Chapter 1 - THE BABY IN HIS ARMS
“Give me my daughter.”
My voice came out raw and breathless as I lunged across the hospital bed.
Dominic turned his body away from me and lifted Sophia higher against his chest. My forearm struck the raised bed rail, sending a bolt of pain through the fresh stitches in my abdomen.
I gasped and collapsed against the pillows.
Sophia began to cry.
She had been alive for forty-three minutes.
I could still feel the warmth of her cheek against mine, still remember the way her tiny fingers had curled around the edge of my hospital gown.
Now my husband stood six feet away, holding her as if I were the danger.
Beside him, his mother, Eleanor, wore a pale gray suit and the satisfied expression of a woman watching a plan finally succeed.
Dominic’s mistress stood on his other side.
Chloe Mercer was dressed in a deep red gown that belonged at a Manhattan benefit dinner, not in a maternity room. One hand rested on her hip. Her dark hair fell perfectly over one shoulder.
She looked rested, polished and victorious.
I looked like a woman who had just survived nineteen hours of labor.
Eleanor stepped between my outstretched hand and the baby.
“You’ve done your job,” she said.
The words landed harder than the bed rail.
I stared at her. “What did you say?”
Dominic shifted Sophia against his chest. He did it carefully, almost tenderly, which made the cruelty worse.
“You heard her.”
“Bring her back to me.”
Chloe’s mouth curved into a small smile.
“She needs to get used to my voice.”
My heart seemed to stop.
The nurse near the doorway moved forward. Her badge read MAYA RIVERA.
“Mr. Caldwell, the baby needs skin-to-skin contact with her mother.”
Chloe turned sharply. “I am her mother.”
“No,” I whispered. “You are not.”
Dominic pulled a thick folder from beneath his suit jacket and dropped it onto the blanket covering my legs.
“You signed the contract.”
The folder landed with enough force to shake the bed.
I looked from the papers to his face.
“What contract?”
“The surrogacy agreement,” Eleanor said. “The one stating that Dominic and Chloe are Sophia’s legal parents.”
A cold numbness spread through me.
“I carried my own child.”
“You carried an embryo created for this family,” Dominic replied. “There’s a difference.”
I knew Sophia was mine. I had attended every appointment. I had seen my name on every medical record.
Dominic had been there when the doctor confirmed the pregnancy.
He had cried.
At least, I had thought he had.
“You’re lying.”
Dominic’s expression did not change.
“You signed every document I gave you.”
The nurse stepped closer. “Sir, unless the hospital has verified legal documentation, you cannot remove the newborn from this room.”
Dominic glanced at her as though she were a waiter interrupting dinner.
“Leave.”
“I’m responsible for both patients.”
“My family donated an entire surgical wing to this hospital.”
“And she just delivered a baby,” Maya replied. “I’m not leaving.”
That was the first person in the room who stood beside me.
Eleanor leaned down, bringing her face close to mine.
“You should be grateful, Vivienne. My son gave you three comfortable years. A beautiful apartment. Clothes you could never have afforded. A life far above where you came from.”
She patted my shoulder.
“No husband. No baby. No money. That’s what happens when a woman forgets her place.”
My eyes burned, but I refused to cry in front of her.
Dominic nodded toward the folder.
“You were paid two hundred thousand dollars. When you’re discharged, security will escort you out. The apartment lease is canceled, and your cards have been shut off.”
He smiled.
“You never honestly believed I’d spend my life with someone like you.”
Sophia cried harder.
Every instinct in my body screamed at me to get out of the bed and take her.
But I could barely sit upright.
So I opened the folder.
The signature looked like mine.
The date did not.
According to the contract, I had signed it on October 14 in Las Vegas.
On October 14, I had been in Boston at a charity luncheon.
More importantly, I had not traveled to Nevada in six years.
The contract claimed that two hundred thousand dollars had been deposited into an account at Hudson Atlantic Bank.
I had never opened an account there.
I closed the folder.
Dominic mistook my silence for surrender.
“When the nurse brings the discharge paperwork, don’t make a scene.”
I looked at him, then at Eleanor.
For the first time, I noticed something beneath their confidence.
They were watching me too carefully.
Waiting to see whether I understood what they had done.
I reached toward the bedside telephone.
Dominic slapped my hand away.
The sharp crack echoed through the room.
Maya immediately stepped between us.
“Do not touch her again.”
Dominic’s face tightened. “Who are you calling?”
I picked up the receiver with my shaking hand.
“My father.”
He laughed.
During our marriage, I had told Dominic that my father and I were estranged. I had told him we had not spoken since my wedding.
He had never asked why.
He had only seemed relieved.
I turned to Maya.
“My emergency contact should still be in the hospital system. Tell him Vivienne Sterling needs him.”
Maya froze.
Her eyes moved from my face to the name on my wristband.
“Sterling?”
Eleanor’s smile disappeared.
May you like
I met her stare.
“Yes,” I said. “That Sterling.”
