Chapter 4 - The Mother's Fury
The screeching roar of the fire alarm shattered the silence of the underground facility. Red strobe lights flashed violently across the white walls, and automated safety sprinklers erupted from the ceiling, drenching the hallway in cold water.
Inside Cold Lab 4, Eleanor Vance and the surgeon spun around in shock.
Using the distraction, I smashed the wrench into the electronic keycard panel beside the door. Sparks flew, the lock short-circuited, and the heavy door clicked open.
I threw the door open and charged into the room like a feral animal.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Eleanor Vance shouted, stepping back in horror as a mud-soaked, blood-stained woman brandishing a steel wrench burst into the lab.
The surgeon stepped forward to block me, reaching for my arm. "Madam, you cannot be in here—"
I didn't let him finish. I swung the steel wrench with every ounce of motherly rage inside me, striking the surgeon across the shoulder. He yelled in pain and collapsed against a tray of surgical instruments, sending scalpels and metal bowls crashing to the floor.
"Get away from my daughter!" I screamed, turning the wrench toward Eleanor Vance.
Eleanor’s face paled, but her aristocratic composure didn't break entirely. "Rachel Carter. I should have known Daniel couldn't handle a simple task."
"You stole my baby!" I shrieked, tears pouring down my face as I stepped between Eleanor and the operating table.
"I bought a chance to save my son's life!" Eleanor snapped coldly, her eyes flashing with arrogance. "Your child is a genetic match that occurs once in a generation! Do you know how many millions of dollars I have invested in this? Your husband signed the parental consent release forms! Legally, she belongs to the Vance Research Institute!"
"She is my daughter!" I roared.
I lunged forward, grabbing Eleanor by the collar of her expensive coat, throwing her violently against the wall. She struck her head against a steel cabinet and slid down to the floor, stunned and gasping for breath.
I spun around to the operating table. Mia was beginning to stir, disturbed by the deafening alarm and the flashing red lights. Her tiny eyelids fluttered open, her brown eyes cloudy with sedatives.
"M-Mummy?" she whimpered, her voice frail and weak.
"I'm here, baby. Mummy's here," I sobbed, dropping the wrench and gently pulling the IV tape from her small hand. I unhooked the heart monitor sensors and wrapped her small, fragile body into my arms, lifting her against my chest. She felt so light, so impossibly precious.
"Mummy... my tummy hurts..." Mia whispered, burying her soft face into my wet neck.
"I know, baby. I've got you. I'm never letting you go again," I promised, holding her tightly with one arm while picking up the wrench with the other.
As I turned toward the exit, the lab door swung open.
Standing in the doorway, soaked from the hallway sprinklers, his forehead bleeding and his eyes twisted with wild desperation, was Daniel.
He held a black handg*n in his right hand.
"It ends here, Rachel," Daniel panted, raising the barrel directly at my chest. "Put her back on the table."
"Daniel..." I whispered, stepping back against the operating table, shielding Mia with my body. "Look at her. She's your daughter. She sang songs with you. She held your finger when she was born. How can you do this?!"
"She's a million-dollar check!" Daniel screamed, his voice cracking with madness. "I ruined my life for this family! I gave up everything! I'm not going to prison, and I'm not going back to being a nobody! Put her down, Rachel, or I swear to God I'll shoot you both and tell Eleanor to find another donor!"
Mia whimpered in my arms, hiding her face from her father.
"You're not a father," I said, my voice suddenly dropping into a quiet, deadly calm. "You're a disease."
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"Three... two..." Daniel began counting, his finger tightening on the trigger.
Suddenly, a loud gunshot echoed through the cold lab.
