Get me access to all the feeds from the cameras in the maternity ward. I want video going back an hour.
Hospital security will know I’m tapping in and trace right to me. It’s a pretty sophisticated system.
Don’t give a shit. Do it.
On it. Will meet you at your room in five.
“The doctor was a blonde,” the nurse says. “In her late twenties maybe? Her name badge read Doctor Bev Hemming.”
My head jerks up. “Hemming?”
“Yes.” The nurse blinks. “Do you know her?”
Den and I exchange a look. “We know a Doctor Ben Hemming. Call Ben and have him meet us at the room,” I say to Den. “We need to know exactly what access that ID had.”
I send Calder a text.
Make sure Trevor’s area is covered, then send him to the hospital’s security office to tell them what’s going on. We need their manpower to cover the whole Goddamn hospital’s entry and exit points.
He sends me one back.
Done. Talia?
On my way.
Chapter Thirteen
Talia
Amelia giggles and squirms in my lap while I draw two hearts side-by-side around our names, Talia and Amelia. I make sure to overlap the two hearts where the last three letters of our names match, grinning at my cleverness. “Don’t you see it, Amelia? The two Lias?”
Her big brown eyes shift to me with her excited laughter before she hops down from my lap and takes off running down the hall, her blonde curls bouncing as she flies the drawing high behind her like a kite.
As I smile and start to run after her, the scene changes.
I swing Amelia in my arms in the living room, spinning in a fast circle. She’s laughing hysterically as I settle her on my hip, then pop my hip up and down a couple of times to make her bounce before I pull her close for a snuggly hug.
“Why do you look older?” she asks.
“Older?” Frowning at the confusion in her voice, I lean back. “Of course a teenager looks older to you—” She suddenly goes limp in my arms. “Amelia!” I scream and try to get her to sit up, but her head flops back, revealing a gash on her forehead oozing blood.
“Aunt Vanessa!” I scream, turning in our apartment.
“She’s not here right now,” Walt says from his chair in the kitchen. He’s sitting at the table stuffing the drug Bliss into packets, unmoved by the fact his daughter is unconscious and hurt.
“Do something!” I shout at him.
“She shouldn’t have screeched. It hurt my ears.” He looks up and shrugs. “I didn’t mean to shove her so hard.”
I tug Amelia’s little body close and tuck her head under my chin. “She’s dead, Walt. You killed her. I’m going to call the police and tell them what happened.”
Walt jumps up, his face mottled red with fury. “You won’t say a fucking thing. Give her to me. She’s my child.”
“No!” I pivot and start running down the hall. It seems to stretch forever as I clutch Amelia close. “I’ll save you, Amelia,” I whisper. “I’ll find a way.”
When Amelia starts to cry, I stop running and glance down to the swaddled baby in my arms. My baby.
“Jocelyn!” I pull her close and press my lips to her tiny forehead. “I’m so sorry, little one. We’ll get out of here.”
Looking up, I stare down the long hall ahead of me, then turn to look back at the way I came. Is Walt still back there? If not, maybe I can sneak past him and leave.
I start to head back, determined I can get by without him seeing us. “You’ll need to be quiet,” I whisper, but then realize she’s not making any noise at all. I look down to see I’m holding an empty blanket.
“Jocelyn!” I yell down the hall, my voice echoing. I don’t care who might hear. I must find her!
Running, I began to call out, “Jocelyn! Where are you?”
“Talia, wait up.” Sebastian tugs on my shoulder.
Why is he trying to stop me? Does he not know that she’s gone?
“No!” I shrug out of his hold and run, but he catches up, his hand gripping my shoulder once more.
“Talia, wait up.”
“I can’t,” I pant and struggle against his hold, but this time he turns me to face him.
“Talia, wake up!”
My eyes fly open to Sebastian leaning over me, his hand on my shoulder. His brow is furrowed, his gaze full of worry.
