Chapter 7 - A Husband at the Wrong Door
The photograph of Mara’s newborn daughter disappeared from Dominic’s screen.
The message beneath it remained.
SHE ALREADY KNOWS HER MOTHER IS COMING.
Dominic stared at the words.
Then he looked at Mara.
She was standing beside the abandoned bassinet, one hand pressed against her stomach, the other gripping the old hospital bracelet.
“Who sent it?”
“I don't know.”
“Call them.”
“I already tried.”
“And?”
“Disconnected.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
Dr. Cole stood near the doorway, watching him.
“You need to leave.”
Dominic turned.
“Not without my daughter.”
“You don't understand what you're walking into.”
“Then explain it.”
Cole shook his head.
“I've spent twenty-nine years trying to keep this secret buried.”
“And now?”
“Now someone else wants it exposed.”
Mara stepped closer.
“Who?”
Cole looked at her.
“The same person who has been watching you.”
Mara's voice became quiet.
“Why me?”
Cole hesitated.
“Because you're the missing piece.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Missing piece of what?”
Cole looked toward the photograph of the three babies.
“Your father's greatest lie.”
Before Dominic could answer, a nurse ran into the room.
“Mr. Vascari.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
“Your daughter is gone.”
Mara stopped breathing.
“What?”
The nurse's face was white.
“She was in the neonatal ward.”
“Where is she now?”
“We don't know.”
Dominic moved immediately.
“Take me there.”
Mara followed.
The nurse tried to stop her.
“You need to stay here.”
“She is my daughter.”
“Mara—”
“Take me to her.”
The nurse looked at Dominic.
He nodded.
“She's coming.”
They rushed through the corridor.
The emergency lights were still glowing.
The hospital seemed strangely empty.
Too empty.
Dominic noticed several doors standing open.
“Where is the staff?”
The nurse swallowed.
“Most of them were sent to the east wing when the alarms started.”
“Who authorized that?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic stopped.
“Who authorized moving the security team?”
The nurse froze.
“I don't know.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Then someone did.”
They reached the neonatal ward.
The door was open.
Inside, monitors blinked.
Empty bassinets lined the walls.
One incubator stood in the center.
Its blanket had been pulled aside.
The crib was empty.
Mara let out a broken sound.
“No.”
She rushed forward.
Dominic caught her.
“Mara.”
“My baby.”
“We'll find her.”
“You don't know that.”
“I will.”
“She was here.”
“I know.”
Mara stared at the empty crib.
There was a small pink blanket on the floor.
She picked it up.
It smelled like her daughter.
Her knees nearly gave out.
Dominic held her.
Then he noticed something beneath the incubator.
A white envelope.
He picked it up.
No name.
No stamp.
Only one word.
MARA.
He opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Mara as a child.
She was standing beside a woman.
Her mother.
But there was someone else in the photograph.
A young girl.
Nearly the same age as Mara.
Same dark eyes.
Same narrow face.
Same small scar above the eyebrow.
Mara stared.
“I don't know her.”
Cole's face changed.
“Yes, you do.”
Mara looked at him.
“Who is she?”
Cole stepped closer.
“Your sister.”
Mara shook her head.
“I don't have a sister.”
“You were told that.”
“By who?”
“Your father.”
Dominic looked at the photograph.
“Is she one of the three children?”
Cole nodded.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Cole took a slow breath.
“She was born six years before you.”
Mara stared.
“My mother had another child?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
Cole didn't answer.
Dominic stepped toward him.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You seem to know a lot of things you don't know.”
Cole looked at him.
“Because every time I learned the truth, someone disappeared.”
Dominic's eyes hardened.
“Did my father kill them?”
Cole's silence answered.
Mara looked down at the photograph again.
The girl was smiling.
Her hand was holding Mara's.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
SHE REMEMBERED YOU.
Mara's fingers trembled.
“I don't remember her.”
“You were six months old,” Cole said.
“Then how could she remember me?”
Cole looked at her.
“Because she was the one who saved you.”
Mara stared.
“From what?”
“The fire.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“What fire?”
Cole looked toward the ceiling.
“The fire that was reported as an accident.”
Mara's eyes widened.
“The hospital fire.”
“Yes.”
“You said it happened when I was born.”
“It did.”
“But I was six months old.”
Cole shook his head.
“No.”
Mara froze.
“What?”
“The records were altered.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Explain.”
Cole walked to the old photograph.
“Your father needed everyone to believe you were born twenty-nine years ago.”
Mara whispered,
“I was.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“That's impossible.”
“Your birth certificate is false.”
Dominic looked at Mara.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-nine.”
“According to who?”
Mara stared at him.
“According to my records.”
Cole said quietly,
“Your records were created six months after your actual birth.”
The room fell silent.
Mara couldn't speak.
Dominic's expression changed.
“What is her real birth date?”
Cole hesitated.
“Six months earlier.”
Mara looked at the photograph.
The little girl beside her.
The woman holding them.
Then the hospital bracelet.
Everything seemed to shift.
Her entire life had been built on paper.
One false date.
One false name.
One false family history.
