Chapter 16 - The Child Is Born
Claire's son entered the world at 6:02 a.m.
He weighed four pounds, eleven ounces.
For three unbearable seconds, he made no sound.
Then he screamed.
Claire started crying before the surgeon said, "He's breathing."
The neonatal team carried him to a warmer.
"Can I see him?"
A nurse turned him toward her.
Tiny red face. Furious mouth. Dark hair flattened to his head.
"Hi," Claire whispered. "You made it."
They named him Owen Charles Bennett.
The second his birth was documented, Charles's trust vested.
Forty-one percent of Bennett Development legally shifted beyond Daniel and Eleanor's control.
And Schedule C activated.
By breakfast, federal subpoenas were already moving.
Eleanor was still missing inside the hospital.
Security footage showed her entering disguised in a volunteer jacket shortly before the false bomb threat. No camera showed her leaving.
Claire was moved to a guarded recovery room. Owen went to the NICU for breathing support.
Daniel called from federal custody.
Claire almost refused.
Then she answered.
"Congratulations," he said.
His voice cracked.
"Don't."
"Is he okay?"
"You lost the right to ask me."
"I know."
"Do you?"
A long silence.
Then Daniel said, "Mother is going to the NICU."
Claire sat upright despite the pain in her incision.
"What?"
"She believes the trust can be challenged if the baby is declared medically incompetent and a family guardian is appointed."
"He is a newborn."
"She doesn't care. She only needs temporary control long enough to destroy the books Schedule C exposes."
Claire hit the nurse-call button.
"Why are you telling me?"
"Because she left me to bleed at the lake house."
There it was.
Not love.
Not conscience.
Self-preservation.
Claire said, "Where would she hide inside the hospital?"
Daniel whispered, "Ask Rosa about the old donor wing."
Then the line cut off.
Rosa entered seconds later.
Claire repeated the phrase.
Rosa's face went white.
"Briar Glen had a donor wing named after Eleanor. Before this hospital merger, they moved some administrative rooms here."
"Where?"
"Basement level two."
Agent Ward called security.
At that exact moment, the NICU alarm system sounded.
Claire's blood turned to ice.
A nurse ran into the room.
"Mrs. Bennett, stay here."
"Where is my son?"
May you like
The nurse did not answer quickly enough.
Claire ripped the IV from her arm.
