Chapter 3 - No One Is Taking Your Baby
When Maya went into labor, Richard insisted on the private room.
Derek insisted on controlling the visitor list.
Ray was not on it.
Maya texted him anyway.
Hospital. Baby coming. Please.
Ray arrived four hours later and was told by the front desk that only immediate family could enter.
“I am immediate,” he said.
The receptionist looked uncomfortable.
“The husband requested no additional visitors.”
Ray stared toward the maternity elevator.
Then his phone buzzed.
A notification from the rabbit camera.
Motion detected.
He opened the feed.
The camera angle was low from the tray beside the bed.
At first, he saw only Maya’s hand resting on the baby blanket.
Then Derek’s voice.
“You embarrassed me in front of the nurse.”
Maya’s voice, exhausted.
“I just asked if I could feed her.”
“You ask me first.”
“She’s hungry.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“She’s mine too.”
A sharp movement.
Maya’s breath catching.
Richard’s voice entering.
“Derek, lower your voice.”
Then Derek:
“She keeps forgetting who makes decisions in this family.”
The camera shook as the tray moved.
Ray saw Derek’s hand close around Maya’s neck.
Not long.
Not enough to create the worst outcome.
Enough to leave marks.
Enough to make Ray stop breathing.
He immediately called 911 from the hospital lobby and showed security the live feed.
One nurse went pale.
The charge nurse grabbed a staff key.
The officers were already on site for a separate call near the ER and headed up with security.
Ray did not wait in the lobby.
He went to the room first.
That was why he arrived before the officers.
That was why Derek still had time to smirk and say the sentence that would later destroy him.
I was reminding her who’s in charge.
Now, in the maternity room, an officer secured Derek in cuffs while the other officer guided Richard away from the bed.
Richard’s voice turned smooth immediately.
“My son is under stress. His wife just gave birth. This is a private family matter.”
Ray looked at him.
Without his hearing aids, Richard’s words came muted and warped.
Good.
Ray did not need to hear another polished lie.
The officer did.
She said, “Sir, a woman with visible neck bruising and a newborn in her arms is not a private family matter.”
Maya sobbed harder.
Ray sat beside her carefully, not crowding the baby.
“Breathe with me,” he said.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“He said they’d take Lucy.”
Ray’s face did not change, but his hand tightened on the bedrail.
“Who said that?”
Maya looked toward Richard.
Richard’s expression flickered.
There it was.
The older hand behind the younger fist.
The officer noticed too.
Maya’s voice shook.
“Richard said if I made Derek look bad, they’d tell the hospital I was unstable. That I had postpartum confusion. That I couldn’t be trusted with her.”
Ray closed his eyes once.
Only once.
May you like
Then he opened them.
“No one is taking your baby because you told the truth.”
