PART 1

I hugged my babies and hit the panic button. When the police arrived, she screamed that I was insane. They prepared to restrain me… until the chief recognized me…

“Help me!” Mrs. Sterling cried instantly, clutching baby Leo to her chest. “My daughter-in-law has gone completely insane! She tried to hurt the baby!”

The security team stormed into the recovery suite.

For one terrifying second, nobody moved.

I was bleeding from my C-section.

My face burned from the slap.

Leo was screaming.

Luna was crying.

And my mother-in-law stood there performing for an audience she thought she could control.

Then Chief Mike looked at me.

Not at Mrs. Sterling.

At me.

His expression changed immediately.

The room went very, very quiet.

“Ma’am,” one of the guards said carefully, “please hand over the infant.”

Mrs. Sterling blinked.

“What?”

“The child.”

“I’m his grandmother!”

“No,” Mike said calmly. “You are currently an unauthorized individual holding a newborn inside a protected recovery unit.”

The confidence drained from her face.

“You don’t understand who I am.”

Mike’s jaw tightened.

“Oh, we understand exactly who you are.”

Two nurses entered behind security.

One gently took Leo from her arms.

Another checked the red mark spreading across my cheek.

The room suddenly felt colder.

Then Mike noticed the document on the table.

The Waiver of Parental Rights.

He picked it up.

Read the first page.

Then slowly looked back at Mrs. Sterling.