Chapter 2
The sheer audacity of the statement hung in the bright, sunlit room, freezing the blood in Maya’s veins. For a fraction of a second, the hyper-vibrant colors of the hospital suite seemed to blur into a terrifying, surreal nightmare. Her movie-star features twisted into an expression of pure, primal panic.
“Are you out of your mind?!” Maya screamed, her American accent cracking with sheer desperation. She threw her weight forward, her barefoot stance precarious on the edge of the mattress. “He is my son! You cannot just take him!”
“He is a Vance,” Richard replied, his voice remaining chillingly calm, as if he were discussing the transfer of corporate stock rather than a human being. “And Daniel requires an heir. You are a widow with no income. You should be thanking me for lightening your burden.”
“I am not giving you my baby!” Maya shrieked.
She lunged across the small gap between the bed and the bassinet. Her pale, delicate fingers grabbed the heavy fabric of Richard’s tailored suit sleeve. She pulled with every ounce of strength her postpartum body could muster, reaching frantically for her crying baby, who was now wailing loudly in Richard’s grip.
Richard’s face darkened with sudden, violent annoyance. He jerked his arm away with brutal force, gripping the fragile infant securely against his chest to prevent the child from falling, but effectively breaking Maya’s desperate hold.
“Let go of me, you hysterical fool,” Richard spat, glaring down at her.
“Put my baby back now!” Maya roared, her voice breaking but fierce. It was a sound of terrified fury, the roar of a mother pushed to the absolute edge of her sanity.
“Dad, just step back from the bed,” Daniel finally spoke up, his tone nervous but entirely unhelpful. He shifted his weight in his expensive trousers. “Don't let her drop the boy.”
“She needs to learn her place in this family,” Jessica added from the corner, adjusting her diamond ring with a look of utter boredom. “She was always far too dramatic.”
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“I am calling the police!” Maya threatened, reaching blindly behind her toward the bedside table.
“You will do no such thing,” Richard growled. He shifted the crying newborn to his left arm. With his free right hand, he swung out, striking Maya violently across the side of the head.
