Chapter 5 - The Prenatal Revelation
At 1:00 AM, the heavy oak doors of the east wing suite clicked open.
Dr. Julian Hayes—the chief of obstetrics at Northwestern Memorial and a personal physician to the Moretti family for twenty years—stepped into the private medical salon carrying a portable ultrasound scanner.
Dela sat on the edge of the examination bed, wearing a clean, soft cream cashmere sweater and matching trousers that Maria had provided. Julian stood near the window, his arms crossed over his chest, his posture rigid as he watched the doctor set up the diagnostic equipment.
"Lie back, Mrs. Hawthorne," Dr. Hayes said kindly, applying warm acoustic gel across the lower curve of her abdomen. "Let's see how our little survivor is doing after tonight's excitement."
Dela reclined against the pillows, her breath hitching as the cool plastic transducer pressed against her skin.
A rhythmic, rapid sound filled the quiet room.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
The sound of a tiny, healthy heart beating at one hundred and forty beats per minute.
Dela’s eyes welled with tears. For five months, she had attended free municipal clinics where overworked residents spent four minutes checking her blood pressure before hurrying to the next curtain. She had never heard the heartbeat this clearly, like an unyielding drum echoing in a cathedral.
Julian stepped closer to the bed, his gray eyes fixed on the small monochrome monitor. The cynical, untouchable mob boss looked completely captivated, his knuckles relaxing as he stared at the faint gray outline floating on the screen.
"Strong heart," Dr. Hayes noted with a smile, adjusting the frequency dial. "Development is right at twenty-one weeks. Fluid levels are optimal. But wait a moment..."
The doctor frowned, leaning closer to the display, sliding the transducer an inch to the left.
A second rhythmic sound joined the first.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
Dela gasped, sitting up slightly. "Doctor...?"
Dr. Hayes looked up from the screen, his face glowing with a wide, delighted grin.
"Well, Don Julian," Dr. Hayes laughed softly. "It seems your logistical calculations were slightly off."
"Explain," Julian commanded, his voice tight with sudden, breathless tension.
"Twins," the doctor announced, pointing two fingers at the screen where two distinct, curling silhouettes rested side by side beneath the glow of the ultrasound beam.
"Two healthy, active heartbeats. A boy and a girl, perfectly situated in the upper uterine wall."
Dela covered her mouth with both hands, a broken, joyful sob escaping her throat.
Twins.
Elias had always dreamed of having a daughter who loved the water and a son who loved to build. He had left her not one miracle, but two.
Julian did not speak.
He stood beside the bed, staring at the monitor, his large hand moving involuntarily until his fingers rested gently against the edge of the mattress beside Dela’s hip.
A profound, ancient stillness settled over his features. The dark shadows of violence and suspicion that had defined his life for fifteen years seemed to melt away into the light of the medical monitor.
He looked down at Dela, his thumb gently reaching out to wipe a tear from her cheek.
"Two," Julian whispered, his baritone trembling with an emotion so deep it sounded sacred.
May you like
"Two Hawthornes.
Two reasons... to burn Arthur Sterling’s empire to the ground."
