CHAPTER 12 — THE STOLEN CHILD
Emily’s scream filled the lodge.
Daniel drove her back to the hospital while police searched every road, station, and private airfield.
Security footage showed Lydia wearing a nurse’s coat and carrying Hope inside a medical transport carrier.
She had left through the laundry entrance six minutes before the alarm.
The hospital locked down the building.
Federal agents traced the stolen badge.
Lydia had taken it from the false nurse arrested earlier.
She had planned the kidnapping before the airfield escape.
Emily called Preston from the back seat of Daniel’s car.
He answered from a detention center interview room.
“Where is my daughter?”
Preston remained silent.
“Lydia took her.”
“She’s my daughter too.”
“You were planning to use her as a key to my trust.”
Preston’s breathing changed.
“Listen to me. My mother doesn’t care about the baby. She cares about leverage.”
“Where would she go?”
“There’s an old maternity clinic near the coast. Vale Industries purchased it under a shell company.”
Daniel immediately sent the address to police.
“Why should I trust you?” Emily asked.
“Because Lydia abandoned me after the helicopter crash. She left me in the river.”
The clinic had been closed for twelve years.
Police found fresh tire tracks outside.
Emily arrived moments after the tactical team entered.
The building was empty.
A portable incubator stood in the center of an examination room.
Hope was not inside.
On the mattress lay a phone.
It rang.
Emily answered.
Lydia’s voice came through.
“Bring the original will and the ledger to the old North Harbor warehouse.”
“Let me hear my baby.”
A soft cry sounded in the background.
Emily closed her eyes.
“I’m coming.”
Daniel shook his head.
“It’s a trap.”
“Of course it is.”
Police created a duplicate ledger and copied the will.
Emily wore a tracking device beneath her coat.
At North Harbor, Lydia waited beside a black SUV.
Hope’s carrier rested on the hood.
Emily could see her daughter moving inside.
“Put the documents down,” Lydia ordered.
Emily placed the case on the pavement.
“Give me my baby.”
Lydia opened the case and examined the papers.
Then she laughed.
“These are copies.”
Police lights exploded around the warehouse.
Lydia grabbed the carrier and ran inside.
Emily followed before anyone could stop her.
The warehouse was filled with old medical equipment.
Lydia climbed a metal staircase toward the roof.
Hope began crying louder.
“Stop!” Emily shouted.
Lydia reached the roof and stood near the edge.
A helicopter approached over the water.
She had arranged another escape.
Emily stepped onto the roof alone.
“Give her to me.”
Lydia looked at the baby.
“You were never supposed to inherit anything. Arthur promised my husband a partnership decades ago. Then he took the company and left us with nothing.”
“So you built your life around revenge.”
“I built Preston’s life around justice.”
“You taught him to destroy everyone who trusted him.”
The helicopter hovered closer.
Lydia moved toward it.
Then the pilot turned on the landing light.
It illuminated his face.
Caleb Miller was sitting in the pilot’s seat.
The helicopter belonged to federal agents.
Lydia had been deceived.
May you like
She raised Hope’s carrier over the edge of the roof.
“If I can’t leave,” she said, “no one leaves with what belongs to me.”
