Chapter 5 - The Order Bearing My Husband’s Name
Julian locked the hospital door behind him.
He held no visible weapon.
He did not need one.
A court order rested in his hand.
It granted him temporary medical authority over me and our unborn child because I had allegedly suffered a psychological crisis during the wedding.
The signature belonged to Judge Conrad Bell, a longtime guest of the Sterling family.
“You attacked a nurse,” I said.
“She fell.”
“Move away from the door.”
“You called Diana before you called me.”
“You locked me inside a restroom.”
“You were endangering Seraphina’s wedding and the investigation.”
The final word stopped me.
“What investigation?”
Julian realized the mistake.
He placed the court order beside my bed.
“Get dressed.”
“I am in premature labor.”
“Vale prepared transport.”
“To Bennett Maternal Services?”
His expression hardened.
“You went through private files.”
“The file calls our daughter an asset.”
“It is an accounting classification.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to understand that my family has protected you.”
I laughed despite the fear.
“Protected me from what?”
“From Diana.”
The room speaker activated.
Diana’s voice came through.
“Julian, step away from Audrey.”
He looked toward the ceiling.
Hospital security had restored the camera feed.
He pulled the fetal monitor cable from the wall.
The alarm stopped transmitting.
“Your agent is not who she claims.”
“You have used that excuse for every person who threatens your family.”
“Ask her why your sealed list was incomplete.”
Diana answered through the speaker.
“Do not engage him.”
Julian leaned over the bed.
“Leah Bennett is Diana Cruz’s sister.”
I looked toward the speaker.
Silence.
“Diana?”
“She is my half sister,” Diana said. “I learned that during the investigation.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“You did not tell me.”
“I could not confirm whether she was cooperating with the Sterlings.”
Julian smiled.
“She is not cooperating with us. She is working with Diana.”
“That is false,” Diana said.
Julian held up his phone.
A photograph showed Diana meeting Leah outside a motel.
The timestamp was six days earlier.
Another showed Diana giving her an envelope.
“You used me to activate the sealed list,” Julian said. “Diana needed every Sterling in one location while Leah entered the family vault.”
I looked toward the door.
“What vault?”
“The one beneath the vineyard.”
Diana’s voice remained controlled.
“Julian is mixing facts with lies. Leah contacted me because she feared for her child.”
“Whose child?” I asked.
Neither answered.
Julian looked almost pleased.
“My father’s.”
The woman in red was pregnant with Malcolm Sterling’s child.
Seraphina and Julian’s father had created a secret trust for his unborn baby.
If the baby was male, Malcolm intended to replace Julian as company successor.
Julian knew.
That was why he signed payments to Bennett.
Not to protect Leah.
To monitor her pregnancy.
“What does my baby have to do with it?”
Julian lowered his voice.
“Father does not know whether Leah’s child is his.”
“Then why schedule both deliveries?”
“To confirm the bloodline.”
The Sterling trust required a living biological heir to maintain control of several properties after Malcolm’s death.
If Leah’s baby was his son, the child could inherit.
If not, my daughter became the next eligible heir through Julian.
The two births were being treated as competing succession events.
The matching identification number would allow the family to decide which infant entered which record.
“You planned to switch the babies.”
“I planned nothing.”
“You signed the transfers.”
“I signed what my father required.”
The same defense again.
He never planned.
Never knew.
Never chose.
He simply signed, locked, threatened, and obeyed.
The hallway filled with footsteps.
Julian seized the portable oxygen cylinder beside the bed and struck the camera.
The feed went dark.
“Get up.”
I reached beneath the blanket and pressed the emergency call button attached to my secure phone.
Julian saw the movement.
He grabbed my wrist.
A contraction tightened violently.
The fetal monitor began sounding.
Then my room window shattered inward.
A tactical officer entered from the adjoining balcony.
Diana forced the door from the hallway.
Julian was restrained before he reached me again.
As agents pulled him away, he shouted one final sentence.
May you like
“Ask Diana which baby was supposed to die.”
Continue to the next part: Audrey demands the truth about two newborn files that cannot both describe living children.
