned to the marshals.
“Remove her.”
The operating room doors opened.
Victor’s surgeon stepped out.
Every person in the corridor turned.
“The surgery was successful.”
Lily exhaled.
“Is he awake?” the security chief asked.
“Not yet.”
Serena’s smile returned.
“Then the order remains valid.”
A nurse opened Ethan’s door.
She looked confused.
“We have another issue.”
Lily rushed inside.
Ethan’s bed was empty.
The window was locked.
The bathroom was empty.
The child had vanished from a guarded hospital room.
Serena’s face went pale.
“This was not me.”
Lily turned on her.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You came here to take him.”
“Yes.”
“Legally.”
The monitor wires had been cut cleanly.
A service panel near the floor stood open.
The security chief crouched beside it.
“There is a maintenance tunnel behind this wall.”
Thomas looked toward the judge.
“Only hospital administration would know that.”
The judge stepped backward.
Victor’s security chief seized his arm.
The marshals reached for their weapons.
The lights went out again.
Someone screamed.
A gunshot echoed.
When emergency power returned, the judge was on the floor.
A bullet had struck his shoulder.
Serena was gone.
So was Margaret.
Lily ran into the hallway.
The elevator doors were closing.
She saw Margaret inside.
A masked man held a weapon against her neck.
Serena stood beside them.
“Lily!”
Margaret’s scream vanished as the doors closed.
Lily pressed the call button repeatedly.
The security chief pulled her back.
“They will be waiting below.”
“They have Ethan.”
“We do not know that.”
Lily pointed toward Serena’s abandoned legal folder.
“She did not come here for custody.”
“She came here because someone told her Ethan would be taken.”
Thomas opened the folder.
Inside was a handwritten note.
Bring Lily to the river warehouse, or both of them die.
Lily read it twice.
“They used Serena too.”
The security chief contacted his men.
“No response from the basement.”
“They have jammed the radios.”
Thomas looked at the judge bleeding on the floor.
“Whoever arranged this controls the police, the court, and hospital security.”
Lily thought of Damon.
“He confessed because he wanted Serena released.”
The security chief shook his head.
“Damon was transferred to federal custody.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“Before Serena arrived?”
“Yes.”
Lily understood.
“There was no transfer.”
“They took him.”
The judge groaned.
Thomas crouched beside him.
“Who signed the order?”
The judge looked terrified.
“I did.”
“Who threatened you?”
The judge shook his head.
“I cannot say.”
Lily knelt beside him.
“They have a child.”
The judge closed his eyes.
“A man called me.”
“What man?”
“He said Damon and Serena were finished.”
“He said the Blackwood empire needed a new leader.”
“Name him.”
The judge’s lips trembled.
“Dr. Reeves.”
Lily stared at him.
Ethan’s trusted doctor.
The man who had examined him for months.
The man who claimed not to see the bruises.
Thomas looked toward Victor’s recovery room.
“Reeves has access to Victor.”
They ran.
Victor’s room was empty.
Only a bloodstained bandage remained on the bed.
A message had been written across the wall.
The father, the child, and the heir.
Bring Lily before sunrise.
The security chief looked at the clock.
They had forty-five minutes.
Lily took the note.
“They do not want the empire.”
Thomas looked at her.
“What do they want?”
Lily remembered the adoption network.
The forged blood tests.
The stolen children.
The families Serena had infiltrated before.
“They want every record Elena collected.”
“And they think I know where it is.”
Thomas’s face changed.
“Do you?”
Lily looked at the silver pendant around her neck.
Her mother had given it to her when Noah disappeared.
She had worn it for sixteen years.
For the first time, she noticed a tiny Blackwood symbol carved inside the clasp.
She opened the pendant.
A memory chip fell into her palm.
May you like
And Lily finally understood why Serena had hired her.
The evidence had been around Lily’s neck the entire time.
