Chapter 10 - The Nursery
Dominic wanted to go home himself.
Marco blocked the door.
“That is exactly what they want.”
“My child’s room is being used as a staging site.”
“And if you walk into an ambush, Victor gets everything.”
For the first time, I saw two versions of Dominic collide—the husband who wanted to run to our house and the man trained to think three moves ahead.
I touched his arm.
He looked at my hand like he had not expected kindness.
“Let police take the house,” I said.
He nodded once.
Detective Ortiz arrived forty minutes later with a warrant team. I gave her the flash drive and the forged medical papers. She was furious we had delayed.
“You people do understand that homicide investigations are not family meetings?”
“Victor has officers on payroll,” Dominic said.
Ortiz’s eyes narrowed. “Name them.”
“I don’t know which ones.”
“Then stop making claims you can’t prove.”
At 10:18 a.m., officers entered our home.
The man from the nursery was gone.
But the black case remained.
Inside were not drugs.
They were empty syringes, sterile tubing, forged hospital badges, and two newborn identification bracelets printed with our last name.
MORETTI, BABY A.
MORETTI, BABY B.
I stared at the screen.
“Baby B?”
Dr. Levin had always told me I was carrying one child.
Ortiz looked at me. “Could this be a mistake?”
“No.”
Cassandra covered her mouth.
Rebecca whispered, “Maybe the bracelets are fake.”
Dominic was already calling the clinic.
No answer.
He called Dr. Levin’s personal number.
Disconnected.
My chest tightened.
Then my phone rang.
Dr. Levin.
I answered on speaker.
Her voice came fast and breathless.
“Ava, I need you to listen. Do not go to the hospital where we planned your delivery.”
“Why?”
There was a crash behind her.
“Ava, your first ultrasound showed twins.”
Everyone in the room froze.
May you like
“One vanished on the official record,” she said. “And I think Victor paid someone to make that happen.”
The line went dead.