“I’m fine,” I say and look down to check that I didn’t disturb the baby. The moment my arms fold around nothing but air, I quickly glance toward the changing cart to see if Sebastian had moved her there, and that’s when my gaze snags on the people standing in our room. My heart starts to race, my attention snapping to Sebastian’s somber one.
Sitting down on the bed beside me, Sebastian says, “A female doctor has taken Jocelyn. We’re trying to locate—”
“Video is queued up,” Elijah says, standing over by the table with a laptop open.
Sebastian clasps my hand, his hold full of tension. “Bring it over here so Talia can watch it too. Maybe she’ll recognize the woman who stole Ben’s ID.”
“Our child is missing?” I yell, yanking my hand from his. My heart racing, my chest feels like it’s caving in. “How can you be so calm!”
Sebastian clasps my shoulders, his fingers digging into my skin. “I’m barely keeping it together, Talia,” he says in a hoarse rasp. “I need you to keep me focused. I need your help to find the woman who took her. Can you do that?”
The look on his face is a fierce mixture of pain, anger and tortured worry, which makes me realize he’s locking his emotions away to do what he does best. Protect people. Swallowing back my panic and fear, I grip his hand on my shoulder and nod even as tears start to fall. “A—a woman took Jocelyn?” I sob.
Sebastian pulls me close and kisses my forehead. “We’ll find our baby girl, Little Red.”
“Here’s a list of areas my badge had access to,” Ben says, handing Sebastian a piece of paper he’d torn from a notepad. “Like I said, it was deactivated, so it won’t do her any good.”
Releasing me, my husband takes the paper and snaps, “It fucking got her this far.”
While Sebastian scans the paper, my nails dig into his hand. I can’t help the silent terror that rips through my body. Our defenseless baby is out there with some crazed stranger! Nausea begins to roll over me in waves and I start to hyperventilate. Sebastian’s expression turns grim and just as his hand slides over my back, Cass quickly moves to my other side, tears in her eyes as she takes my hand. “Breathe, Talia. Take deep breaths.” Glancing at Elijah, who just opened the laptop across my lap, her hand tightens on mine. “Play the damn video!”
I watch with dread clawing in my chest as a woman with shoulder length blond hair and wearing a doctor’s coat enters the area where the nurse is testing Jocelyn’s blood. She speaks to the nurse, but their voices are low, so I can’t hear what’s being said. The nurse says something, then hands the ‘doctor’ the bottle of sugar water. Holding the bottle, the woman turns the cart around. The angle of the camera only shows the bottom half of her face, and I want to scream that that’s all we can see. But just as she’s about to stroll out the door with the baby, she lifts her head, stares right at the camera and smiles.
“Holy shit, it’s Simone!” Cass gasps.
I feel the blood drain from my face. The betrayal cuts so deep I look up at Sebastian, my voice quivering, “Why would she do this?”
“Excuse me, Mr. Blake,” a tall nurse with wide set eyes and a dimple in her chin says from the doorway. “Mr. Jenkins, the head of hospital security, is on the phone asking to speak with you.”
Sebastian doesn’t move from his position next to me. “Tell Mr. Jenkins that I will speak with him once I’m not in the middle of trying to find my child who’s currently missing in his hospital.”
The nurse goes completely pale. “Sir, he’s ready to call the police but would like to discuss details with you first.”
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“I’ll talk to him once we get our daughter back,” Sebastian says. “I won’t take precious time out to talk with the police. Right now they’ll only slow me down.”
Looking unsettled, the nurse walks away.
Sebastian turns to me, his mouth set in an angry line. “Call your father.”
As Cass quickly digs for my phone in the baby bag on the floor, I gesture to the laptop. “Do any of the other video feeds show Simone giving our baby the sugar water she was supposed to receive?”
When Sebastian shakes his head, a new level of panic seizes me. “What happens if she doesn’t get it in time?”
“Talia, we have to assume that she gave it to the baby. She knew she needed it. Can you please call Kenneth?”
