Chapter 6 - The Unraveling Web
The heavy bronze struck Dr. Vance’s shoulder with a sickening thud. She gasped in pain, stumbling backward against the stair railing. The flashlight tumbled from her hand, bouncing down the wooden stairs.
"Sarah!" Mark's voice roared from downstairs as the front door was kicked open.
"Mark! Up here!" I yelled.
Dr. Vance scrambled down the stairs, ignoring the pain in her shoulder, crashing straight into Mark at the bottom of the flight. Mark grabbed her arms, pinning her against the wall in the pitch-black entryway.
"You!" Mark snarled, recognizing her face from the security footage. "Where is our daughter?!"
Suddenly, heavy footsteps pounded on the front porch. Two men in tactical gear burst through the shattered front door, guns drawn, flashlights cutting through the gloom.
"Police! Nobody move!" a voice shouted.
I rushed down the stairs, shielding Max who had run out of the bedroom behind me. Mark held his hands up, keeping Dr. Vance pinned.
"She has our baby!" I shouted to the officers. "She kidnapped our daughter from St. Jude’s!"
A senior detective pushed past the tactical officers. It was Detective Miller, a broad-shouldered man with weary eyes, whom Mark had contacted through his friend Greg at the hospital. Behind him was David, holding a red folder.
"We have the DNA results, Sarah," David called out, his voice breathless. "The infant in your house is not genetically related to either of you. And we found traces of a private medical transportation vehicle registered to Dr. Vance's holding company leaving the hospital garage at 3:30 PM."
Dr. Vance sneered, looking around at the officers. "You have nothing on me that my lawyers can't dismantle in an hour. Search my house, search my office—you won't find the child."
Detective Miller stepped forward, pulling out a pair of handcuffs. "We don't need to search your office, Dr. Vance. We just raided your private estate in Oakridge forty minutes ago based on a tip from one of your former nurses."
Dr. Vance’s eyes widened in genuine shock for the first time. The ice in her composure finally cracked. "What?"
"We found the nursery," Detective Miller said coldly, clicking the cuffs tightly around her wrists. "And we found three infants waiting for transport. One of them matched the description and foot birthmark of baby Lily Mercer."
Tears spilled down my cheeks as I collapsed against Mark. He caught me, burying his face in my hair, sobbing uncontrollably.
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"Is she... is she okay?" I choked out. "Is Lily safe?"
"She's being examined by paramedics at the site right now," Detective Miller replied softly, a rare smile breaking across his tired face. "She's healthy, unharmed, and waiting for her parents."
