Chapter 11 - The Unmistakable Cry Beyond the Locked Nursery
Victoria backed up another step, her heel teetering near the edge of the concrete pad. “I gave him a nursery! I bought him the finest clothes money can buy! I can give him a life you could never afford on a teacher’s salary!”
“A child doesn't need your dirty money,” I shouted back, stepping closer. “A child needs a mother who would die to protect him. Look at him, Victoria. Look at the innocent life you tried to steal to fill the empty void in your soul.”
As if hearing my voice, a tiny, piercing wail erupted from within the blue swaddle blanket.
The sound of my baby’s cry pierced through the roaring wind and the hum of the helicopter. It was the exact same pitch, the exact same rhythm as Leo’s cry. The maternal chord inside my chest vibrated with an electric shock of certainty.
Victoria looked down at the screaming infant in her arms, her hands trembling violently.
Julian Henderson, realizing the situation was completely lost and trying to save his own skin, stepped away from his wife and raised his hands in the air. “Victoria, give them the baby! It’s over! We’ll let the lawyers handle this!”
“Shut up, Julian!” she screamed. “You promised me a baby! You promised me everything would be clean!”
“Victoria,” I said softly, lowering my voice and holding out both my open arms. “The police have this entire mountain surrounded. If that helicopter attempts to take off, it will be grounded immediately. Don't hurt an innocent baby. Give him back to his mother.”
Victoria looked around at the circle of tactical rifles, then down at the screaming child in her arms. The delusion of her perfect, purchased life finally shattered into dust.
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Tears of defeat streamed down her heavily made-up face.
Slowly, reluctantly, she stepped away from the aircraft, walked toward me, and placed the warm, crying bundle into my outstretched arms.
