Chapter 3
The silence that followed the departure of the Sterling family was heavy and suffocating, broken only by the continuous, frantic crying of baby Amelia from her bassinet. Naomi lay on the hospital bed, her breathing ragged, her heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her ribs. The bright, vivid colors of the hospital room seemed to blur as tears streamed down her lovely oval face. The ugly bruise on her cheek throbbed, a painful reminder of the physical altercation with Walter's men weeks before the delivery, when they first tried to force her to sign away her parental rights.
Fighting through the searing agony in her lower abdomen, Naomi forced herself to reach across the bed. She grabbed the red call controller that Walter had slapped away earlier and pressed the button repeatedly, her thumb jamming the plastic with desperate force.
"Help! Someone help me!" Naomi screamed toward the intercom, her hoarse voice echoing off the bright, cinematic walls.
Two minutes later, the heavy door swung open. A nurse walked in—a young woman with a clipboard, her expression completely blank, devoid of any urgency or compassion. The bright hallway light spilled in behind her, illuminating her crisp white uniform.
"What seems to be the problem, Ms. Brooks?" the nurse asked, her American accent flat and rehearsed. "You need to keep your voice down. You are disturbing the other patients."
"They took my son!" Naomi cried out, pointing a trembling finger toward the empty doorway. "The Sterlings! Walter and Brandon Sterling just walked out of here with my baby boy! You have to call security! Lock down the hospital!"
The nurse walked calmly over to the bassinet. She looked down at Amelia, gently adjusting the swaddle around the infant with medium-brown skin.
"I don't know what you are talking about, Ms. Brooks," the nurse said, her voice chillingly even. She looked up, making direct eye contact with Naomi. "You only delivered one child. A healthy baby girl. The anesthesia must be making you confused."
Naomi froze, her large, expressive dark brown eyes widening in absolute horror. The realization hit her with the force of a physical blow. Vanessa hadn't been bluffing. The corruption ran so deep that they had actually altered her medical records.
"I had twins," Naomi whispered, her voice shaking violently. "Elijah and Amelia. I held them both. You cannot do this. You cannot just erase my son from the world!"
"Ms. Brooks, if you continue to act hysterically, I will have to call the attending physician to administer a sedative," the nurse warned, picking up a syringe from the medical tray. "You have experienced a major trauma. You are hallucinating. I suggest you focus on the beautiful daughter you have right here."
"Don't you dare come near me with that," Naomi snarled, the devastating grief suddenly mutating into a fierce, protective maternal rage. Her delicate facial features hardened into a mask of pure defiance.
The nurse stopped, seemingly intimidated by the sheer intensity radiating from the beautiful, light-skinned African American woman. She set the syringe down on the metal tray.
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"I will leave you to rest," the nurse said stiffly, turning toward the door. "I will return in an hour to check your vitals."
As the door clicked shut again, Naomi slowly forced herself to sit up, biting down on her naturally full lips until she tasted blood to distract herself from the surgical pain. She looked over at the bassinet, where Amelia had finally quieted down to a soft whimper. The system was broken. The police were bought. The hospital was compromised. If she wanted her son back, she was going to have to tear down the Sterling empire herself.
