Chapter 3 - The Girl Who Was Never Supposed To Exist
The NICU door opened slowly.
Nobody moved.
Not the nurses.
Not the security officer.
Not even Sebastian.
Because standing on the other side was a woman none of us recognized.
She looked exhausted.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Like someone who had spent years carrying something too heavy to put down.
Her dark hair was pulled back.
Her clothes were simple.
No jewelry.
No expensive designer brands.
Nothing that matched the world Sebastian Moretti came from.
But the moment Sebastian saw her...
Everything changed.
"Maria."
The woman's eyes filled with tears.
"You remember me."
Sebastian stared at her.
I had never seen him look at anyone that way.
Not like an enemy.
Not like a stranger.
Like someone who had returned from the dead.
The security officer stepped forward.
"Ma'am, you can't just enter this area."
Sebastian raised his hand.
"Stop."
The officer froze.
Everyone listened.
Because when Sebastian Moretti spoke, people listened.
But this time, his voice wasn't powerful.
It was broken.
"How did you find me?"
The woman looked at the baby in his arms.
Then back at him.
"I didn't find you."
Her voice trembled.
"He found you."
Sebastian's expression hardened.
"Who?"
The woman took a step closer.
"Lucia."
The name changed the entire room.
I looked at Sebastian.
He looked like someone had punched the air out of him.
"Where is she?"
Maria looked down.
And that was when I realized.
She wasn't here to deliver good news.
She was here because something had gone terribly wrong.
"Sebastian..."
He stepped forward.
"Where is she?"
His voice became sharper.
The old Sebastian appeared.
The man from the news.
The man people feared.
But Maria didn't move.
Because she knew something about him that nobody else did.
She knew the man underneath.
"She's not the same little girl you remember."
Sebastian's jaw tightened.
"I don't care."
"You should."
"No."
He looked at her.
"I spent seventeen years believing she was dead."
His voice dropped.
"I buried a child who wasn't mine because someone told me she was gone."
The room became silent.
Maria wiped a tear from her cheek.
"Because someone wanted you to believe that."
I felt my heart race.
Someone.
Not an accident.
Not a tragedy.
Someone.
Sebastian looked at the newborn in his arms.
Then at Maria.
"Tell me everything."
Maria looked toward the baby.
"Not here."
"Why?"
"Because they already know you're here."
A cold silence followed.
I glanced around.
"Who?"
Maria looked at me.
For a moment, I thought she wouldn't answer.
Then she said:
"The people who tried to erase Lucia."
I had seen Sebastian Moretti angry before.
Not personally.
But everyone had.
The stories were everywhere.
A businessman refusing to surrender control.
A powerful figure destroying anyone who threatened his empire.
A man who never showed weakness.
But what I saw that night was different.
This wasn't anger.
This was a father searching for a child he thought he lost.
Even though Lucia wasn't his daughter.
Not by blood.
Maybe not even by law.
But somehow...
She had become his.
Sebastian handed Baby Boy Miller carefully back to me.
His hands lingered for a second.
Like he didn't want to let go.
Then he stood.
The transformation was immediate.
The gentle man holding a premature baby disappeared.
The dangerous man returned.
"Maria."
She looked at him.
"Where is Lucia?"
"I don't know."
His expression darkened.
"You came here saying she was alive."
"Because she is."
"Then where is she?"
Maria looked afraid.
"Running."
"From who?"
She didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
Because Sebastian already knew.
"How long?"
Maria looked confused.
"What?"
"How long has she been running?"
A pause.
"Three months."
Sebastian closed his eyes.
Three months.
A child he thought was gone.
A child he failed to find.
A child who had been alive all along.
And he had been sitting in his office.
Believing a lie.
"Why didn't you come sooner?"
Maria looked away.
"Because I was afraid."
"Of me?"
"No."
Her voice became softer.
"Of what would happen if they knew I told you."
I watched Sebastian carefully.
"What happened seventeen years ago?"
Neither of them answered.
That silence told me more than words could.
There was a story.
A terrible one.