She turned toward Dominic.
“Why would your father do this?”
Cole looked at him.
“Because he wanted everyone to believe the third child never existed.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“And Mara was the third child.”
“Yes.”
“Then why hide her?”
“Because she wasn't just your father's problem.”
“What does that mean?”
Cole looked at Mara.
“Her biological father was alive.”
Dominic froze.
Mara whispered,
“Who?”
Cole looked at Dominic.
“He was your father's enemy.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Name him.”
“I can't.”
“Name him.”
“I won't.”
Dominic grabbed his collar.
“Then I'll make you.”
Mara stepped between them.
“Stop.”
Dominic released him.
Cole straightened his coat.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“No.”
Cole looked at Mara.
“You understand the wrong part.”
Mara stared at him.
“What don't I understand?”
Cole's eyes filled with regret.
“Your mother didn't run away from your father.”
Mara's face went pale.
“She was taken.”
“By whom?”
“By the man who wanted you.”
Dominic's voice dropped.
“Who?”
Cole looked toward the hallway.
Then whispered,
“Your uncle.”
Dominic went completely still.
“My father had a brother?”
“Yes.”
“I was told he died.”
“He did.”
“Then who took her?”
Cole didn't answer.
A loud crash came from the corridor.
Everyone turned.
The neonatal ward door slammed shut.
Dominic immediately reached for the handle.
Locked.
He pulled harder.
Nothing.
Mara rushed toward him.
“Open it!”
“I am trying.”
Cole stepped backward.
“Don't.”
Dominic turned.
“Why?”
“Because that's not a lock.”
Dominic stared at him.
“What?”
“It's an old security seal.”
“How do I open it?”
“You don't.”
A sound came from the other side.
A baby's cry.
Mara pressed both hands against the glass.
“Baby!”
The crying grew louder.
Dominic looked through the narrow window.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
Then the lights inside the neonatal ward came on.
The incubators were empty.
Except for one.
The center incubator.
A tiny blanket moved.
Mara's breath caught.
“She's there.”
Dominic looked.
The blanket moved again.
He slammed his shoulder into the door.
Once.
Twice.
The seal held.
Cole shouted,
“Stop!”
Dominic turned.
“Get away from the door.”
“Listen to me!”
“No.”
“You'll trigger the old system.”
“What system?”
Cole pointed toward the ceiling.
“Gas.”
Dominic stopped.
Mara backed away.
“What?”
“The east wing was built with an emergency isolation system.”
Cole looked terrified.
“If the seal is active, the room can be flooded.”
Dominic stared at the door.
“How long?”
“Less than two minutes.”
Mara's face went white.
“My daughter is inside.”
“I know.”
“Then open it.”
“I can't.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Find a way.”
Cole ran toward the control panel.
Dominic followed.
Mara stayed at the glass.
She could see the tiny shape inside the incubator.
Her baby.
Alive.
Crying.
Then something moved behind the incubator.
A shadow.
Mara froze.
“Dominic.”
He turned.
“There is someone inside.”
Dominic rushed toward the glass.
The shadow moved again.
A woman stepped into view.
Red dress.
Cream handbag.
Celeste.
Mara's heart stopped.
Celeste lifted the baby from the incubator.
Dominic slammed his fist against the glass.
“Celeste!”
She looked directly at him.
She smiled.
Then she placed the baby against her shoulder.
Mara began pounding on the glass.
“Give me my daughter!”
Celeste ignored her.
Instead, she reached into her handbag.
She pulled out a small black device.
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“What is that?”
Celeste pressed a button.
The lights inside the ward turned red.
A voice came over the old intercom.
“Emergency isolation sequence initiated.”
Cole stared at the control panel.
“No.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
Cole's face had gone white.
“The gas system.”
Mara screamed,
“Open the door!”
Cole began typing desperately.
“I can't override it.”
Dominic grabbed him.
“You have thirty seconds.”
“I know!”
“Then move!”
Cole looked at the screen.
His hands stopped.
Dominic saw his expression.
“What?”
Cole whispered,
“There's no gas.”
Dominic stared.
“What?”
“The system says the room isn't being sealed.”
“Then what is it doing?”
Cole pointed to the monitor.
A second line had appeared.
TRANSFER PROTOCOL ACTIVE.
Mara stared through the glass.
The woman holding her baby stepped backward.
A hidden door opened behind Celeste.
Darkness waited beyond it.
Celeste looked at Mara one last time.
Then she whispered something Dominic couldn't hear.
The baby cried.
Celeste disappeared through the hidden doorway.
Mara screamed.
Dominic turned to Cole.
“Where does that door lead?”
Cole didn't answer.
“Where?”
Cole's eyes fixed on the screen.
“It leads underground.”
“Where underground?”
The doctor swallowed.
“To the old Vascari estate.”
Dominic's phone vibrated.
One message.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Celeste stood beside the old mansion.
She was holding the baby.
Behind her stood an older man.
Dominic stared at the face.
His blood ran cold.
Because the man was wearing his father's watch.
May you like
And beneath the photograph were six words:
COME ALONE, OR SHE DIES BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