I slowly nod, trying to calm down. “He’ll be blindsided and devastated by this.”
“We’ll see about that,” Sebastian says scowling. “Regardless if he’s clueless, he brought her into our home. I want her address and phone number right now so we can track her.”
“Got it!” Cass says, and just as she hands my phone to me, I get an incoming text from a blocked phone number. I glance down at my phone and the knot in my stomach snarls tighter.
What should I choose? What is in a name?
Maybe something close to yours, but not quite the same?
Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of her.
Unlike you, I won’t be the one to blame.
Just as Sebastian reads my text, he gets one on his phone from a blocked number.
Roses are red. Violets are blue.
Don’t feel left out, Sebastian.
I’ll clue you in too.
After I read his text, I narrow my gaze and hiss, “That bitch is going to wish she never heard my name.”
I start to respond to her text, but Sebastian puts his hand over mine and tucks his phone away in his pants pocket. “She’s trying to distract us. Don’t let her worm her way into your head.”
Taking a calming breath, I say, “Any texts she sends you, highlight them first, okay?”
He frowns and I point to his screen. “That last line is in blue. If you highlight what she sends you, it’ll change the color to all black, allowing you to see everything. She knows about your colorblindness. She’s messing with your head, too.”
His expression hardening, he cuts his gaze to Elijah. “Has Trevor located her anywhere on the security monitors yet?” Elijah shakes his head and Sebastian’s jaw works. “She can’t have just fucking disappeared. A camera must have caught her somewhere.”
At the same time Elijah speaks to Trevor as to which halls she might’ve taken, Sebastian glances down at the sheet of paper Ben gave him once more, then quickly stands and points to it, saying to Ben, “What’s this North West Wing you listed? I don’t remember this section on any of the information given to us by hospital security.”
“It’s an expansion that never got utilized due to the downturn,” Ben says. “I got special permission to use it to meet with the vets. It’s a bit away from the main hospital traffic, which really helps with some of the guy’s PTSD issues.”
“I can’t remember what it looked like while I was there. Was there a separate entrance?” Calder asks as Ben walks over to look at Elijah’s screen.
“Yes,” Ben says, his gaze widening. “Security wouldn’t have thought to deactivate that part of my ID badge, because it’s not common to the other attending personnel.”
“Pull up the security feed on that wing,” Sebastian orders. Moving over to Elijah’s side, he tucks his gun against his back under his sweater.
“Already on it.” Elijah’s fingers fly over the keyboard. “Give me a sec to queue it up.”
“There!” Calder points to the laptop screen. “She went down the hallway to the meeting room.”
“Which you have to pass through to get to the exit,” Ben says.
Sebastian looks at Elijah. “When was this?”
Elijah checks the time stamp of the feed. “Seven minutes ago.”
Rushing around the end of my bed, my husband quickly kisses me on the lips. “I’ll get her back. Call and get her address and phone number from your father. We might need it.” He releases me and pulls his keys from his pocket, tossing them to Ben. “Please get my car in case we need it. It’s the second to the last row in the main parking lot.” Turning toward the door, he looks at Elijah and Den, “Follow her with any other security cameras they have and keep me updated.”
Once Calder follows Sebastian out, Cass starts pulling my clothes out of the bag and mutters about me getting dressed.
“I just dug up her address and phone, Talia.”
“Thanks Elijah,” I say, relieved I won’t have to call my father right now. I’m too emotional and might flip my lid and blame him for dating a crazy person.
Elijah suddenly points to his laptop, then tells Den, “Okay, she walked out with the baby and got into a waiting vehicle.” He squints at the screen. “A dark four-door sedan. So someone’s helping her. And they’ve got at least a five-minute head start according to the time stamp. Fuck!”
“Move over to the city street cameras now and try and track them while I call Sebastian,” Den says. After he conveys to Sebastian what they just saw, he glances Cass’s way. “Call Ben and have him bring Sebastian’s car around to that exit. He’ll know exactly where to go.”
