Reborn, I Stopped My Aunt from Stealing My Baby Brother

In my last life, it happened at the welcome party for my newborn brother. My aunt Vivian forced her way into the nursing room while my mother was changing and carried Noah out. By the time my mother came out in clean clothes, he was gone. Vivian argued that she had only taken him out to show him to the guests, and that my mother was the one who hadn't watched her own child. The security footage was destroyed on purpose. My mother couldn't find any new evidence, and in the end the investigation into his disappearance was closed. After that, my mother was never right again. She spent every day murmuring Noah's name, and six months later she was in a car accident. My father searched for three years. He finally found Noah's body in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Then I opened my eyes, and Vivian was walking toward the nursing room with a smile on her face. I threw myself at her, grabbed the fruit platter off the table beside me, and slammed it into her. Chapter 1 The moment the platter hit the floor, the whole ballroom went silent. Vivian stumbled back two steps, the hand she'd raised to push the door frozen in midair. She glared at me. "Chloe, have you lost your mind?" I clung to the nursing room door handle, my back pressed hard against the door. In my last life it happened exactly this way. My mother went to change out of the blouse Noah had spit up on, and while she was gone, Vivian pushed into the nursing room and carried him straight out. He never came back. My mother searched every place she could think of, but the security footage from the ballroom had been destroyed on purpose, and the guests were all busy talking. Nobody noticed when he had been taken. I was the only witness, but the police dismissed my statement because I was too young. The police worked the case for three months, turned up nothing, and finally closed it. My mother lost her mind, and six months later she died in a car accident. My father quit his job and searched for three full years. He found Noah's body in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Vivian smiled and tried to pull me away. "It's good for a kid to be careful, but I'm your aunt, not some stranger. Let me in so I can see your brother." I put my hand against her stomach and shoved her back as hard as I could. "Back off! I'm not letting you in!" Behind me, Noah started crying inside the nursing room. My mother's voice came through the door. "Chloe? What's going on out there?" My nose stung, and my eyes ached with tears. I wiped the tears away and shouted at the door without turning around, "Mom, whatever you do, don't open the door!" It was quiet in there for two seconds before she asked, "Who's trying to come in?" Vivian leaned in closer and spoke through the crack of the door, "I don't have to come in. Just hand him out to me and I'll carry him around so everyone can see him." Somebody nearby muttered, "He's barely a month old. He can't be away from his mother." Vivian waved a hand. "Just out here so you can all get a look at him. With this many people around, how would anybody lose a baby?" I looked up at her. "You're the one who would lose him." Vivian frowned. "What did you say?" I looked her right in the eyes. "You've been staring at the nursing room this whole time. The second my mom went in, you came right after her. Aunt Vivian, did you really just come over here to hold him?" Vivian opened her mouth, and before she could get anything out, the nursing room door opened a crack from the inside. My mother stood behind it with Noah in her arms. She reached out and pulled me in. "If Chloe says no, then no one's holding him. He's still tiny, he's met a lot of people today, and he needs to rest." The smile dropped off Vivian's face. "What is that supposed to mean? I'm family too. I'm not allowed to hold him?" My mother tucked me behind her. "I'm his mother. If I say it's not a good time, then it's not a good time." Vivian stared at us for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed. "Fine, fine. If the kid says no, then no. I'm his aunt. I'm not going to argue with a child." That was what she said, but she didn't leave. She stood at the end of the hallway, quietly watching the nursing room. Chapter 2 A server swept up the broken ceramic outside the nursing room door while my mother pulled me aside and crouched down. "Chloe, did something happen?" I grabbed her hand. "Mom, you can't let Vivian anywhere near Noah." She went still for a second, then smiled and nodded. "Okay." Right after that, someone beside us spoke up. "One kid throws a fit and you go along with it? It's normal for family to want to hold the baby." I stepped in front of my mother. "So you'd be fine with somebody carrying your baby off into a crowd?" She had nothing to say to that. I kept my eyes on her. "And my brother is only a month old. If someone who's been drinking picks him up and falls, then what?" Someone nodded. "You shouldn't pick up a baby after you've been drinking." Vivian smiled. "You're right. I didn't think it through. I'll sober up before I come back." Then she turned and walked away. I didn't let myself relax, because she had done the same thing in my last life. She looked like she had given up, and all she was doing was waiting for her chance. I took out my phone and texted my father, "Dad, come to the nursing room now." The message sat there with no answer. I looked out into the main hall. He was surrounded by guests, drinking one glass after