Chapter 2 - Code Black
A nurse grabbed my arm.
“Back inside. Now.”
“What’s happening?”
“Security issue.”
The lights above us flickered.
Then the electronic doors at both ends of the maternity floor locked.
Luka immediately moved between me and the hallway.
His entire posture changed.
Seconds earlier, he had been intimidating.
Now he looked dangerous.
Focused.
“Who knows she delivered today?” he asked.
“What?”
“Claire. Answer me.”
“My mother-in-law. Ryan. My doctor. Friends.”
“Names can wait.”
He looked at the nurse.
“Does this floor have a secondary elevator?”
She frowned.
“Employees only.”
“Show me.”
“You can’t—”
A crash echoed from the far end of the hall.
Then shouting.
The nurse turned pale.
Luka looked at me.
“That’s why.”
He took Sophie’s hospital bassinet and pushed it toward my room.
“Stay close.”
I stared at him.
“You expect me to follow a stranger who just forged a birth document?”
“No.”
Another crash.
Closer.
“I expect you to follow the person who knows why men are breaking into a maternity ward six hours after your daughter was born.”
That got me moving.
We reached my room.
Luka locked the door and pushed a chair beneath the handle.
“Give me the photo.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“It’s my father.”
“And right now it could get you killed.”
I clutched it tighter.
Luka sighed.
“You’re definitely Daniel’s daughter.”
Someone tried the door.
Once.
Twice.
Then a man called from outside.
“Mrs. Carter?”
Luka put one finger to his lips.
The stranger continued.
“Hospital security. We need to relocate you.”
Luka whispered, “Real security already knows your room number.”
My skin prickled.
The handle moved again.
Then the voice changed.
“Claire.”
I froze.
He knew my first name.
“Open the door.”
Luka’s jaw tightened.
The man outside continued.
“We only want the child.”
Every protective instinct in my body exploded.
I backed toward Sophie.
“No.”
The door slammed inward.
The chair scraped across the floor.
Luka grabbed the IV stand and braced it beneath the handle.
“Employee exit,” he said.
“There isn’t one.”
He pointed toward the bathroom.
“There is.”
I stared.
He crossed the room, opened the bathroom door, and shoved aside a linen cart.
Behind it was a narrow service door.
“How did you know?”
“I studied the building.”
“Why?”
“Because your father designed part of it.”
My mind couldn’t keep up.
The main door shook again.
Wood splintered near the lock.
Luka opened the service door.
“Move.”
I held Sophie tightly against my chest.
“What about you?”
“I’m right behind you.”
We entered a narrow concrete passage.
The nurse followed.
Luka locked the service door from the other side.
We had barely made it ten yards when my phone vibrated.
Ryan.
For one stupid second, hope surged through me.
Maybe he had realized what he’d done.
Maybe he was coming back.
I answered.
“Ryan?”
His voice was low.
“Where are you?”
I stopped walking.
Luka turned.
“Why?”
“Claire, listen to me. You need to give Sophie to hospital security.”
Luka’s expression went dead cold.
I whispered, “Why?”
Ryan hesitated.
That hesitation told me everything.
“What did you do?”
“Don’t make this harder.”
My throat closed.
“You knew they were coming.”
Silence.
Then Ryan said, “I didn’t know anyone would get hurt.”
The passage seemed to tilt beneath me.
“How much?”
“What?”
“How much did they pay you to abandon your daughter?”
“Claire—”
“How much?”
He snapped.
“Two million dollars!”
Even Luka looked stunned.
Ryan breathed heavily.
“They said they only needed a blood sample.”
I stared down at Sophie.
“A blood sample?”
“That’s all.”
Luka took the phone from me.
His voice became terrifyingly calm.
“Ryan Carter.”
Silence.
Then Ryan whispered, “Who the hell is this?”
“Luka Moretti.”
Ryan stopped breathing.
Actually stopped.
Luka smiled without warmth.
“So they never told you I was alive.”
The call disconnected.
I stared at him.
“What was that?”
Luka handed back my phone.
“We’re out of time.”
“Tell me the truth.”
“I’m trying.”
“No. You’re giving me pieces.”
Another alarm echoed through the passage.
I stepped closer.
“What is M-17?”
Luka looked at Sophie.
Then at me.
“It was a medical trial your father discovered nineteen years ago.”
“What kind of trial?”
“One involving embryos, manipulated fertility records, and children whose biological parents were never told the truth.”
My stomach dropped.
“I was conceived naturally.”
Luka said nothing.
“Wasn’t I?”
He slowly reached into his pocket.
He removed a small sealed envelope.
My name was printed across the front.
CLAIRE BENNETT - GENETIC STATUS
Underneath it:
SUBJECT M-17A.
Luka met my eyes.
“You weren’t the experiment, Claire.”
He glanced at Sophie.
May you like
“You were the carrier.”
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