CHAPTER 6 — The Price of Survival
CHAPTER 6 — The Price of Survival
My heart stopped.
"No..."
The word escaped as little more than a breath.
The security footage filled the tablet screen.
The woman wore blue scrubs, a surgical mask, and an identification badge clipped neatly to her pocket. To anyone walking past, she looked like every other nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Except she wasn't checking monitors.
She wasn't adjusting oxygen.
She was staring directly at my son's incubator.
The syringe in her hand caught the fluorescent light.
Victor enlarged the image.
"There."
The badge.
Fake.
The hospital logo was slightly outdated.
Someone had copied an old design.
Daniel was already moving.
"Lock down the hospital."
Victor was speaking into his earpiece before Daniel finished the sentence.
"Code Black. Unauthorized individual in NICU. Seal every exit."
The response came immediately.
"Units moving."
Daniel looked at me.
"Stay here."
I swung my legs over the bed.
"I'm coming."
"You can barely stand."
"That's my son."
Nothing else mattered.
Thirty seconds earlier...
The woman smiled behind her mask.
She looked around the nursery.
Only one nurse remained inside.
The young nurse was updating patient charts.
Perfect.
The fake nurse quietly approached my son's incubator.
She removed the syringe cap.
Clear liquid.
Colorless.
Odorless.
She whispered softly,
"I'm sorry, little one."
Then she reached through the access port.
A voice thundered behind her.
"Don't move!"
She spun around.
Two hospital security officers rushed through the doors.
The woman reacted instantly.
She threw the syringe across the room.
It shattered against the wall.
Then she grabbed the nearest incubator and shoved it sideways.
Monitors crashed to the floor.
Alarms exploded throughout the unit.
Babies began crying.
Doctors ran in from every direction.
The woman sprinted toward the emergency exit.
Daniel, Victor, and I reached the NICU just as chaos erupted.
Nurses hurried infants into secure rooms.
Doctors shouted medical instructions.
Security officers chased someone through the corridor.
"My baby!"
I screamed.
A neonatal nurse pointed toward the corner.
"He's safe!"
I rushed to the incubator.
My son was crying loudly.
The most beautiful sound I had ever heard.
I touched his tiny hand.
"I'm here."
His fingers wrapped around mine.
"I'm here."
Daniel stood beside us.
His face was pale with rage.
Victor approached moments later.
"She escaped."
Daniel turned slowly.
"What?"
"She stole a maintenance cart."
"She reached the parking garage before officers caught up."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"Cameras?"
"We have her face."
Victor handed him a printed photograph.
Daniel stared.
Then his expression changed.
He looked at me.
"Do you recognize her?"
I took the picture.
My blood froze.
"I know her."
"Who is she?"
"Her name is Karen."
The memories came flooding back.
"She worked in my house."
Daniel frowned.
"As what?"
"Our nanny."
Victor blinked.
"You didn't have children before."
"No."
"She was hired six months ago."
"To help after the baby was born."
Daniel slowly lowered the photograph.
"Michael hired her."
I nodded.
"He said she came highly recommended."
Victor's voice became cold.
"She wasn't there to care for your child."
"She was there to make sure there was never a child to inherit anything."
Meanwhile...
Michael's private jet remained on the runway.
He stormed into the cockpit.
"Why aren't we moving?"
The pilot didn't look up.
"We've got a hydraulic problem."
"Fix it."
"We can't."
"It'll take hours."
Michael cursed under his breath.
Richard remained unusually calm.
"This isn't mechanical."
Michael glared at him.
"What?"
Richard looked out the cockpit window.
"Look carefully."
Michael followed his gaze.
Across the runway...
A fuel truck driver casually scratched his ear.
Another mechanic adjusted his cap.
A baggage handler spoke quietly into his sleeve.
Richard smiled faintly.
"They're watching us."
Michael finally understood.
"The Feds."
Richard nodded.
"We've been compromised."
Ashley whispered,
"What do we do?"
Richard looked toward the emergency exit.
"We leave separately."
Michael grabbed his arm.
"You said we'd escape together."
Richard looked at him with complete indifference.
"I said whatever you needed to hear."
Before Michael could react, Richard pulled a small smoke canister from his coat.
He threw it onto the cabin floor.
White smoke filled the aircraft.
Passengers screamed.
Emergency alarms activated.
When visibility returned less than thirty seconds later...
Richard Sullivan was gone.
That evening...
Federal agents searched every property connected to Michael Carter.
His offices.
His homes.
His warehouses.
His bank records.
His computers.
Every hour revealed another layer of fraud.
Hidden accounts.
Shell companies.
Forged contracts.
Bribed officials.
Nathan Brooks personally delivered the first search warrant.
Michael watched helplessly as agents carried away dozens of boxes.
"This is harassment."
Nathan smiled politely.
"No."
"This is only the beginning."
Just after midnight, Daniel entered my hospital room carrying a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was a small silver locket.
I stared.
"My mother's."
Daniel nodded.
"It was recovered from Richard Sullivan's burned safe."
I opened the locket with trembling fingers.
Inside were two tiny photographs.
One showed my mother holding me as a baby.
The other...
showed Daniel.
Behind the photographs was something folded so tightly it almost went unnoticed.
A strip of yellowed paper.
I carefully unfolded it.
It wasn't a note.
It was a birth certificate.
Mine.
But the name listed under Father wasn't blank.
It read:
Daniel Alexander Hayes.
My eyes filled with tears.
"My mother knew."
Daniel nodded sadly.
"She always knew."
"Then why did she never tell me?"
Before Daniel could answer, Victor burst into the room without knocking.
His normally composed face had gone white.
"Sir..."
Daniel stood immediately.
"What happened?"
Victor held up another file.
"We identified who hired Richard Sullivan twenty-eight years ago."
The room fell silent.
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Who?"
Victor answered quietly.
"It wasn't a business rival."
"It wasn't organized crime."
"It was someone from your own family."
Daniel stared at him.
"Who?"
Victor slid an old family photograph onto the bed.
A red circle had been drawn around one smiling face.
Daniel's younger brother.
William Hayes.
Daniel whispered in disbelief,
"My own brother..."
Victor nodded once.
"And according to the financial records we recovered today..."
He looked directly at me.
"William Hayes is still alive."
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"And based on the latest bank transfer..."
"He was the one who paid Michael Carter to kill you."
