An Heir for the Billionaire Werebears(16)

Xavier was texting on his phone. "I already have a private investigator on it. The hospital has reported the kidnapping to the police."

"When did you notice the baby was gone?"

"When the alarm went off. She had been in the nursery for only a minute."

"And she, this Celeste, was just born, correct?"

"Yes," I confirmed, crying a little bit. I couldn't stop the tears from leaking from my eyes. "She was born less than 2 hours ago."

"Do you have anyone who would want to take the baby?"

"Jayce," Asher said like a curse word. "It had to have been Jayce."

"We played back the security tapes. It looks like it was a woman. Dark hair, looks a lot like her but older."

"My mom?" I said. My eyes widened. "Are you saying my mom stole my baby?"

"I'm not saying anything," the policeman said piously. "But we did make a printout."

He gave me a black and white still from the cameras. I felt everything drain from my face.

I turned over in bed and buried my face in my pillow.

"I guess that's a positive identification, then?"

"Yeah," Xavier said grimly. "I would say so."

The policeman must have picked up on the dangerous undercurrent in Xavier's voice. He was like a volcano about to explode, growling sub-vocally.

"We'll be in touch when we have more information."

They left us alone after Xavier growled at them.

I fell asleep. The birth and the kidnapped newborn were devastatingly tiring. I had a nightmare that my baby was gone, and I had to walk around an empty wasteland to find her. I went around and around and around, but I couldn't see her. I could hear her frantic screams. I knew she was there, and it hurt my heart to listen to her, knowing that she was being hurt, knowing that she was in pain. I eventually found her, like the Lindbergh baby, with a skull fracture. There was blood under her head, the precious, soft head that I had held in my arms for far too short of a time. I cried in my dream.





Crib





When I woke up, the first thing that I saw was a crib in my room. How could anybody be so cruel as to put a crib in my room when my baby was gone?

I heard a wail coming from inside of the crib.

"Oh!" I said. Little Celeste was in there, in a little onesie, under a precious pink blanket. She had a bow in her hair.

"How?"

I looked around, and Asher was dozing in a chair in the corner. His eyes came open.

"Oh, good! You're up."

"Where was the baby?"

He frowned. "It was your mom. Honestly, the security in the maternity ward is abysmal."

"My mom? I don't even talk to her."


"Yeah, I know. But Jayce knew that you were pregnant because he never saw you again."

"I thought that you guys were taking care of him after we found out what was in those pills."

Asher shook his head. "He said he had gotten them from someone else. While we had proof that the pills were to blame, we couldn't prove that he had made them or intended to hurt you."

"Oh. So he was still around."

"Was is the operative word."

"Did you kill him?"

I looked at Asher's eyes. He looked steadily back at me. “Oh." I knew the answer.

"The nurses let your mom in. She had your birth certificate and her ID to prove that she was your mom. No normal person would be that prepared, but she had been paid by Jayce to take the baby."

"Did she know that the baby was going to be killed?"

"No, he spun her a story that he had been in love with you and knocked you up. But then, apparently, the two of us stole you and trapped you in our house and this hospital."

"That's absurd. Don't you think that the nurses would notice if I had been kidnapped?”

"Your mom was too gullible. She wanted to believe him. He was throwing money at her, money to pay her rent and feed her alcoholism."

"Where's my mom? You didn't hurt her, did you?"

"She's in rehab. They're also putting her through grief counseling. She's not the first person to lose her spouse, you know."

I nodded. "I hope that we can have a relationship one day."

Asher sighed. "Maybe one day I can forgive her for nearly getting her granddaughter murdered."

He came to my bed.

"Kiss, please."

He kissed me, then he turned and put Celeste on my tummy.

I stared into her big eyes. "Are you hungry, precious? Mommy will feed you." I undid my gown so that she could latch. She sucked while staring into my eyes. I was happy to meet her when she was born, but I was even happier to have her back.

"No one will ever steal you again," I swore. "No one will ever hurt you."

Asher nodded. "She'll be the most protected child in Los Angeles. No, the world. We'll make sure that she is never harmed by anybody."





Home



The next day, the baby and I were in good enough condition to get out of the hospital. They insisted on wheeling me out, although I was perfectly capable of walking. I swore to myself that I would walk for an hour a day now. I had rolled around in bed so I didn't get bedsores, but it wasn't the same thing as being healthy and moving around.