CHAPTER 4 — "THAT BABY MUST NEVER SURVIVE." The Phone Call That Exposed a Terrifying Secret
The ambulance disappeared down the highway with its sirens screaming into the afternoon.
Júlia watched until the flashing lights became tiny dots on the horizon.
Then her knees gave out.
She collapsed onto the gravel shoulder, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.
Lucas took one instinctive step toward her.
The handcuffs stopped him.
"Please," he pleaded with the officers. "She shouldn't be near that man."
The veteran officer, Sergeant Renato Alves, didn't answer immediately.
His eyes remained fixed on Marcos.
The bruises on Júlia's arms.
The girl's uncontrollable fear.
The contradictions in Marcos's story.
None of it fit together.
"Officer," Marcos said, forcing another nervous smile, "my wife has been sick for months. Júlia is confused. She's under a lot of stress."
Sergeant Renato stared at him.
"Then you won't mind coming to the station."
Marcos swallowed.
"Of course not."
He smiled.
But inside...
Panic was spreading like wildfire.
Because he knew something no one else did.
If that baby lived...
Everything would fall apart.
Twenty minutes later...
Palmas Regional Hospital erupted into controlled chaos.
Doctors and nurses rushed through the emergency entrance as the tiny infant was wheeled straight into the neonatal intensive care unit.
"Heart rate dropping!"
"Severe dehydration!"
"Body temperature dangerously high!"
"Eighteen-day-old male!"
"Possible heatstroke!"
"Prepare emergency fluids!"
Dr. Helena Moraes, the hospital's chief neonatologist, had treated premature babies weighing barely more than a bag of sugar.
Even she froze for a split second.
The newborn looked impossibly fragile.
"Who brought him here?" she asked.
"The ambulance."
"And the family?"
"They're still with the police."
She nodded once.
"We're not waiting."
"Start treatment."
Back at the highway...
Marcos stood beside his pickup while another officer searched the vehicle.
He appeared calm.
Too calm.
Then...
His phone vibrated.
He glanced at the screen.
Unknown Number.
His heartbeat doubled.
He turned slightly away from the officers before answering in a whisper.
"They found the baby."
The voice on the other end was cold.
Emotionless.
"I already know."
Marcos's hands began shaking.
"What do I do?"
A long silence followed.
Then the voice spoke five chilling words.
"That baby must never survive."
Marcos felt the blood drain from his face.
"They're taking him to Palmas Hospital."
"I know."
"What if the police—"
"I said..."
The voice became even colder.
"...make sure the baby dies."
The call ended.
Marcos stared at the black screen.
For the first time in years...
Even he felt afraid.
He wasn't the mastermind.
He was only following orders.
Sergeant Renato noticed everything.
The trembling hands.
The sudden panic.
The hurried attempt to shove the phone back into his pocket.
"Who called you?"
Marcos forced a laugh.
"My employer."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"What does he do?"
Marcos hesitated.
"...construction."
"What company?"
Silence.
Renato slowly extended his hand.
"I'll need your phone."
Marcos stepped backward.
"Why?"
"Because you look like a man who's hiding something."
Before Marcos could react...
His phone rang again.
The caller ID flashed for less than a second.
Sergeant Renato caught only two words before Marcos tried to hide the screen.
Private Office.
Marcos declined the call immediately.
Too late.
Renato had already noticed.
"Seize the phone."
Two officers moved instantly.
"No!"
Marcos shoved one of them away and sprinted toward his pickup.
"Stop!"
He jumped into the driver's seat.
The engine roared.
Gravel exploded behind the tires.
He raced toward the police barricade.
"Move!"
Officers dove aside.
A patrol car swerved to block the road.
CRASH!
The pickup slammed into its front bumper.
Airbags exploded.
Smoke filled the cab.
Marcos staggered out, bleeding from his forehead.
He barely made it three steps before officers tackled him to the ground.
This time...
He wasn't pretending to cry.
He was screaming.
"They'll kill me!"
"They'll kill all of us!"
Sergeant Renato grabbed him by the shirt.
"Who?"
Marcos looked around wildly.
As if someone might already be watching.
Then he whispered...
"I can't tell you."
"They're everywhere."
Meanwhile...
Lucas finally arrived at the hospital under police escort.
The handcuffs had been removed after Sergeant Renato personally ordered it.
"You aren't under arrest anymore," the sergeant said quietly.
"But I need you to stay available."
Lucas nodded.
"I only care about the baby."
They rushed through the emergency entrance.
Júlia ran ahead.
A nurse stopped her outside the NICU.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart."
"You can't go inside."
Júlia pressed both hands against the glass window.
Inside...
Tiny doctors surrounded an even tinier patient.
Machines beeped relentlessly.
The infant's chest rose and fell with mechanical assistance.
Lucas stood silently beside her.
Neither of them spoke.
Neither dared to hope.
Then Dr. Helena stepped out.
Her surgical mask hung loosely around her neck.
Her face revealed nothing.
Júlia's voice shook.
"Is... is my brother alive?"
The doctor looked at the little girl.
Then at Lucas.
Finally she said,
"We managed to stabilize him..."
Júlia burst into tears of relief.
But the doctor wasn't finished.
"...however..."
Everyone froze.
"We discovered something during his examination."
Lucas frowned.
"What is it?"
Dr. Helena held up a tiny silver chain that had been hidden beneath the baby's blanket.
Attached to it was an old heart-shaped locket.
Inside the locket...
Was a faded photograph.
One side showed Júlia's sick mother holding a newborn.
The other side showed an elegant man wearing an expensive suit.
Lucas stared at the picture.
His entire body went numb.
He recognized that face instantly.
It belonged to one of the richest and most powerful businessmen in Brazil...
A man Lucas had worked with for nearly ten years.
A man who publicly claimed he had never had children.
May you like
And just hours earlier...
That same man had called Lucas three times.