And Sebastian had spent years trying to forget it.
Maria finally spoke.
"Lucia was born at Saint Catherine's Hospital."
Sebastian froze.
I noticed immediately.
That name meant something.
"You remember."
Maria continued.
"Her mother was dying."
Sebastian looked down.
"Elena."
The name came out quietly.
I had never heard him say another woman's name with that much pain.
"Elena asked you for one thing."
Maria looked at him.
"She asked you to protect Lucia."
Sebastian didn't deny it.
"I promised."
"And you did."
Maria swallowed.
"Until the night someone took her."
My heart stopped.
"Someone took a newborn?"
Maria nodded.
"Lucia disappeared from the hospital."
The room felt colder.
"How?"
Maria looked at Sebastian.
"Because someone inside the hospital helped them."
Sebastian's eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
Maria didn't answer.
Instead, she reached into her bag.
She pulled out an old photograph.
The edges were worn.
She handed it to him.
Sebastian looked down.
I saw his face change.
It was a photograph of a baby.
A newborn.
Tiny.
Fragile.
Beside the baby was a hospital bracelet.
The same kind as the one hidden under Sebastian's watch.
On the back of the photo was handwriting.
One sentence.
I am sorry I couldn't save her.
Sebastian's fingers tightened around the picture.
"Where did you get this?"
Maria looked at him.
"Lucia gave it to me."
"Lucia?"
"Before she disappeared again."
The words made him look up.
"Again?"
Maria nodded slowly.
"She found out the truth."
"What truth?"
Maria hesitated.
Then whispered:
"That the people who took her as a baby never stopped watching her."
The next hour felt unreal.
Sebastian arranged security around the hospital.
But not his usual security.
Not the kind people associated with him.
These were quiet.
Professional.
Invisible.
He stayed close to the NICU.
Close to Baby Boy Miller.
Close to the one thing that had brought him back to a promise he thought was already broken.
I continued caring for the baby.
But my mind kept returning to Lucia.
A baby stolen seventeen years ago.
A man who spent years searching for a child who wasn't his.
And a secret that someone was willing to kill to protect.
Around 3 a.m., Sebastian finally sat down.
For the first time all night, he looked tired.
"You should go home."
I looked at him.
"You're telling me that?"
A faint smile appeared.
The first one I had seen.
"You have a point."
I looked at the baby.
"Why him?"
Sebastian knew what I meant.
Why this baby?
Why now?
His eyes moved to the incubator.
"Because I know what it feels like."
"What?"
"To be small."
He looked away.
"To have nobody come."
His voice became quieter.
"Lucia was alone."
A pause.
"I promised she would never feel that way again."
Before I could respond, every monitor in the NICU suddenly flickered.
The lights went out.
The emergency system activated.
Red lights flashed across the room.
Nurses immediately moved toward the patients.
"What happened?"
The security officer touched his radio.
"Power issue?"
Then his face changed.
Because he wasn't hearing a power report.
He was hearing something else.
He turned toward Sebastian.
"Mr. Moretti..."
Sebastian stood.
"What?"
The officer lowered the radio.
"Someone accessed the restricted floor."
Sebastian's expression changed.
"Which floor?"
The officer swallowed.
"The NICU archive room."
I felt my stomach drop.
"Why would someone go there?"
Nobody answered.
Because everyone already knew.
The archive room contained old patient records.
Including records from seventeen years ago.
Sebastian walked toward the hallway.
"Stay here."
I grabbed his arm.
"Sebastian."
He stopped.
It was the first time I touched him.
The first time I forgot who he was.
"Don't go alone."
He looked at me.
Then slowly nodded.
We walked toward the archive room.
The hallway was dark.
The emergency lights flickered.
Every step echoed.
When we reached the door...
It was already open.
Sebastian stopped.
Because on the floor inside was an old hospital file.
Covered in dust.
With one name written across the front.
LUCCIA MORETTI.
May you like
And beneath it...
A photograph of a teenage girl who looked exactly like the baby Sebastian had spent seventeen years searching for.
