Chapter 18 - BACK TO ST. AGNES
The abandoned maternity wing smelled exactly the same.
That was the first thing I noticed.
Antiseptic buried beneath dust.
Old vinyl.
Metal.
Memory.
Six years disappeared when I entered.
I could almost hear newborn monitors.
Almost see the nurses' station.
Almost become the woman I had been before everyone convinced me she was gone.
A wire was hidden beneath my shirt.
Federal teams surrounded the building.
Alessandro arrived through a separate entrance.
Against Bellini's advice.
Against everyone's advice.
He came because Luca was inside.
Carlo Vitale came because Daniel was inside too.
Vittorio had taken him from Rebecca an hour earlier.
Three children.
Three families.
One ruined hospital.
Derek called.
“Third floor.”
I climbed.
“Alone.”
“I am.”
That was technically true.
Alessandro was in another corridor.
At the top, the old maternity doors stood open.
Maya sat in a chair beside Derek.
She ran toward me.
Derek grabbed her.
“Stop.”
I stopped.
“Mommy.”
“I’m here.”
Luca lay sleeping in a portable crib.
Daniel sat beside him, terrified.
Warren Bennett stood near the window.
My father.
Biologically.
Nothing about that mattered.
Vittorio sat in a wheelchair.
He looked smaller than the mythology built around him.
Silver hair.
Round glasses.
The grandfather from the airplane.
“You.”
He smiled.
“The nurse.”
“You watched me feed Luca.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“To see whether Alessandro would become attached.”
I frowned.
“To me?”
“To weakness.”
Alessandro's voice came from the doorway.
“My son is not weakness.”
Everyone turned.
He walked inside with empty hands raised.
Vittorio smiled.
“Finally.”
Derek looked furious.
“You said alone.”
I looked at him.
“I don't control him.”
Alessandro almost smiled.
Warren spoke.
“Enough.”
Derek turned.
“No.”
His voice shook.
“Is she your daughter?”
Warren's face changed.
Derek stepped closer.
“Answer me.”
“This is not the time.”
“Six years I slept beside her.”
“Six years.”
“You knew?”
Warren remained silent.
Derek struck him.
Maya screamed.
I moved.
Derek immediately grabbed her again.
“Stay back.”
“Don't touch her.”
His face crumpled.
For one second, he looked like a frightened boy.
Then anger returned.
“You ruined everything.”
I stared.
“I ruined it?”
“You left.”
“You were supposed to stay.”
There it was.
Not love.
Ownership.
“You hurt Maya.”
“I made a mistake.”
“You shoved a three-year-old.”
“She got between us.”
Even Vittorio looked disgusted.
I saw Derek notice.
His face changed.
Everyone judged him now.
The man who survived by controlling narratives had lost control of the room.
Warren stepped forward.
“Give me the child.”
Derek laughed.
“Which one?”
Silence.
“Your daughter?”
He pointed at me.
“Your granddaughter?”
He pointed at Maya.
“Or the baby you've all been trading like stock certificates for six years?”
He pointed at Luca.
Vittorio's voice sharpened.
“Enough.”
Daniel started crying.
Carlo entered behind Alessandro.
“Papa?”
Daniel looked at him, confused.
Carlo froze.
Rebecca had explained nothing yet.
Carlo knelt several feet away.
“You don't know me.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That's okay.”
Carlo's voice broke.
“My sister was your mother.”
Vittorio slammed his hand against his wheelchair.
“Stop this.”
Nobody listened.
Carlo looked at Daniel.
“She wanted you safe.”
“I am not taking you anywhere.”
“I just need you to know she loved you.”
Daniel cried harder.
Vittorio shouted.
“He is my son!”
Daniel flinched.
Carlo stood.
“No.”
“Biologically, perhaps.”
“But you have never been his father.”
Something shifted in the room.
All these men obsessed with blood.
And a frightened six-year-old who wanted Rebecca.
I understood suddenly.
“That's why everything failed.”
Everyone looked at me.
“You all keep confusing possession with love.”
Warren sneered.
“Spare us.”
I looked at him.
“You bought doctors.”
“Records.”
“Children.”
“You bought Derek's loyalty.”
“You bought my silence by building my entire marriage around fear.”
“But the second people stopped being afraid, everything fell apart.”
Vittorio laughed.
“You think this ends because you discovered courage?”
“No.”
I looked toward the ceiling camera.
“It ends because you're all talking.”
Warren's face changed.
He understood.
“The wire.”
Derek stared at me.
“You bitch.”
He moved.
Alessandro stepped forward.
Derek pulled a gun.
Maya screamed.
Everything happened at once.
Warren grabbed Derek's arm.
The weapon fired into the ceiling.
Federal agents stormed both doors.
Alessandro lunged for Luca.
Carlo covered Daniel.
I dropped over Maya.
Derek fought.
Warren shouted.
Vittorio tried to wheel backward.
Agents flooded the room.
Within seconds, Derek was on the floor.
Warren was restrained.
Vittorio screamed in Italian.
I heard none of it clearly.
I held Maya.
She sobbed against my chest.
“I’m here.”
“I’m here.”
“I’m here.”
Across the room, Alessandro lifted Luca.
The baby opened his eyes.
Then began crying.
Alessandro pulled him against his chest.
No bottle.
No panic.
No staff.
Just skin.
Warmth.
A heartbeat.
Luca stopped.
I looked at Alessandro.
He looked back.
Sofia had finally gotten through to him.
Then a paramedic shouted.
“Claire!”
I turned.
Derek was lying motionless.
Blood spread beneath his shoulder where the accidental shot had struck after ricocheting from the ceiling fixture.
His eyes found mine.
“Help me.”
The entire room froze.
The man who destroyed my nursing career.
The man who abused me.
The man who kidnapped my daughter.
Was asking me to save his life.
For one terrible second, I wanted to walk away.
Then I looked at Maya.
I looked at the daughter who would remember what I did next.
I dropped beside Derek.
“Get me pressure dressings.”
His eyes widened.
“You're helping me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I pressed down on the wound.
“Because I decide who I am.”
Not him.
Not Warren.
Not the hospital.
Not fear.
Me.
Derek survived.
And when agents placed him under guard in the ambulance, he stared at me through the open doors.
May you like
For the first time since I had known him, he held absolutely no power over me.
None.
