PART 5 — The Access Log
For a moment, I couldn't breathe.
The steady rhythm of the NICU monitors suddenly sounded impossibly loud.
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Dr. Ethan Morales stared at the computer screen without speaking.
I looked from his face to the monitor.
"What do you mean..."
My voice barely existed.
"...someone accessed Lily's file?"
He slowly turned the screen toward me.
"Our electronic medical records keep a log of every person who opens a patient's chart."
He pointed to a line highlighted in yellow.
Remote Access Authorization
Time: 10:43 A.M.
Status: External Credential Accepted
I frowned.
"I don't understand any of this."
"You shouldn't."
He answered quietly.
"Because this shouldn't happen."
Dr. Morales immediately picked up the hospital phone.
"This is Dr. Morales in the NICU."
"I need Information Security."
"Now."
His tone left no room for delay.
Within two minutes, two members of the hospital's cybersecurity department arrived.
One introduced herself.
"I'm Hannah Pierce."
The other, a gray-haired man carrying a laptop, simply nodded.
"What happened?"
Dr. Morales stepped aside.
"Lily Blackwood's medical chart was accessed remotely."
Hannah frowned.
"By whom?"
"We don't know."
She began typing rapidly.
The room fell silent except for the sound of computer keys.
I remained beside Lily's incubator.
Her tiny fingers still rested around mine.
She had no idea strangers were arguing over files that carried her name.
No idea that before she had even learned to breathe on her own...
Someone was already treating her like an asset.
Or a liability.
I bent closer.
"You don't worry about any of this."
I whispered.
"I'll do the worrying."
Behind me, Hannah suddenly stopped typing.
"Found it."
Everyone looked at her.
"The account wasn't hacked."
Dr. Morales frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"It used valid credentials."
She enlarged another window.
"Executive legal authorization."
I stared blankly.
"Is that bad?"
She looked uncomfortable.
"It means whoever entered the system had documents allowing temporary access."
Dr. Morales crossed his arms.
"Who approved them?"
Hannah looked again.
Then her expression changed.
"That's..."
"What?"
"The request came yesterday."
Yesterday.
While I was still recovering from surgery.
While Lily was fighting for every breath.
Someone had been filing paperwork.
She continued reading.
"The authorization requested access for..."
She stopped.
Her eyes slowly lifted toward me.
"For the purpose of reviewing guardianship documentation."
I felt my stomach twist.
"Guardianship?"
Dr. Morales looked equally confused.
"Why would anyone request guardianship records?"
Hannah quietly turned the monitor around.
At the bottom of the application appeared a law firm's electronic signature.
Blackwood & Pierce Corporate Counsel
Not family lawyers.
Corporate lawyers.
My phone buzzed.
It was Damon Reed.
I answered immediately.
"Damon."
"Avery."
His voice was unusually urgent.
"Where are you?"
"The NICU."
"Good."
"Don't leave."
My heart quickened.
"What happened?"
"I just received copies of filings submitted to Family Court yesterday afternoon."
I closed my eyes.
"Tell me."
There was a long pause.
Then Damon spoke carefully.
"Grant filed an emergency petition."
"For what?"
"He requested temporary guardianship over Lily."
The room spun.
"What?"
"He argued that your medical condition following surgery made you mentally incapable of making decisions."
I couldn't speak.
"He attached affidavits claiming you were emotionally unstable."
My knees nearly gave out.
Dr. Morales caught my arm before I fell.
"Who signed those affidavits?"
I whispered.
Damon answered immediately.
"Grant."
"Eleanor."
"And Savannah."
Savannah.
She wasn't even related to my daughter.
Yet she had signed papers declaring me an unfit mother.
Dr. Morales held out his hand.
"May I speak with Mr. Reed?"
I handed him the phone.
The doctor introduced himself.
Then listened silently for nearly a minute.
Finally he answered.
"No."
"That statement is medically impossible."
Another pause.
"I'll provide sworn testimony if necessary."
He listened again.
"Thank you."
Then ended the call.
I looked at him.
"What did he say?"
Dr. Morales folded his arms.
"The court hearing is tomorrow morning."
"So soon?"
"Emergency petitions move quickly."
My hands began shaking.
"I can't lose her."
He looked directly into my eyes.
"You won't."
Just then, the NICU doors opened again.
This time it wasn't Grant.
Or Eleanor.
It was Hospital Director Miriam Voss.
She walked briskly toward us carrying another folder.
"I've just spoken with the Chairman."
She looked at me.
"Avery..."
"The Foundation's legal department has reviewed your father's trust."
I frowned.
"What does that have to do with Lily?"
"Everything."
She handed me a certified copy of one final document.
My father's signature covered the last page.
"So that's what Damon meant."
I whispered.
"What is it?"
Dr. Morales asked.
I slowly read the title aloud.
Designation of Medical Guardian in the Event of Maternal Incapacity.
My heartbeat slowed.
Medical guardian?
I turned to the final page.
There, beneath my father's signature, was another familiar name.
Not Grant.
Not Eleanor.
Not anyone from the Blackwood family.
I stared at it in disbelief.
"Miriam..."
She smiled softly.
"Your father planned for every possibility."
I looked up.
"He appointed someone else."
"Yes."
"Who?"
She answered quietly.
"The hospital."
Silence filled the NICU.
Under the trust established years before his death, if I were ever temporarily unable to make medical decisions, authority would not pass automatically to my husband.
It would pass to an independent medical ethics committee at the children's hospital.
Exactly the hospital my father had built.
Grant's emergency guardianship petition...
Had been legally impossible from the moment he filed it.
He simply hadn't known.
For the second time in one day...
My father had reached across the years to protect me.
May you like
And somewhere downstairs in the courthouse, Grant was still fighting for rights...
He had never actually possessed.
