Chapter 3

The ambulance cut through rush-hour traffic. Blood had soaked my dress and the sheet beneath me. One paramedic checked my falling blood pressure while another held the fetal monitor against my abdomen. My daughter's heartbeat kept slowing.

"Call Valenti Medical. We need O-negative blood, obstetrics, anesthesia, and the neonatal intensive care team ready."

I pressed a hand over my stomach. "Hold on, sweetheart. Your crib is ready. You haven't even worn your new shoes."

One faint movement answered me, followed by silence.

Twelve minutes later, we reached Valenti Medical. The emergency entrance stood open, but no team came to meet us. Armed family guards watched from the doors.

The paramedic jumped out. "Thirty-week pregnancy, placental abruption, falling fetal heart rate. Where is the trauma team?"

No one answered. Nurses hovered behind the reception desk, too frightened to approach.

The paramedics found a gurney themselves and rushed me inside, only to be stopped at the surgical wing.

"This area is locked down," a guard said.

The doctor shoved the readings in front of him. "She's hemorrhaging. Her baby may lose its heartbeat at any moment."

"Until her identity is verified, accident-related patients may not use family medical resources."

"This isn't theft. It's emergency care. A few more minutes could kill them both."

The hospital director hurried over with a surgical team behind him. Sweat covered his forehead.

"The order came directly from Don Valenti. Electronic access to the blood bank has been suspended, and security controls the obstetric OR. Until Marco clears her, we cannot operate."

Dante had truly sealed the hospital. He knew an injured pregnant woman needed help, but because Camilla called it a trap, he had decided we could wait.

The paramedic ordered basic stabilization, but IV fluids could not stop the hemorrhage. Without blood and surgery, we were running out of time.

My baby's heart rate dropped to eighty, then seventy.

"We need to operate now," the doctor said. "Continued delay will kill the fetus and may kill the mother."

The director called the family security office again and again. No one would lift the order. The nearest alternative trauma center was thirty minutes away.

I picked up my cracked phone and called Dante. The first call went unanswered. He rejected the second. The third and fourth died in silence. On the fifth, he finally answered.

"Dante, lift the lockdown! The doctors say our baby is losing her heartbeat."

My damaged microphone distorted every word.

"Who is this?" he asked.

That single question gave me hope.

"It's Sienna. I went to my prenatal appointment. Camilla hit me, kept the ambulance away, and now your guards have locked the hospital. Our daughter is still alive. Please let them operate."

His breathing changed. "Sienna?"

Before he could say more, Camilla spoke beside him. "It's the same woman. She used Sienna's name at the scene. If the enemy knows about your marriage, they could have researched her voice too."

"Give me the phone," Dante ordered. "I'll question her myself."

I held my phone close. "Our wedding ring is around my neck. The safe in our bedroom opens with the date we met. On our wedding day, you told me that if I ever called your name, you would find me."

Only the two of us knew those things. His breathing grew heavier.

Then Camilla's phone chimed.

"Teresa just sent a picture," she said. "The real Sienna is resting at the safe house."

It was an old photograph of me asleep beneath a pale blanket. No date appeared on the image.

"How did you learn the safe combination?" Dante asked, his voice cold again.

I understood then that nothing I said could convince him. Any private detail could be stolen. In his mind, his real wife was safe at home, and I was an enemy using his secrets.

An alarm sounded beside me.

"Fetal heart rate is fifty," the doctor shouted. "Get the neonatal team. We cannot wait."

I gripped the phone with both hands.

"Listen to me, Dante Valenti. I am Sienna Bellini, your wife of three years. I am lying inside your hospital. The person about to die is our daughter."