Chapter 3 - THE CORPORATE KIDNAPPINGAlexander didn't turn around immediately. He kept his hand resting gently on Madison’s sleeping arm, shielding the twins with his broad frame.
"State custody?" Alexander asked quietly, his voice dangerously soft as he finally turned to face the administrator. "On whose authority, Dr. Vance?"
Dr. Vance blinked, momentarily thrown off by the lack of panic in the billionaire's voice. He cleared his throat, adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses. "On the authority of the county welfare board, sir. Given that the mother, Rachel Morrison, is currently a fugitive wanted for corporate fraud and abandonment, these children are wards of the state. My associates at Thornhill Enterprises have graciously offered to handle their private relocation."
Associates.
The word hung in the air like poison.
"My father sent you," Alexander stated as a fact, not a question.
"Mr. Thornhill Sr. is merely concerned about the family's public image," Vance retorted, stepping further into the room while nodding to the two deputies. "Now, please step away from the beds. We don't want to use physical force in front of the children."
The two deputies stepped forward, their hands hovering nervously over their holstered sidearms. They were local cops, clearly out of their depth, taking orders from a hospital administrator who held the purse strings of half the county.
Alexander let out a cold, humorless laugh. He reached into his coat pocket, pulled out his encrypted satellite phone, and pressed speed-dial one.
"Jennifer," Alexander said clearly into the speaker. "We have an active trespassing and abduction attempt in Room 312 of Milbrook General. Connect me directly to the State Attorney General’s office, and patch in the federal field office in Portland."
Dr. Vance’s oily smile instantly vanished. "Mr. Thornhill, you can't—this is an internal corporate matter—"
"You just tried to kidnap my brother’s legal heirs inside a public hospital on behalf of a criminal enterprise," Alexander interrupted, stepping across the room until he towered over the administrator. "You’re not dealing with a board of directors anymore, Marcus. You’re dealing with a man who just found out his entire life was built on a pile of family corpses."
The phone crackled to life in Alexander’s hand.
“This is Assistant U.S. Attorney Sterling, secure line,” a crisp, authoritative voice echoed through the hospital room.
Alexander locked eyes with Dr. Vance, whose face had turned the color of curdled milk.
"Atty. Sterling, I am Alexander Thornhill," Alexander said calmly, his gaze never leaving the terrified administrator. "I am standing in Milbrook General Hospital, Room 312. I am formally invoking immediate kinship guardianship over my surviving nieces, Sophia and Madison Thornhill. Furthermore, I am filing an emergency federal motion for a forensic audit and exhumation order regarding the 2019 death of my brother, David Thornhill, under suspicion of state-sanctioned homicide."
The room went dead silent. The two deputies slowly stepped backward, instinctively un-holstering their hands and looking at Vance in sheer panic.
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"Mr. Thornhill," Vance stammered, backing toward the door. "You’re making a catastrophic mistake. Your father—"
"My father," Alexander snarled, cutting him off, "can start packing his bags for a federal penitentiary."