another. He glanced our way, but someone stepped into his line of sight. My mother saw it too. She said quietly, "Chloe, did you notice something?" I looked up at her. "Mom, don't give anyone a chance to carry Noah off today." She looked at me for a long time before she nodded. "Okay." Right then Noah woke up, his little mouth opening and closing like he was hungry. My mother smiled and rubbed my head. "I need to go feed your brother." The server spoke up beside us. "Just a moment. The nursing room's almost clean." Once the server left, my mother and I were about to go in when I saw Vivian coming back from the direction of the restrooms. There was a key card in her hand now. It was small, and she had it hidden in her palm. I grabbed my mother's sleeve. "Mom, don't go in there!" Chapter 3 Someone jumped in right away. "There's a limit to acting out. Look how hungry he is, and you still won't let her feed him?" I ignored her and ran straight to the front desk. A woman in her forties stood behind the desk: the manager, Evelyn Harper, who had been watching from nearby. "Ma'am, is there another room? One that locks from the inside, with a camera outside the door." Evelyn looked over at my mother and Noah, then bent down. "Is this about that woman?" I nodded. "She's trying to steal my brother." Evelyn didn't ask anything else. She handed me a key card right away. "There's a small private room on the third floor that we don't open to the public. A camera faces the door, and the door has a deadbolt. I'll take you up." My mother followed her upstairs. I stayed glued to her side and kept calling my father. The first call rang out. So did the second. The third was declined after two rings. I didn't hesitate. I switched on my smartwatch and hit speed dial. The watch was a birthday present from him. He had told me to press it if anything ever happened, and that he would always pick up. This time he did. I blurted out, "Dad, don't hang up. Get to the third floor. Vivian is trying to steal Noah." There was a burst of noise on the other end, and then his voice, shaky. "Chloe, what's going on?" We had just reached the stairs when Vivian caught up again. "Where are you taking the baby? Everybody's waiting to see him." Before my mother could answer, I answered for her, "He's hungry and he needs to eat. Can't you wait that long, Aunt Vivian?" Vivian didn't say anything back, and neither did I. I just followed my mother up to the third floor in silence. Only when the door of the third-floor room shut did I let myself breathe a little. Evelyn checked the windows and the lock. "There's no side door. The camera points straight at the entrance. I'll have a server stand outside." My mother sat down on the couch and unwrapped Noah's blanket with shaking hands. I took her hand. "Mom, don't be scared. I'll keep you and Noah safe." Her eyes went red and she nodded. I watched Noah lying in her arms, growing quiet as he ate, and everything in me finally loosened. But ten minutes later, a server suddenly called through the door. "They're asking for a family photo downstairs. They'd like the baby brought down." My head snapped up. A family photo? What kind of family photo needs the baby down there first? Before I could answer, Vivian's voice came through the door again. "The guests are all waiting downstairs. Just give him to me. I'll take him down, and you can come once you're ready." Chapter 4 My mother's arms clamped tight around Noah. I saw it and rushed to the door. "If the photo can wait until my mom is ready, then why can't she carry him down herself?" There was no sound outside, but I knew Vivian hadn't gone anywhere. I lifted my wrist and saw that the call to my father was still connected, so I shouted at the door again, "Aunt Vivian, why do you keep following my mom around? Why do you have to take Noah away?" While I kept her talking, my mother finished straightening her clothes. She stood up with Noah and came to stand behind me. Right then the hallway lights went out, and the room went dark a second later. My mother clutched Noah tighter. The server called through the door. "Please don't panic. The breaker on the third floor must have tripped. I'll go check it." Cold sweat ran down my back. In my last life, before that footage was destroyed, the power had tripped for a short while too. And then the footage was gone. The power had tripped again, and I knew what it meant. Vivian was done waiting me out. I dragged a stool over, climbed onto it, and looked out through the peephole. The server who had been standing guard was gone. A figure flashed past the door and turned toward the storage room. "Mom, stay away from the walls and the cabinets!" Her lips went white as she backed toward the couch with Noah in her arms. I ran to her side and looked around warily. In my last life Vivian took Noah downstairs. My mother and I never went up to the third floor at all. The room wasn't open to the public, but it was spotless. Someone clearly used it. And if someone had access, there was no guarantee the room was completely secure. And Vivian still had a key card. For all I knew, it might unlock another entrance to the private room. I gripped my watch, and my father's voice finally came through, breathless. "Chloe, I'm on my way up." My tears came all at once. Before I could answer him, something knocked against the storage cabinet at the back of the room. Before my mother and I could get away, the cabinet was shoved over onto the floor. A second later Vivian ducked through the gap and came in.