Chapter 8 - The Price of Treason
“He’s here, Nora,” Dr. Chen said, her eyes smiling above her surgical mask. “You have a beautiful, healthy baby boy.”
A nurse lowered the blue drape slightly, holding up a squirming, red-faced infant wrapped in a soft white blanket. He had a shock of dark brown hair and tiny, flailing fists that fought against the air.
Tears blinded me as they brought him close to my face. His skin was warm and soft, smelling of life and new beginnings.
“Leo,” I whispered, pressing my lips against his damp forehead. “Your name is Leo. You’re safe now, my sweet boy. We made it.”
Leo let out another sharp wail, his tiny fingers brushing against my cheek as if he already knew my voice, having heard it through eight months of heartbreak and quiet endurance.
Because of his slightly premature birth, the pediatric team needed to take him to the neonatal nursery for observation, but the relief that washed over me was absolute. He was breathing on his own. He was strong.
Two hours later, after the anesthesia had worn off and I was settled into a quiet recovery room on the fourth floor, the door opened softly.
Sarah walked in, her face drawn with exhaustion but her eyes bright with triumph. Daisy was trailing behind her, holding Sarah’s hand with one arm and clutching Barnaby with the other.
“Mama!” Daisy let go of Sarah’s hand and rushed to the side of my hospital bed, carefully resting her chin on the mattress. “Did the baby come out?”
“He did, sweetheart,” I smiled, reaching out to stroke her hair. “His name is Leo. And the doctors say you can go see him through the nursery window in just a little bit.”
Daisy beamed, a genuine, joyful smile that I hadn't seen on her face in almost six months. The dark shadow that had hung over her little spirit had finally lifted.
“How are you feeling?” Sarah asked, pulling up a chair and sinking into it.
“Like I just survived a war,” I answered truthfully. “What happened at the courthouse after we left?”
Sarah let out a long, incredulous breath. “Nora, the fallout is catastrophic. For Gabriel, I mean.”
She opened her leather folder, pulling out several stamped legal documents.
“The moment the ambulance pulled away, Judge Barrett initiated criminal referrals directly to the District Attorney’s office,” Sarah explained, her voice sharp with professional satisfaction. “When detectives searched Gabriel’s firm under an emergency subpoena this afternoon, they found that he hadn't just coached Daisy. He had embezzled over four hundred thousand dollars from his company’s operating accounts to pay off personal debts and buy Bianca a condominium in downtown Indianapolis.”
I stared at her, stunned. “He embezzled?”
“The company board called an emergency meeting two hours ago,” Sarah continued. “Gabriel Albright was terminated immediately for gross financial misconduct. His corporate shares have been frozen, and the board is pressing full felony embezzlement charges.”
“And Bianca?” I asked.
“Bianca is currently sitting in a holding cell at Marion County Jail, unable to post her fifty-thousand-dollar bail,” Sarah smiled coldly. “And the best part? She is singing like a canary. The moment she realized Gabriel was going to prison, she handed over text messages, emails, and voice memos detailing the entire scheme. She admitted that Gabriel had planned to drug your evening tea with sedatives to make you look catatonic when the CPS worker arrived tomorrow morning.”
A cold shiver raced down my spine. The depth of Gabriel’s depravity seemed to have no bottom. If Daisy hadn't run into that courtroom today, if she hadn't found the courage to speak... I would have been drugged, declared an unfit mother, and had my newborn son ripped from my arms while Gabriel seized my father’s trust fund.
Daisy looked up at me, sensing the tension, and pressed Barnaby into my hands. “Barnaby protected us, Mama.”
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I pulled Daisy up onto the bed, wrapping my arms around her and burying my face in her hair. “Yes, he did, baby. But you were the real hero. You were braver than anyone I’ve ever known.”
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