Chapter 6 - The Husband Who Was Never Supposed To Know
"Emma..."
My husband's name came from behind Dr. Cole.
Not a stranger.
Not a hidden enemy.
My husband.
The person I had called every night.
The person who had held my hand during every ultrasound.
The person who had kissed my stomach and promised our baby would have the best life.
My mind refused to accept what my eyes were seeing.
Daniel stood in the broken doorway.
His face was pale.
His eyes were fixed on me.
Not with anger.
Not with surprise.
With something worse.
Fear.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Dr. Cole stepped aside.
Like he wanted Daniel to see everything.
Like this was the moment he had been waiting for.
"Emma."
Daniel said my name again.
But this time it sounded different.
Like he was asking for forgiveness before he even spoke.
I held the document tighter.
The signature was still visible.
His name.
His approval.
The transfer authorization.
"No."
The word left my mouth before I could stop it.
Daniel took a step forward.
"Please let me explain."
I laughed.
A quiet, broken laugh.
Explain?
After everything?
After I woke up believing my baby was dead?
After strangers in this hospital knew more about my child than I did?
"You signed this."
My voice shook.
Daniel looked at the paper.
Then at me.
"Emma..."
"You signed the transfer."
The silence answered for him.
Sarah moved closer to me.
Dr. Hart watched Daniel carefully.
Like she was trying to figure out which side he was on.
Daniel lowered his head.
"I didn't know what it meant."
I stared at him.
"You're telling me you signed something involving our baby without knowing what it meant?"
His eyes filled with guilt.
"I was told it was an emergency authorization."
"By who?"
He didn't answer.
That was enough.
My heart broke in a way I didn't think was possible.
Because the worst part wasn't the betrayal.
It was the possibility that he had been involved without knowing.
And I didn't know which one hurt more.
Dr. Cole stepped forward.
"Daniel, this is not the time."
I looked at him.
"Not the time?"
My voice became louder.
"My baby was taken."
The hallway became silent.
Even Dr. Cole stopped pretending.
Daniel looked at him.
"You told me she lost the baby."
My eyes moved between them.
"You knew?"
Daniel closed his eyes.
A tear fell.
"I thought..."
He stopped.
"I thought I was protecting you."
The words hit me harder than anything.
Protecting me.
Everyone kept saying that.
Protecting me.
Hiding things.
Making decisions.
Taking away my choices.
Nobody understood.
I didn't need protection.
I needed the truth.
"Tell me everything."
Daniel looked at me.
I had never seen him look so broken.
"It started two weeks ago."
I froze.
"Two weeks?"
He nodded.
"Someone contacted me."
"Who?"
He looked at Dr. Cole.
The doctor immediately looked away.
Daniel continued.
"They told me there was a complication with the pregnancy."
I shook my head.
"No."
"They said the baby had a genetic problem."
My hands tightened.
"My baby was healthy."
"I know that now."
The words were almost a whisper.
"You know that now?"
Daniel looked destroyed.
"I saw the reports."
"Which reports?"
He reached into his jacket.
Slowly.
Carefully.
He pulled out a folder.
"I found these after you were admitted."
Sarah immediately stepped forward.
"What are those?"
Daniel handed them to me.
Inside were medical documents.
Real ones.
Not the fake records from Room 814.
The first page showed my baby's ultrasound results.
Normal.
Healthy.
Alive.
My eyes filled with tears.
I touched the paper.
My baby had been alive.
All along.
Daniel continued.
"I started asking questions."
"And?"
His face changed.
"Then they threatened me."
The room went quiet.
"Who threatened you?"
He looked at Dr. Cole.
"His people."
Dr. Cole's expression finally changed.
Anger.
Not fear.
Anger.
"You have no idea what you're involved in."
Daniel stepped toward him.
"No."
His voice was different now.
Stronger.
"I know exactly what I'm involved in."
For the first time, I saw something in my husband that I hadn't seen before.
He was afraid.
But he was also fighting.
Dr. Hart looked at Daniel.
"If you helped them transfer the baby..."
Daniel interrupted.
"I didn't know they would take him."
The word stopped everyone.
Him.
Again.
My son.
Daniel looked at me.
"They told me the baby was gone."
His voice cracked.
"I believed them."
I wanted to hate him.
Part of me did.
But another part saw the man standing in front of me.
A man who had also been manipulated.
A man who had lost his child too.
Then Sarah noticed something.
She pointed at the folder.
"Wait."
Everyone looked at her.
She pulled out another document.
"This isn't from the hospital."
Dr. Hart took it.
Her face changed immediately.
"What?"
Sarah handed it to her.
Dr. Hart read the page.
Then she looked at Daniel.
"Where did you get this?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Someone sent it to me."
"Who?"
He swallowed.
"I don't know."
Dr. Hart's expression became serious.
"This is from inside the network."
My stomach tightened.
"What network?"
Dr. Hart looked at the document.
"The people behind the transfers."
She turned the page.
There was a symbol at the bottom.
A black circle.
Inside it was a number.
The same number.
Again.
Dr. Hart whispered:
"They're marking every child."
A cold silence filled the room.
My son wasn't just taken.
He was assigned.
Cataloged.
Tracked.
Like something that belonged to someone else.
Suddenly, the lights in the hallway went off.
Everyone froze.
A second later, emergency lights turned on.
Red.
Flashing.
Dr. Hart looked toward the hallway.
"This is bad."
Sarah grabbed the files.
"What happened?"
Dr. Hart didn't answer.
She was listening.
Then we heard it.
Footsteps.
Many footsteps.
Coming closer.
Daniel moved toward me.
"Emma, we need to go."
I looked at him.
"Can I trust you?"
The question hurt both of us.
He didn't answer immediately.
Then he said:
"I don't know if I deserve it."
A pause.
"But I will find our son."
The footsteps became louder.
Dr. Cole suddenly smiled.
Not because he had won.
Because someone else had arrived.
Someone with more power.
A voice echoed through the hallway.
"Nobody leaves this floor."
Everyone stopped.
Dr. Hart's face turned pale.
"No..."
I looked at her.
"Who is that?"
She whispered:
"The person who started all of this."
The footsteps stopped outside the archive room.
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Then the handle moved.
Slowly.
May you like
The door opened.
And the person standing there was the last person I expected to see...
