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Chapter 3

Adrian’s POV

I finally opened my eyes, looking around to know where I was. Everything felt strange; the ceiling above was white in color.

Antiseptic and methylated spirit smells filled the air. My head throbbed softly, and my throat was dry from screaming and swallowing every pain. For a while I didn’t remember why I was brought there or what had happened.

Then slowly I remembered. Martin. Amelia. The pain. The birth. The baby.

I remembered the doctor saying something about doing an operation. I moved my hand to check my lower tummy, but I was relieved that I didn’t give birth through cesarean section. Somehow I made it through the delivery.

Then I turned my head slightly, trying to sit up, but I felt heavy like a cloth deep in the water, making it wet. There was an IV line running into my hand, and also the beep of a machine was heard in the room. One was closer to me, calm and steady. My head was still spinning, but I was searching for the most important thing.

Then my eyes found it, the baby cradle, and I was relieved.

My baby! I looked at the cradle bed beside me, but it was empty… My baby is supposed to be there. Where is my baby!?

My heart skipped.

I cleaned my eyes with my hands. Maybe I wasn't seeing clearly, but it appeared empty. The cradle's white bedsheet was neatly spread and untouched. There was no tiny body wrapped and kept inside it. I didn't hear the cry of a baby anyway.

A cold fear ran through me. Where is my baby? What happened to my baby? My heartbeat increased.

Then the door opened and a nurse entered with a smile. Calm and looking cheerful, holding some files. I turned quickly to her, almost falling off the bed.

“Nurse!” I called out desperately in panic. “Where—where is my baby? Where’s my child?” My voice cracked into a plea.

The nurse walked in and got to my side, then she smiled as though that smile could soothe the storm raging in my chest.

“Relax, Adrian,” she said gently. “It was a girl.”

Immediately after I heard her say that, I breathed out in relief… a girl… My little girl. My lips trembled as I whispered to myself, “Thank God. Thank God my baby is here.” I forced a smile, and tears rolled down.

Ever since I got pregnant with my baby, I've thought of carrying my baby in my arms, touching her soft hair, and feeling her close, but my dreams were cut short.

As I looked at the cradle again, I realized that it was empty and my baby was supposed to be there…. Fear clawed at me again.

“Where is she?” I asked, my voice shaking again, “Did you take her to the doctor? Why isn’t she lying next to me?”

The nurse’s expression shifted instantly, and at that moment her smiles faded. Her eyes showed that of sadness. Her shoulders dropped instantly.

"Adrian, I'm sorry, your baby had a breathing problem, and we couldn't save her," she said. "We tried to save her, but she didn’t make it.”

Her words hit me like knives. My heart froze, trying to take in what she’d just said.

“What?!” My screams were heard all through the room. “My baby?! No—no! You're wrong. My baby can’t be dead! No… no… she’s the only thing I have in this world. Please! I want to see my baby!”

My voice rose into a sob that filled the whole room. I tried to get off the bed, but pain shot from my stomach, tearing from inside, but the nurse held my shoulders firmly.

“I want to see her!” I cried, my voice raw with grief. “She's alive! I want to see where she was buried. Please, I beg you, let me just hold her.”

The nurse shook her head. Her pitying eyes dropped to the floor. “We’re so sorry. The moment when we found out that she was dead, the police came and took care of everything,” she said quietly. “They buried her. We’re sorry you weren’t able to see her before… before it happened. Please accept my condolences.”

Her words made all the noise fade away. I only heard my heart beating. She was buried? She was buried without her mother?

“No! No!” I screamed, holding the white sheets. My whole body shook with despair.

The nurse tried to calm me down. She tried to comfort me in her arms, but that didn’t help. I wished I was awake to see my baby. The thought of my little baby dead broke something inside of me.

As my sob slowed down, something deep inside me said with a faint voice that the nurse was lying and my baby was alive.

My heart tells me my baby is still alive, staying with new people far from here. Sometimes I felt my baby was close to me; other times I felt she was close to my bed crying.

But I was hopeless as I sat here, and there was nothing I could do. The next day they took me back to prison, but this time they showed me pity. They gave me a softer bed and showed me a small kindness because I had just given birth and lost my baby. But prison was still prison. Cold. Lonely. Quiet in chains.

I couldn’t eat anymore and didn't feel like waking up the next day. I spent most nights looking at the ceiling. Losing my child is bad, but the worst is I couldn't do anything to save her.

Maybe this was how I was meant to rot in here…alone. The only thing I had in this world was gone. Emptiness filled me in.

Every night, I lay down on my bed with tears, and I prayed:

“Dear God,” I said, “protect my baby. I know my baby is still alive. Somewhere. I can feel her. Please… please keep her safe for me.” I cried myself to sleep believing that one day I will get the revenge I deserve.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere far away…

A car stopped beside the trees in the dark. Then, a woman walked out of a car; she was wearing a black hoodie.

“Darcy's whore had given birth to the heir of the Rodrigos…” she whispered with venom in her voice. , “I won’t allow that baby to rot in jail or worse, be raised by a criminal mother…never!”

A faint, tiny cry of a baby broke the night silence as footsteps approached her with the sound of a stroller rolling on the floor.

The nurse stopped in front of her, pushing a baby who was crying in a stroller… Her hands trembled as she handed over the stroller to the woman. The woman pulled out a fat envelope filled with money while the nurse smiled in excitement.

“This is extra for the money I sent you,” the stranger in the hoodie said. “This is for doing a perfect job.”

“Thank you, Madame, here is the baby,” the nurse said. “I made sure no one saw me coming out, and please, madam…” Don’t ever mention my name if anything happens. I only did this for the money.”

The woman in the black hoodie came closer to the nurse. “Don't worry. Just keep your mouth shut. Remember the plan: her baby died from a breathing problem. If you talk… you'll regret it.”

The nurse’s face lost its color as she nodded her head. She took the envelope and ran away into the dark.

The woman stood there for a while looking down at the tiny baby wrapped up in white sheets that was inside the stroller. The baby was calm and sleeping now.

“No one would ever know your mother was a criminal, a whore, or that you're still alive,” she whispered, “not while I'm still breathing.”

She reached for the baby, gently carrying her out of the stroller, then rolled the stroller quietly into the car … She ignited the car engine, which hummed quietly, and drove off at speed into the lonely roads.

The child was laid down sleeping peacefully while she was surrounded with lies.

Taken far away from her mother, far away from the truth that would one day return.