Chapter 2 - The Hospital Bracelet Matched Sophia’s Records, but Someone Had Changed the Identity of My Baby Hours Before I Held HimLorenzo did not call the police.
He called a private security team.
Then he called a lawyer.
Then he called the only doctor at the mansion he trusted enough to speak to without shaking.
Dr. Elena Marquez arrived within fifteen minutes.
She examined Leo.
His glucose had improved.
His oxygen level had improved.
His heart rate was stable.
For the first time since birth, his body seemed to be doing something it had never done before.
Accepting food.
Dr. Marquez stared at me.
"How?"
I couldn't answer.
Lorenzo did.
"She nursed him."
The doctor blinked.
"That isn't possible."
"It just happened."
Dr. Marquez looked at the chart.
"He's been rejecting all milk."
"I know."
She looked at me again.
"Have you recently given birth?"
I nodded.
"Three weeks ago."
Her expression softened.
"I'm sorry."
I looked away.
"I don't want sympathy."
She nodded.
Then she examined the bracelet.
"Where did this come from?"
"The hospital."
"Which hospital?"
I gave her the name.
She went silent.
"Lorenzo."
He looked up.
"That hospital handled Sophia's emergency delivery."
My skin prickled.
"What are you saying?"
Dr. Marquez took the bracelet.
The identifying number was linked to a neonatal record.
But something was wrong.
The record belonged to a baby listed under Sophia Rossi.
Male.
Born two months earlier.
Yet the bracelet had been issued three weeks ago.
My baby was born three weeks ago.
Leo was born two months ago.
The dates didn't match.
I stared.
"That's impossible."
Dr. Marquez shook her head.
"It's not."
She pulled up another file.
The bracelet had been reprinted.
Someone had altered the original record.
I felt sick.
"Why?"
Lorenzo answered.
"Because someone wanted two babies to disappear into one file."
Silence filled the room.
I stared at Leo.
"Then what happened to my son?"
Lorenzo didn't answer.
Dr. Marquez did.
"Possibly nothing."
I looked at her.
"How can that be?"
"If the death certificate was connected to an altered identification number, your baby may have been transferred under another identity."
My hands began shaking.
"I held a body."
"You held a baby."
"I know."
"Do you know whether anyone verified the identification?"
I remembered.
The hospital had been chaotic.
My delivery had been complicated.
My son had been taken away almost immediately.
When the nurse returned, she had told me he hadn't survived.
I had been sedated.
I had barely been conscious.
I had never seen the paperwork.
I had never seen the face clearly.
I had only been shown a blanket.
I had believed them.
Because grief makes you trust the people wearing white coats.
Lorenzo looked at me.
"You were at the same hospital as Sophia."
I nodded.
"Exactly three weeks after the bombing."
He went still.
"That means someone had access."
I whispered:
"Someone took my baby."
He closed his eyes.
"Maybe."
Then the nursery door opened.
A security officer handed Lorenzo an envelope.
"Boss."
He opened it.
Inside was a photocopy.
My medical record.
The original.
My son's birth.
His weight.
His time of birth.
And one handwritten notation:
TRANSFERRED TO SPECIAL CARE — R-17.
I stared.
"What does R-17 mean?"
Dr. Marquez looked pale.
"Research wing."
"There was no research wing."
"Not officially."
Lorenzo's face hardened.
"Call the hospital."
"Already did."
"And?"
"They say the wing doesn't exist."
"Of course."
He looked at me.
"You are not going back there alone."
I shook my head.
"I want my son."
"I know."
"If he's alive—"
"We'll find him."
The promise sounded more like a vow than comfort.
He took my wrist gently.
"From this moment on, nobody touches you without my permission."
I looked at him.
"That sounds threatening."
"It isn't."
"It sounds like it."
He almost smiled.
"I'm trying to keep you alive."
I looked at Leo.
The little boy sleeping peacefully against my blanket.
"Then keep him alive too."
"I will."
That night, security found a second problem.
The mansion's nursery cameras had been disabled for exactly nine minutes.
The timestamp matched the time Leo's original records were altered.
Someone had entered the nursery.
Someone had changed a file.
And someone had known a maid would eventually discover that Leo could feed from her.
I asked:
"How could they know?"
Lorenzo looked at me.
"They were watching you."
My stomach dropped.
"Since when?"
"Since before you arrived."
"Why me?"
He didn't know.
Then one of the guards brought another file.
My employment application.
Except I had never submitted it.
The address was wrong.
The reference numbers were fake.
Someone had hired me specifically.
Lorenzo stared at the paperwork.
"They brought you here."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
May you like
He turned toward Leo.
"Maybe because they knew you'd feed him."
Related Stories
