Chapter 2 - THE BABY WHO ALREADY HAD ANOTHER MOTHER
The burn covered the lower half of my abdomen in an angry red sheet.
Dr. Priya Shah explained that the soup had caused a partial-thickness injury in several areas, but it had not physically reached the baby. The danger came from my body’s response.
Pain.
Stress.
Contractions.
Possible placental injury.
The fetal monitor showed repeated tightening across my uterus.
“We’re watching for premature labor and placental abruption,” she said. “The heartbeat has stabilized for now.”
For now became the only phrase I could hear.
Michael was not allowed into my room.
Police questioned him about striking Margaret with the bowl and making the threat. His attorney called me from the hallway, but I refused to discuss a statement while medication blurred the edges of the room.
Agent Harris remained outside with Detective Laura Benton.
Victoria and Margaret were treated at another hospital under police supervision.
Margaret required six stitches and observation for a concussion.
By midnight, her attorney was describing Michael as a violent executive who had threatened to kill three women at a family dinner.
No statement mentioned the soup.
No statement mentioned my burns.
Victoria released ten seconds of video.
It began with Michael holding the bowl.
The earlier recording remained on her seized phone, but the edited clip was already spreading.
Harris entered my room after the obstetrician approved a short interview.
“Did you know about the guardianship petition?”
“No.”
“Did Michael?”
“I don’t know.”
The answer tasted like betrayal.
“Why were you at the house?” I asked.
He glanced toward the nurse.
“We were serving preservation orders connected to an ongoing federal investigation.”
“Into whom?”
“I cannot discuss every target yet.”
“Victoria?”
He did not answer.
The nurse interrupted to adjust the fetal monitor.
A contraction tightened through my abdomen.
I clenched the bed rail until it passed.
Hospital administrator Rebecca Sloan entered carrying a printed chart.
“We have a registration issue.”
“What kind?”
“Your obstetric file contains an intended-parent authorization.”
She placed it beside me.
The document stated that I was a gestational carrier for Victoria Lane.
It granted Victoria access to delivery information, neonatal decisions, and the infant immediately after birth.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
Michael’s appeared beside it.
“I did not sign this.”
Rebecca nodded.
“We have restricted access and contacted legal counsel.”
“Where did it come from?”
“It was uploaded through your fertility clinic six weeks ago.”
Michael and I had undergone IVF after two miscarriages. The embryo inside me had been created from my egg and his sperm.
No surrogate arrangement had ever existed.
The false agreement claimed the embryo belonged to Victoria and an anonymous donor.
It described me as a compensated carrier who had become emotionally attached to the pregnancy.
The language was designed to turn my love for my own child into instability.
Rebecca turned to the final page.
“There’s more.”
The hospital’s neonatal system had already created an expected admission.
The infant’s record did not say Baby Carter.
May you like
It said:
BABY GIRL LANE.
