Chapter 2
The private newborn nurse was named Natalie Greene.
She was licensed.
Experienced.
And horrified once Rebecca Sloan explained what had happened upstairs.
Rebecca arrived shortly after midnight.
She had represented Sofia in estate planning before the pregnancy and handled Lorenzo’s legitimate corporate matters for nearly twenty years.
She interviewed Natalie with hospital counsel present.
Natalie produced her contract.
Thirty days of overnight newborn care.
Client:
Bianca Mercer.
Infant:
Baby B — male triplet.
Start date:
That night.
Pickup location:
Private Manhattan hospital.
Destination:
Bianca’s apartment on East Seventy-Ninth Street.
Rebecca looked at Sofia.
“Baby B is Miles?”
“Yes.”
Natalie looked confused.
“I was told the mother agreed.”
“She didn’t.”
Natalie went pale.
“I would never have taken a baby without parental consent.”
Rebecca believed her.
The contract itself stated that lawful parental authorization was required before transport.
Someone had simply told Natalie that authorization already existed.
“Who hired you?” Rebecca asked.
“Ms. Mercer.”
“Who communicated most?”
“Her father.”
Victor.
“Did you speak with Julian?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“What did he say?”
“That his wife was overwhelmed after a complicated multiple birth and the family had agreed to split overnight care temporarily.”
Sofia stared at the contract.
“Split care.”
Natalie nodded reluctantly.
“I was told one baby would stay with Ms. Mercer for about a month.”
“Which one?”
“Baby B.”
“Why him?”
Natalie shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Rebecca turned pages.
There was no adoption agreement.
No permanent guardianship.
No surrender of parental rights.
That mattered.
Whatever they were doing, the paperwork did not say Bianca was becoming Miles’s mother.
It said she would become his temporary caregiver.
Lorenzo leaned against the wall.
“That sounds almost normal.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“That is usually when I become most suspicious.”
She turned to Sofia.
“Did you and Julian ever discuss splitting the triplets between households after discharge?”
“Never.”
“Did you discuss Bianca staying with you?”
“Yes.”
That surprised everyone.
Sofia explained.
During the pregnancy, Bianca repeatedly offered to help.
Not take a baby.
Help.
She suggested moving into the guest room.
Hiring nurses.
Taking night shifts.
Sofia appreciated it at first.
Then Victor began saying things like:
“Three infants are too much for one woman.”
And:
“Bianca has always wanted to be useful with children.”
Sofia had assumed it was family commentary.
Annoying.
Nothing more.
Then, during her final month of pregnancy, Julian brought home a document called a Postpartum Family Support Plan.
It divided caregiving responsibilities.
Sofia.
Julian.
A professional nurse.
Bianca.
Again, on the surface, reasonable.
But one section assigned Bianca primary overnight responsibility for “Infant B” for the first thirty days.
Sofia refused.
“What did Julian say?”
Rebecca asked.
“That I was being controlling.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
Sofia continued.
“He said with three babies, I had to learn to accept help.”
Rebecca looked at Natalie’s contract.
“Did he bring the plan back?”
“Twice.”
“Did you sign?”
“No.”
“Do you have copies?”
“Yes.”
The plan arrived electronically from Sofia’s email.
Rebecca compared it with Natalie’s contract.
The same terminology appeared in both.
Infant B.
Thirty-day continuity period.
Primary overnight caregiver: Bianca Mercer.
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This had been designed before the babies were born.
And whoever designed it had decided in advance that the second-born triplet would be the one removed from Sofia’s bedside.