“I just saw a partial plate as they left the parking lot,” Elijah says. “It’s a Gold Plate with WFL-7. That’s all I could make out. I’ll try to run it.”
I grab Cass’s hand and whisper, my voice shaking, “My father drives a dark four door sedan.”
Folding her hand over mine, she says, “So does half of Manhattan. Let them try to match the plate.”
“Make sure that plate doesn’t belong to Kenneth McAdams,” I say quickly, needing to know my father had nothing to do with this.
I start to get up and force my sore body into a pair of casual gray stretchy pants when another text comes through on my phone.
I don’t believe in second chances.
It’s not like I was given one.
I’m a mom.
Now and forever.
You can’t take that or her away.
Not this time. Not this day.
My hand starts to shake and Cass grabs the phone from me. “Don’t look at it. She’s just trying to get under your skin.”
“It’s fucking working! She has my child!” I growl and reach for my phone. “Give it back.”
Cass shakes her head and starts to tuck it away in her pocket.
“No, Cass. Hand it to me. It could be that she’s just completely insane, but I think she’s sending some kind of coded message. I need to study what she’s saying. I need to do something to help save Jocelyn.”
“Of course.” Cass quickly hands me the phone back. “Do you think Sebastian got another text too?”
“I don’t know. Text Calder and find out.”
Setting my phone down, I grab my clothes and walk into the bathroom to slip them on. As I step out, I feel a bit woozy. Thoughts of my baby crying for me fill my heart with terror. I have to believe Simone at least gave our child the sugar water she needs. I have to believe that! My body starts to tremble with renewed nightmarish thoughts, but I take a deep breath and shake my head to clear them away. I just can’t right now. Sitting on the bed, I pick up the notepad and pen Ben used earlier and jot down both notes Simone has sent to me so far and the one note she sent Sebastian, then stare at them intently.
“Okay, Calder sent me the new text Sebastian just got,” Cass says, turning her phone so I can jot the note down too.
Little red with blue eyes she’ll always be.
Too bad, so sad she’ll never be free
If only she’d been blonde and brown-eyed
Maybe then, you’d finally see.
“Talia, it’s not your father’s license plate,” Elijah’s voice cuts through the haze Simone’s text casts over me. As I let out a long
breath of relief, he continues, “But I do recognize a name from the partial plate listing I just pulled.”
I look up and frown. “What name?”
“Nathan Brentford.”
Chapter Fourteen
Sebastian
“Nathan? That pipsqueak little shit is behind this!” I bellow into the speakerphone when Den calls to tell me who’s driving the car that helped Simone escape with our child.
“I found him, Sebastian!” Elijah interjects. “I just saw his car’s taillights turn up toward Thirty-Fourth Street. How far are you from there?”
“A couple minutes or so,” Calder says, glancing down at his phone. “Turn left at that light, Bash.”
I gun the engine and my tires squeal as I take a fast left right through a light; I don’t give a damn which part of the traffic light is currently glowing. At three in the morning, the road is practically free of traffic.
“Give me a minute to find him on the street cameras,” Elijah says. “There are several ways he could’ve gone.”
“I never would’ve thought Nathan could go this far off the deep end,” Talia says across the line. “But it all makes a bit more sense now. Somehow Nathan must’ve discovered that my aunt was responsible for our engagement ending. If that’s what happened, he’d have every reason to want to hurt her.”
“But not you, Talia. He’s obsessed with you. And we know that Simone was stalking you and your aunt before the wedding,” I say as I turn down another street Calder points to. “Just how far back does all of this go?”
Talia exhales her frustration. “That part bothers me too. Nathan never let on that he knew about my aunt’s part in our breakup while I was still at the Tribune. If he knew, he hid it well. But Simone…at this point I can only assume that she cozied up to my father to get to me.”
“But why?” I say, curling my hands tight on the steering wheel. “If Nathan is behind all this, why has Simone been the one committing all the violence?”
“Do we know that for sure?” Talia asks.
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