Page 81 of Secret Baby for Dr. Billionaire

“Nothing’s going to happen to her, allright?” Ben assured me for the hundredth time, and each time he’d remind me, I’d feel a little better for a short time.

“Billy Anne?”

“She’s with Maggie. She knows nothing except that she’s having a mid-week sleepover.” Ben tried to lighten the mood, but who were we kidding? Our child was somewhere in the city with a stranger. And she was helpless and alone. She must be so hungry right now. And cold.

“I’m so scared, Ben. I keep thinking that none of this would’ve happened if I had picked her up earlier.”

“We don’t know that—”

Before he could finish his sentence, Officer Emily Grant walked in with an enthusiastic look on her face. We stood, anticipating the news she was about to share. God, let Sofi be okay.

“Your child is in the hospital, Ms. Kennedy.”

“What?”

“One of our patrol officers noticed that she was having a severe rash and thought it was better that she’s taken to the hospital.”

“Can we go see her? Which hospital?” The police officer told us which hospital she was admitted to, and I was relieved to hear that it was Ben’s place of work.

“I work there.”

“You can visit your daughter, and we’ll take care of our culprit. We’ll contact you and your lawyers once she is identified and in our custody.”

***

“She’s going to be okay, darling.” I was surprised to see Janice in the hospital when we arrived twenty minutes later. I felt like I was going to die in Ben’s Bentley as we fought through traffic. Thankfully, it wasn’t as slow as it could be, and we got to the hospital only five minutes later than usual.

We learned that Janice had contacted all her doctor friends in Miami to inform her if Sofi was admitted to their hospitals. She got the call immediately when this hospital took in her youngest grandchild. It was one of the perks of networking, I guess.

I didn’t know how much I needed a mother until Janice hugged me in the hallway. She was a mother, too. She’d understand the heartache that no man ever could when your child was in danger.

She told me that I’d feel it deep in my bones if something horrible happened to Sofi. I didn’t tell her that at this point, I didn’t know if I was feeling anything at all. This all felt like I was in a horrible fever dream.

“This is all my fault. What if she’s seriously sick? Jesus Christ.” I cried in Janice’s arms, and I knew I only met the woman twice, but she didn’t complain. Instead, she hugged me tightly as my man took another angry phone call.

“It’s not your fault. The doctors are doing everything they can.”

“Fuck,” Ben cursed, storming toward us, his nose flaring.

“What is it?”

“It was Tonette.”

I felt Janice go rigid beside me, and I waited for Ben to continue because, to me, it didn’t make sense that Tonette would want to hurt my child. A child she didn’t even know existed.

“They got her confession. She had been stalking Billy Anne since spring. She saw me and Chloe with Sofi one time. She said she wanted custody of Billy Anne in exchange for Sofi. She pretended she worked at the school and picked up Sofi before she ran. She was on something, they didn’t say what. She started crying so loud, Tonette brought her strawberry fucking ice cream, thinking she’d calm down—”

“But instead, it only got worse.”

“What did the doctors say?” Janice asked.

“I don’t know yet.” I was shaking, and my chest tightened, but I fought through it, steadying my breath.

I knew I shouldn’t judge mothers, but Tonette seemed like the wrong person all the way around. How could she have cared for Billy Anne when she couldn’t even care for herself? And she had the nerve to use my Sofi like that? She shouldn’t be allowed to be around any kids.

“Hey, babe. Are you okay? Did you bring your inhaler with you?”

“It’s in the car. But I don’t care about any of that. I want to see my daughter!” It felt so good to yell, especially when my frustration was now heightened with anger at Tonette. I didn’t want to see her face. She didn’t deserve Billy Anne.

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