Chapter 6 - The Seizure Order
"You can't be serious," James stepped further out onto the threshold, his shoulders squaring off against the federal agent. "She was legally discharged to us by the hospital staff yesterday afternoon. We have the intake paperwork right here."
Agent Vance didn't blink. He held up the manila envelope, his expression like carved granite. "The hospital discharge was authorized under false pretenses by an administrator who has since been taken into custody for accepting bribes. That infant is not your legal responsibility, Mr. Miller. She is evidence in an ongoing federal RICO investigation into an illegal reproductive trafficking ring."
From the hallway behind James, I clutched Lily tighter to my chest. The baby began to cry, a high, piercing wail that echoed off the hardwood floors.
"She’s my blood!" James shouted, his voice cracking with fury. "The DNA match was confirmed by your own registry database yesterday morning! You can't just walk onto my property and snatch a child out of my house without a hearing!"
"Mr. Miller, if you obstruct federal officers in the execution of a child recovery warrant, I will have you arrested on the spot, and your wife will lose custody of all four children permanently," Agent Vance said coldly, gesturing to the two local officers stepping up behind him. "Hand over the infant."
The word four hung in the air like a blade. All four children. They knew about Leo, Toby, and Sam. They knew everything about us.
"James," I choked out, tears streaming down my face as I stepped into the doorway behind my husband. My knees were shaking so badly I could barely stand. "James, don't let them take her. Look at her—she doesn't know these people."
"Clara, step back," James pleaded, looking back at me with absolute devastation in his eyes. "If we fight them here, they’ll tear this whole house apart. We'll fight them in court. I swear to God, we'll get a judge—"
"There is no court date, Mr. Miller," Agent Vance interrupted, stepping past James into the entryway. "The biological mother has just surfaced at a downtown precinct. And she’s singing a very different tune than the one your husband believes."
My heart stopped. "What... what do you mean?"
"She didn't abandon the child," Agent Vance said, locking his eyes onto mine. "She claims your husband paid her fifty thousand dollars in cash three weeks ago to act as a surrogate outside the clinic's oversight, and that when she demanded more money yesterday, he told her to leave the baby at the hospital and pretend it was an anonymous drop."
Silence fell over the hallway so absolute you could hear the hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen.
James spun around, his face turning the color of ash. "That is a lie! I have never seen that woman in my life! Clara, you know me! You know every cent in our accounts!"
I looked at my husband, the man I had shared a bed with for eleven years, the man who had held my hand while doctors told me I was dying. The room started to spin. The federal agent’s words echoed in my head like a death knell.
Fifty thousand dollars in cash.
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Our home equity line of credit had been drawn down by exactly fifty thousand dollars last month. James had told me it was for a business expansion with his contractor partner.
I looked down at Lily in my arms, then up at James’s terrified, bleeding eyes, and the ground completely fell out from under me.
