“An emergency custody transfer,” she said. “Signed by both of you.”

“We never signed anything.”

“The hospital administration doesn’t know that,” she said, her eyes gleaming. “They just need the paperwork.”

She reached out and patted my arm.

Her hand felt like ice.

“I’m doing this for you, Jake. I’m saving you from her.”

I knocked her hand away.

“Touch me again, and I swear to God I’ll throw you out of this window.”

My mother’s expression hardened.

The warmth vanished from her face, leaving only cold malice.

“You always were ungrateful,” she said. “I raised you. I made you.”

She pointed a finger at the incubator.

“I won’t let that woman ruin another generation of my family.”

She reached for the latch on the incubator lid.

“Stop!” I lunged forward.

I grabbed her wrist before she could open the plastic dome.

Her skin was paper-thin, but she possessed a surprising, frantic strength.

She clawed at my hand with her free fingers.

Her nails dug deep into the back of my hand, drawing blood.

“She’s mine!” my mother hissed.

“She is my daughter!” I yelled.