Chapter 4 - The Ambush in Bridgeport
The following morning at 9:00 AM, a convoy of two black armored SUVs pulled up outside Bridgeport Hospital.
Lily sat in the rear seat beside me, dressed in a new navy wool coat, her eyes bright with hopeful anticipation.
"Grandma is going to be so happy you paid for her doctor, Mr. Carter," Lily smiled, holding my hand tightly.
"She’s going to get the best cardiac care in the country, Lily," I promised her.
We took the private elevator to the fourth-floor cardiovascular intensive care unit.
Sitting in a private recovery suite, breathing comfortably on supplemental oxygen, was seventy-year-old Helen Vance. When she saw Lily walk through the door, tears of profound relief streamed down her weathered cheeks.
"Lily! Oh, my precious girl!" Helen wept, opening her arms as Lily ran into her embrace.
Helen looked up at me, her eyes filled with confusion and gratitude. "Sir... the nurses told me an anonymous benefactor cleared my entire medical debt and arranged for Dr. Vance from Yale to perform my bypass surgery tomorrow. Are you Mr. Carter?"
"I am, Mrs. Vance," I said gently, sitting in the visitor’s chair. "Your granddaughter is a hero. She saved my son's life yesterday. I am ensuring that both of you are protected for the rest of your days."
Helen closed her eyes, clutching Lily to her chest. "God sent you to us, Mr. Carter. We had nothing left."
While Lily sat on the edge of the bed showing Helen her drawing of baby Leo, Marcus Reyes stepped into the hospital corridor, signaling me with urgent eyes.
I stepped outside into the hallway.
"What is it, Marcus?"
"Victoria Sterling just landed at Westchester County Airport on a private charter from Zurich," Marcus reported. "She hired a team of private security contractors and filed an emergency ex parte habeas corpus writ with the Bridgeport Family Court, claiming that she is the lawful maternal aunt and legal custodian of infant Leo Carter."
"She’s coming for the baby," I said, my voice turning to ice.
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"She claims she has full foreign surrogate guardianship papers signed in Switzerland," Marcus warned. "She’s heading straight to your Greenwich estate right now with a court-appointed marshal."
"Let her come," I replied coldly. "She is walking straight into her own trap."
