Chapter 59 Maternal instinct

Chapter 59 Maternal instinct
(Lily POV)
The darkness was peaceful. Warm. Safe. No pain could reach me here. I floated in nothingness, aware of voices around me but not caring enough to listen. Doctors spoke. Machines beeped. Someone held my hand and begged me to wake up. But I didn't want to wake up. Waking up meant remembering. Remembering meant pain.
My baby was dead. There was nothing left to wake up for. Then, in the darkness, I heard something. Not with my ears, with something deeper. A pull, like a string tied around my heart, tugging insistently.
Mama.
Not a voice. A feeling. A knowing.
Mama, I need you.
My eyes flew open. Bright lights. White ceiling. Hospital room. Tony asleep in the chair beside my bed, his hand still holding mine, dark circles under his eyes. I tried to speak but my throat was dry, raw. I squeezed his hand instead. Tony jerked awake, his eyes widening when he saw me looking at him.
"Lily? Oh my God, Lily, you're awake." He pressed the call button frantically. "You're awake. How do you feel? Are you.."
"My baby." The words came out as a croak. "She's alive."
Tony's face crumpled. "Lily, I'm so sorry. The baby they found.."
"Wasn't mine." I sat up despite the protests from my body. "I know she's alive, Tony. I can feel her. She needs me."
"Lily, I know this is hard to accept, but.."
"She's alive!" I grabbed his shirt, pulling him close. "I'm her mother. I carried her for seven months. I know she's alive. Please, Tony. Please tell me you believe me."
He stared at me for a long moment. Then something shifted in his expression, hope, maybe, or desperation that matched my own.
"The baby in the warehouse was Sarah's," he said slowly. "We confirmed it with DNA. Sarah's baby was stillborn, and she left it there to make everyone think it was yours."
Relief flooded through me so powerfully I started crying. "She's alive. Oh God, she's alive."
"Yes." Tony gripped my hands. "And Sarah has her. She's been sending ransom demands. Twenty million dollars. But Lily, the baby, is sick. Very sick. Sarah sent a video and she looked.."
"How sick?" Ice filled my veins.
"Fever, possibly pneumonia. She needs medical attention that Sarah can't provide."
I threw off the blankets and tried to stand. My legs buckled immediately and Tony caught me.
"Whoa, easy. You've been catatonic for four days. You can't just.."
"My daughter is dying and you expect me to stay in bed?" I pushed against him, but I was too weak. My body had atrophied, my muscles barely functional.
"Dr. Chen!" Tony called out as medical staff rushed in. Dr. Chen examined me quickly, her expression amazed. "Lily, this is remarkable. But you need to take it slow. Your body has been through tremendous trauma."
"I don't care about my body. My baby needs me."
"I understand, but.."
"Do you have children, Dr. Chen?"
She paused. "Yes. Two daughters."
"Then imagine one of them is sick, dying, being held by a psychopath. Would you stay in bed and 'take it slow'?"
Dr. Chen's expression softened with understanding. "No. No, I wouldn't." She turned to Tony. "Get her a wheelchair. And get her discharged AMA, against medical advice. I'll sign the papers."
Twenty minutes later, I was in a wheelchair being pushed through the hospital by Tony. Every part of me ached, but I didn't care. My baby was alive and that was all that mattered.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"My office. I have a team tracking Sarah's location. Every phone call, every transaction, every movement." Tony pushed me into an elevator. "We're close, Lily. Very close."
At Stark Industries, I was wheeled into a room filled with monitors, computers, and people working frantically. Pepper looked up when we entered.
"She's awake," Pepper breathed. "Thank God."
"Show me everything," I demanded. "Every video Sarah sent. Every communication. Everything."
They showed me. Video after video of my daughter, crying, sleeping, sick. In the last video, her lips were tinged blue. Her breathing was labored.
"That was three hours ago," Tony said gently. "We've had no contact since then."
"She's alive," I said with absolute certainty. "I'd know if she wasn't. I'd feel it."
Tony knelt beside my wheelchair. "We're going to find her. I promise you, Lily, we're going to bring your daughter home."
For the first time in months, I looked at him, really looked at him. Saw the exhaustion, the determination, the way he'd destroyed himself searching for my baby.
"Why?" I whispered. "Why are you doing all this for me?"
"Because.." He stopped, struggling with words. "Because you deserve it. Because your daughter deserves it. Because I.."
"Sir!" One of the tech workers interrupted. "We've got a hit. Sarah's phone just pinged a cell tower in Baltimore. She's on the move."
Tony was on his feet instantly. "Get me exact coordinates. Pepper, coordinate with FBI. I want them ready to move the second we have a location."
"Tony, they want you to wait for.."
"I'm not waiting." He turned back to me. "Lily, I need you to stay here where it's safe."
"No." I gripped the wheelchair arms, trying to stand. "I'm coming with you."
"You can barely walk."
"Then carry me. But I'm not staying behind. That's my daughter, Tony. Mine. And I'm going to be there when we find her."
We stared at each other. Then Tony nodded. "Okay. But you stay in the car. No arguments."
