He was staring past me with a frightened look in his eyes.
“We’re going to clean him up now, ma’am, then we’ll give him to you,” the nurse said, retrieving the baby.
Carol watched the nurse take him like an animal tracking movement.
“Carol?”
“I’m going to call Mom,” she said, not even looking at me.
She abruptly stepped into the hallway. The second the door shut, Paul leaned close to me.
“Please,” he whispered. “Don’t give her the baby yet.”
“We’re going to clean him up now, ma’am.”
I stared at him, my heart pounding. “What? Why?”
“I need to show you something.” Paul swallowed hard and pulled out his phone.
I frowned as I stared at the screen.
It was a message thread between Paul and Rob. I started reading, and my skin crawled.
“Do you understand?” Paul said, his voice cracking. “I was right when I said something was wrong, I just… God, I never thought it was this bad.”
It was a message thread between Paul and Rob.
I read the messages again.
Carol is scaring me.
She keeps saying the baby is the only thing keeping her alive. She thinks Anna will try to keep him. She’s talking about moving right after the birth, so that nobody can interfere.
“When did Rob send these?” I asked.
“Last night.” He pointed at the screen. “He wanted to meet with you and me to discuss everything, but then you went into labor…”
