25 I carried a baby for my twin brother after years of watching him struggle to become a father—but seconds after she was born, he looked at her and whispered, “I can’t take her home.”

The cold water from the sprinklers soaked through my hospital gown, but the fire burning inside my chest kept me moving down the concrete stairs. Every step down the stairwell felt like a knife twisting in my lower abdomen. I had just given birth less than an hour ago, yet I was running for my life, carrying a newborn baby whose very existence was a target.

Behind me, the heavy metal door at the top of the stairs slammed open. Heavy footsteps echoed down the stairwell.

"Find her!" Pendelton’s voice boomed from above. "She can't have gone far! She just gave birth!"

I bit my lip so hard I tasted copper, stifling a scream of pain as I pushed through the ground-floor emergency exit. The cold night air hit my face like a slap. Rain was pouring down in sheets over the hospital parking lot.

I scrambled toward my SUV parked in the staff lot—a privilege my doctor had arranged for me earlier that morning. My hands shook so violently I could barely press the key fob unlock button. Opening the back door, I carefully strapped the newborn into the rear-facing car seat I had installed three days ago for Ryan and Melissa.

"I'm sorry, little one," I sobbed, kissing her wet forehead. "I won't let them hurt you. I promise."

I jumped into the driver's seat, cranked the engine, and slammed on the gas just as two men in suits burst out of the emergency exit. Bullets shattered my rear windshield with deafening cracks. I ducked, crying out in terror, and swerved hard out of the parking lot, merging into the blinding rain on the main highway.

My phone on the dashboard began to ring frantically. It was Ryan.

I hit the speaker button. "Ryan! Where are you?!"

"Maya, you need to turn back!" Ryan’s voice was hysterical, punctuated by Melissa’s loud sobbing in the background. "They have us! Pendelton’s men are forcing us into a car! They said if you don't bring the baby to the old harbor warehouse in one hour, they are going to kill Leo!"

"What?!" I screamed, almost losing control of the steering wheel. "Where is Leo?! Did they take him from the house?!"

"No! But they have men outside his bedroom window right now!" Ryan wept. "Maya, please! Just give them the baby! She isn't even yours! You were just the surrogate! Save my life! Save Leo!"

"You cowardly bastard!" I raged, tears blinding my vision. "You brought this on us! You lied about the egg donor! You dragged our family into this!"

"I didn't know!" Ryan yelled back. "I just wanted a child! Please, Maya, bring her to the harbor! It's the only way we all survive!"

The line went dead.

I slammed my hand against the steering wheel, screaming in frustration and agony. My body was crashing from the adrenaline rush; dizziness washed over me in waves, and I could feel heavy bleeding soaking through my clothes. I was losing too much blood. If I didn't get medical help soon, I would pass out behind the wheel.

I looked back in the rearview mirror. The baby was crying softly, her tiny chest heaving under the blanket.

I couldn't go to the police; Pendelton’s men were clearly watching my home and had deep connections. I couldn't go back to the hospital. And I couldn't hand a newborn baby over to a syndicate that viewed her as nothing more than a biological hard drive.

There was only one place left to go. A place I hadn't stepped foot in for twelve years.