"No arguments."
The drive to Baltimore took ninety minutes, ninety minutes of me clutching Tony's hand in the back of his SUV, surrounded by security personnel. Every minute felt like an hour.
"Tell me about her," Tony said softly. "Your daughter. Have you thought about what you'll name her?"
"Emma," I said. "Emma Grace. That was my grandmother's name."
"It's beautiful."
"Tony..." I squeezed his hand. "If something happens to me, if Sarah.."
"Nothing is going to happen to you."
"But if it does, promise me you'll take care of Emma. Find her a good family. Make sure she knows she is loved."
"Lily.."
"Promise me."
"I promise. But it won't come to that. You're going to raise your daughter. You're going to watch her grow up and go to school and graduate and have her own children. You're going to have everything you deserve."
Tears streamed down my face. "I don't deserve anything. I let Sarah into my life. I married Alex. I made so many mistakes—"
"You survived." Tony cupped my face, his thumbs wiping away my tears. "You survived when three other women didn't. You're stronger than you know, Lily. And Emma is lucky to have you as a mother."
The vehicle slowed. We'd arrived at an industrial area, warehouses and abandoned buildings. "The signal is coming from that building," the driver said, pointing to a large warehouse with broken windows.
FBI vehicles were already there, surrounding the building. Agent Morrison approached our car.
"We've confirmed movement inside. At least two people, possibly three. We're preparing to breach."
"I'm going in with you," Tony said.
"Mr. Stark…"
"That baby could be dying. We don't have time for protocol. I'm going in."
Agent Morrison looked like he wanted to argue but nodded. "Stay behind my team. And wear a vest."
Tony strapped on a bulletproof vest, then turned to me. "Stay here. Lock the doors. Don't open them for anyone except me or the FBI."
"Tony, be careful."
He leaned in and kissed my forehead. "I'm bringing your daughter home. I promise."
Then he was gone, running toward the warehouse with the FBI team.
I watched through the SUV window, my heart hammering. This was it. After everything—all the pain, all the trauma, all the loss—this was the moment that would determine whether I got my baby back.
The FBI breached the door. I heard shouting, movement.
Then, a gunshot.
"No!" I tried to open the car door but the driver had locked it from the front.
"Ma'am, you need to stay inside."
More gunshots. Shouting. I couldn't see what was happening.
Then silence. Terrible, awful silence.
The driver's radio crackled. "We need medical! Officer down! Repeat, officer down!"
My heart stopped. "Who? Who's down?"
"Ma'am, I don't.."
The radio crackled again. "It's Stark. Tony Stark has been shot. I repeat, Stark is down."
The world tilted. "No. No, no, no."
I threw myself against the car door, pounding on the window. "Let me out! Tony! Let me out!"
"Ma'am, I can't.."
"Let me out or I swear to God I'll break this window!"
He unlocked the door. I fell out, my legs barely supporting me, and half-crawled, half-stumbled toward the warehouse.
FBI agents tried to stop me but I pushed through them. I had to get to Tony. Had to see—
Inside the warehouse, Tony lay on the concrete floor, blood spreading across his chest. Paramedics worked on him frantically.
"Tony!" I collapsed beside him. "Tony, please, stay with me."
His eyes fluttered open. "Lily... I'm sorry... She wasn't here... trap..."
"Don't talk. Save your strength."
"Lily..." He coughed, blood flecking his lips. "Alex... he's free... released on technicality... this was... his plan..."
"What?" Horror washed over me. "Alex is free?"
Agent Morrison appeared, his face grim. "It's true. Alex Morrison's lawyers found a procedural error. He was released this morning. And he's been working with Sarah this whole time."
The trap. The warehouse. The ransom demands. It had all been a setup to draw us out.
And Tony had been shot because of me.
"We need to transport now!" A paramedic shouted. "He's losing too much blood!"
They lifted Tony onto a stretcher. I grabbed his hand.
"Don't you dare die on me," I said fiercely. "You promised to bring Emma home. You promised."
"I will..." He whispered. "I will... find her..."
Then his eyes closed and they were rushing him toward the ambulance.
I stood in the warehouse, surrounded by FBI agents, covered in Tony's blood.
Alex was free. Sarah had my baby. And Tony might be dying. Agent Morrison's phone rang. He answered, his expression darkening with every word.
"What?" I demanded when he hung up. "What is it?"
"We just got a message. From Alex Morrison." He showed me his phone.
A photo of my baby, my Emma being held by Alex himself. And underneath: "Come alone, Lily. No police. No FBI. No Tony Stark. Just you. Come to the address I'm sending, or you'll never see your daughter alive again. You have two hours."
I looked at Agent Morrison. "I'm going."
"Ms. Morrison, that's exactly what he wants. It's a trap.."
"I don't care." I started walking toward the SUV, my legs shaking but holding. "That's my daughter. And I'm going to get her back. With or without your help."
Behind me, sirens wailed as the ambulance carrying Tony sped away. Ahead of me, somewhere in this city, Alex had my baby. And I was walking straight into his trap. Because that's what mothers do..