PART 2
Twenty minutes later, Dominic was still celebrating.
He had posted a photograph of himself and Chloe announcing “our miracle.” They had no idea the nurse had activated the hospital’s infant-abduction protocol the moment Dominic crossed the threshold with my daughter.
The maternity floor locked automatically. Dominic discovered that when two security officers blocked the elevator.
“This is outrageous,” he shouted. “I’m the father.”
“Then you won’t mind waiting for verification,” one officer replied.
Chloe stormed back into my room. “Fix this.”
“You forged a surrogacy contract,” I said.
She smiled. “Prove it.”
“I intend to.”
Eleanor stepped closer. “Your father cannot save you. Dominic has lawyers.”
The doors opened behind her.
My father entered wearing a navy overcoat and the expression that had terrified corporate boards and prosecutors for thirty years. Arthur Sterling had built Sterling Health from one clinic into the state’s largest private hospital network. Before that, he had been a federal prosecutor.
Dominic’s face drained. He knew the name. Everyone did.
Father crossed the room, took my hand, and saw the bruising where Dominic had struck it.
“Where is my granddaughter?” he asked.
No one answered.
A hospital administrator followed him with counsel, security, and two detectives. The nurse handed them the forged contract.
Father read one page. “This notary commission expired four years ago.”
Dominic sneered. “Vivienne never told me she was your daughter.”
“She used her mother’s surname because she wanted a life without my money,” Father said. “You married her because you thought she had none.”
Chloe lifted her chin. “The baby is biologically ours.”
That was their strongest lie, and I had been waiting for it.
During my seventh month, Dominic had transferred my care to a fertility specialist he chose. I noticed altered insurance codes and a suspicious authorization requesting access to stored genetic samples. Quietly, I ordered independent testing through another laboratory.
I looked at the detectives. “My attorney has the results. Sophia is mine and Dominic’s. Chloe has no biological connection to her.”
Chloe’s confidence cracked. For once, she saw Dominic not as a rescuer, but as the man who set the trap himself.
Father placed his phone on speaker. My attorney, Fiona Vance, spoke clearly. “Bank records show Mr. Vance transferred two hundred thousand dollars from a Sterling vendor account into a shell company controlled by his mother, then listed it as payment to Vivienne.”
Eleanor whispered, “That account was private.”
Fiona continued. “The vendor account contains another 1.8 million dollars in fraudulent invoices approved by Dominic.”
Dominic stared at me. “You investigated me?”
“No,” I said. “I protected my child. You exposed everything else yourself.”
A detective approached him. “Mr. Vance, step away from the nursery door.”
He backed up. “This is a family matter.”
“Attempted infant abduction, forgery, fraud, and conspiracy are not family matters.”
For the first time, Dominic looked afraid. Then Sophia cried from the corridor.