Chapter 8 - THE GIRL IN THE SNOW
Claire slapped Daniel.
The sound echoed through the maternity wing.
Daniel did not defend himself.
He simply stood there.
Rebecca had never seen her mother hit anyone.
Claire had never imagined doing it.
But eight years of lies had just found a single moment.
“You sold my daughter.”
Daniel whispered.
“I was weak.”
“You were her father.”
“Legally.”
Claire’s face twisted.
“Don’t you dare.”
Daniel immediately regretted it.
Rebecca began backing away.
Claire reached for her.
“Rebecca.”
But Rebecca ran.
“Rebecca!”
She disappeared through the broken treatment-room doorway.
Laura rushed after her.
Claire tried to move her wheelchair, but the bassinet was still locked.
Marcus grabbed the handles.
“I’ll help.”
Claire hesitated.
Then nodded.
They moved down the corridor.
Outside the maternity wing, a side door had blown open.
Snow swirled across the floor.
Laura stood at the entrance.
“She went outside.”
Claire’s blood turned cold.
“Rebecca!”
Marcus ran into the storm.
Daniel followed.
Claire shouted after them.
The snow was waist-deep in places.
Visibility was barely twenty feet.
Rebecca had no coat.
Laura grabbed a blanket.
“I’m going.”
Claire caught her wrist.
“Bring my daughter back.”
Laura looked at her.
For the first time, Claire realized how painful those words must be.
Laura nodded.
“I will.”
She disappeared into the storm.
Margaret remained inside.
Claire looked at her.
“If something happens to Rebecca, I will spend the rest of my life destroying everything with the Bennett name on it.”
Margaret studied her.
“You are more like Charles than you realize.”
“No.”
Claire’s voice was steady.
“I know the difference between protecting a child and owning one.”
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Ethan started crying.
Claire lifted him from the bassinet.
He settled against her.
Whatever science said, her body knew him.
Her voice knew him.
His heartbeat had been beneath hers for nine months.
Nothing could erase that.
Then Marcus emerged from the storm carrying Rebecca.
Claire cried out.
Rebecca’s eyes were closed.
Her lips were pale.
Daniel followed behind them.
“She fell near the generator house.”
Marcus placed Rebecca on a treatment bed.
Natalie checked her pulse.
“She’s breathing.”
Claire grabbed her hand.
“Rebecca.”
Her daughter’s eyelids fluttered.
“Mom?”
“I’m here.”
Rebecca started crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
Claire kissed her forehead.
“Never apologize for being hurt.”
Rebecca looked toward Laura.
“You’re really my biological mom?”
Laura nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
Rebecca looked at Claire.
“And Sophie is your biological daughter?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca seemed to think about it.
Then she whispered.
“Does that mean we have to trade back?”
Claire’s heart broke.
“No.”
Laura answered at the same time.
“Never.”
Rebecca looked between them.
Laura knelt beside the bed.
“You don’t owe me anything.”
“You don’t have to call me Mom.”
“You don’t have to live with me.”
“You don’t even have to like me.”
Rebecca listened.
Laura continued.
“I only want you safe.”
Rebecca slowly reached toward her.
Laura froze.
Rebecca took her hand.
Then Claire’s phone buzzed.
An incoming video call.
Unknown number.
Claire answered.
A little girl appeared on the screen.
Dark hair.
Brown eyes.
A faint surgical scar visible above her shirt collar.
Claire forgot how to breathe.
The child looked frightened.
“Is this Claire Bennett?”
Claire’s voice failed.
Laura stood abruptly.
“Sophie?”
The girl looked toward someone offscreen.
Then back.
“A man came to our house.”
Laura grabbed the phone.
“Where are you?”
“I’m in the basement.”
“Lock the door.”
“I did.”
Sophie’s voice trembled.
“He keeps saying he’s taking me back to the hospital.”
Laura went white.
Claire asked.
“Who is he?”
Sophie turned the phone slightly.
A security camera feed appeared on a basement monitor.
A man stood upstairs.
Claire recognized him immediately.
Dr. Samuel Pierce.
The fertility specialist who had overseen both of Claire’s pregnancies.
Sophie whispered.
May you like
“He said Ethan was only the beginning.”
Then someone kicked the basement door.
