THE MOTHER-IN-LAW’S SECRET: WHO WANTED MY BABY GONE?

The doorknob turned slowly.

Mason stepped in front of my bed, his fists clenched, ready to kill whoever walked through that door.

The door pushed open.

It was Eleanor.

Mason’s mother stood there, her elegant makeup smeared, gripping Arthur’s silver-handled cane like a weapon. She looked completely out of breath.

“Mom?” Mason blinked. “What are you doing here? Where’s Dad?”

Eleanor locked the hospital door behind her.

“Your father is with the police,” she said, her voice shaking. She looked at me, her eyes dropping to my stomach where I was breathing through another brutal contraction. “Emily, sweetheart, I am so sorry.”

“You didn’t write the note,” I breathed out.

“Richard stole my grandmother's recipe book,” she confirmed, stepping closer. “But that’s not why I’m here. Mason, Richard didn’t go to the airport. He’s in the hospital.”

Mason froze. “How do you know?”

Eleanor reached into her designer purse and pulled out a burning burner phone.

“Because Arthur’s private investigator just tracked Richard’s cell phone. He pinged the signal five minutes ago. He’s in the parking garage downstairs.”

Panic seized my chest. “Lily. Where is Lily?”

“She’s with my security team at the estate,” Eleanor assured me quickly. “She is completely safe.”

Another contraction hit me, harder this time. The monitors wailed. A team of nurses banged on the locked door.

“Let them in!” I screamed.

Eleanor unlocked the door, and the medical team flooded the room.

“She’s in premature labor,” the lead doctor announced, checking my vitals. “The trauma from the fall triggered it. We need to prep an OR for an emergency C-section. Now.”

Mason kissed my forehead. “I’m staying right here. I’m not leaving you.”

But as they unlocked my bed to wheel me out, the hospital fire alarm suddenly blared.

Strobe lights flashed. The deafening siren echoed through the halls.

“Evacuate!” a voice on the intercom shouted.