Chapter 7 -Stealing Her Baby

Carlos had just returned home when he felt that something was wrong. He stepped into the foyer and immediately raised his head upon hearing Veronica scream. His heart skipped a beat, but he quickened his pace to reach his falling wife. Before he could get to her, she had already fallen down the stairs. Mathew, after pushing her, had rushed back to her bedroom and grabbed her phone to send a text to Carlos. Veronica: I know you won't let me keep my baby, but I won't let you make that decision. I am taking back my power. I will make the decision for myself and my baby. This will be my revenge on you to not let you decide my fate. Goodbye, husband. Carlos ran to catch his unconscious wife. Panic gripped his heart when he saw the blood pooling between her legs. “No! You cannot die on me,” he pleaded, unaware of what exactly he was begging for. At that moment, all he knew was that he would lose his mind if anything happened to Veronica. He scooped her up in his arms, his thoughts spinning, unable to comprehend what had just happened, and rushed outside to his car. As he held her close, he panicked, tears streaming down his face. “Please stay awake. We’re almost there, darling,” he whispered, cradling her head in his lap as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Upon arriving at the hospital, he carried her inside, and a group of nurses immediately gathered around her. Everyone knew Carlos, so special treatment was already in place for his wife. While Veronica remained in the ICU, Carlos sat on the ground, leaning against the wall, crying non-stop. He couldn’t believe he was about to lose her just after finally finding her again. Since Veronica had lost a lot of blood from the fall, the doctors had to perform an emergency C-section. Hours passed before a nurse finally came out with news. “Congratulations, Mr. Carlos, it’s a baby boy,” she said with a warm smile. She tried to show him the baby wrapped in a blanket, but Carlos’s mind was clouded with worry. “What about my wife?” he asked, his voice filled with desperation. He had never looked so miserable. The fear of losing Veronica shook him to his core. “She lost a lot of blood and suffered serious injuries from the fall, but she is being taken care of now,” the nurse assured him, noticing that Carlos was on the verge of breaking down. Just then, the baby started crying again. Carlos turned his attention to the tiny newborn and felt something stir deep inside him. For a moment, his mind went blank. That was his child. His blood. His heir. The nurse took the baby away to care for him, while Carlos remained outside the emergency room. “You will not die on me, Veronica. You will not,” he muttered, his fists clenched as tears continued to pour down his face. Years ago, he lost his mother when she left him in the middle of the night. He managed to survive without her, but he couldn’t find the strength to imagine a life without Veronica. His emotions were all over the place. Even when he tried to remind himself why he shouldn’t have feelings for Veronica, he was failing to hate her. The rest of the time passed with Carlos anxiously pacing outside the hospital room. Every second was filled with the terrifying thought that he might lose her, and it made his body tremble visibly. After another hour, an exhausted doctor finally emerged—but with good news. “Mister Carlos, Veronica is fine, but she’s resting,” the doctor informed him. A moment later, the nurses wheeled Veronica out, wrapped in a blanket, bandages covering her head and arms. She looked as pale as a porcelain doll, her hair messily scattered around her face. “We’ll let her rest for now. She’s still under anesthesia, but you can see her once she wakes up,” the doctor advised Carlos, who seemed to come back to life after hearing the good news. Carlos nodded, and the doctor smiled. “But you can see your son,” he added. Carlos watched as the medical staff took Veronica away, his eyes lingering on her until she was out of sight. He still couldn’t believe what had happened. He should have been more careful. He should have prepared a room for her downstairs. One wrong step, and he could have lost both his wife and child. With a heavy heart, he made his way to the observation room to see his baby. Inside the incubator, his newborn son rested peacefully, unaware that his father was one of the most powerful men in the world. The thought made Carlos smile slightly. He still couldn’t believe he was a father now. “The baby looks just like you,” a nurse said, smiling. Carlos couldn’t take his eyes off his son. He was indeed a beautiful child. The nurse opened the incubator to change the baby’s diaper, and Carlos extended his index finger. The moment he touched the baby’s hand, the baby grasped it. His tiny hand, though small, held a surprising strength. It squeezed Carlos’s heart, and he felt a wave of delight fill his soul. Carlos grabbed his phone to inform everyone at the manor to prepare for Veronica and the baby’s arrival when he saw a text from Veronica. A small spark of happiness surged through him. He had expected her to text him, perhaps to express her feelings for him like she had done before she ran away. He knew it wouldn’t be long before she came crawling back to him. With that confidence, he opened the text—but the content was so shocking that he had to re-read it several times before understanding what it meant. It couldn’t be. She had jumped, not only because she wanted to end her life, but to make him suffer the loss of yet another person he might have had a chance at a happy life with? Anger rushed through his veins at the audacity of Veronica, thinking she could hurt him any further. He thought she wanted him to understand that he couldn’t keep anyone, that he was powerless when it came to making people stay with him—whether it was his mother, his wife, or his child. “So that was your master plan? Just like your slut mother,” he hissed, his fists clenching. He hated himself in that moment for shedding so many tears for her, for almost accepting her as his wife. He should have remembered how her mother had hurt his family, and now she was going to do the same to him. His eyes shifted to his son, and he muttered, “My blood runs through your veins. You will only be my son and no one else’s. I won’t let her dirty shadow touch you, ever,” he promised, his voice filled with determination.