Chapter 6
Rachel ran toward the door.
The security guard blocked her.
“The hall may be unsafe.”
“My child is in danger!”
She shoved past him.
Smoke filled the corridor.
The fire alarm screamed overhead.
Dr. Vale pulled his coat across his mouth.
Claire followed, coughing.
The elevator had stopped working.
They reached the stairwell.
The security guard pushed the door open, and smoke rolled upward.
“The fire is below us.”
Rachel pressed the phone to her ear.
“If you hurt Mia—”
“You should be more concerned about what her existence has already hurt.”
“Who are you?”
“You knew my daughter.”
Rachel’s mind raced.
“Elena?”
Silence.
Then the man said, “Elena was my sister.”
Rachel remembered the photograph.
Elena standing beside Daniel’s father.
Pregnant.
“Where is Mia?”
“Safe for now.”
“Let me speak to her.”
The line crackled.
Then Mia’s frightened voice came through.
“Mommy?”
Rachel gripped the railing.
“I’m here.”
“The man said Grandma fell asleep.”
Rachel’s heart nearly stopped.
“Is Grandma breathing?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where are you?”
“In a car.”
The man took the phone back.
Rachel screamed into it.
“You will not get away with this!”
“I don’t need to. I only need the child.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor Mercer stole both of Elena’s babies.”
Daniel’s father.
The architect of the nightmare.
“You’re Elena’s brother?”
“My name is Gabriel Ruiz.”
Rachel forced herself down the smoky stairs.
Claire was close behind her.
Dr. Vale shouted for them to slow down.
“What do you want, Gabriel?”
“Justice.”
“Kidnapping a four-year-old isn’t justice.”
“She belongs to my family.”
“She belongs with me.”
“That is what Victor said when he took her.”
Rachel stumbled as the comparison struck her.
Gabriel was using the same argument as the man he hated.
Blood gave him ownership.
“I didn’t steal her.”
“But you benefited from the lie.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Now you do.”
“What happened to Elena?”
Gabriel’s voice changed.
“She spent four years looking for her children.”
“Where is she?”
“Dead.”
Rachel closed her eyes briefly.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“I am. But hurting Mia will not bring her back.”
“I’m not going to hurt her. I’m going to save Lucy.”
Mia was a match for her twin.
Gabriel wanted to use her as a donor.
“What treatment does Lucy need?”
“A bone marrow transplant.”
“That requires doctors. Consent. Preparation.”
“I have doctors.”
Rachel looked toward Dr. Vale.
The doctor shook his head urgently.
Not him.
“Where are you taking her?”
“You’ll know when it is finished.”
The call ended.
Rachel shouted in frustration.
They reached the fifth floor.
Smoke was thicker there.
Hospital staff guided patients toward another stairwell.
The security guard received a radio message.
“The fire is contained to a supply area,” he said. “Someone set it deliberately.”
Gabriel had created a distraction.
He knew Rachel was at the hospital.
He knew about room 614.
Someone inside had helped him.
They reached the ground floor and escaped through an emergency exit.
Firefighters surrounded the building.
Rachel immediately called 911.
She reported Mia’s abduction and her mother’s possible injury.
Then she called Deputy Harlan directly.
This time, he answered.
“We’re already at your home,” he said.
“Is my mother alive?”
“She’s unconscious but breathing. Paramedics believe she was sedated.”
“Did anyone see the vehicle?”
“A neighbor reported a blue medical transport van.”
Rachel looked at Dr. Vale.
“Does St. Catherine’s use blue transport vans?”
“No.”
“Who knew I was coming here?”
“I didn’t.”
“Claire?”
Claire shook her head.
“Daniel knew about the key,” Rachel said. “Could Gabriel have reached him?”
Dr. Vale’s expression shifted.
“I need to check Daniel’s room.”
“He is here?”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me.”
“I was instructed not to confirm his location.”
“By whom?”
“Daniel.”
Rachel wanted to strike him.
Instead, she followed him toward another entrance.
Police officers tried to stop them, but Dr. Vale used his hospital identification to get through.
Daniel’s room was on the third floor.
The bed was empty.
A nurse lay unconscious beside it.
An open window revealed a service ladder against the building.
On Daniel’s pillow was a photograph.
Rachel picked it up.
It showed two newborn girls.
One wore a red bracelet.
The other wore yellow.
Across the bottom, someone had written:
One child for Lucy. One life for Elena.
Claire covered her mouth.
“They took Daniel too.”
Rachel examined the photograph.
A section of the background showed a green wall with white stars.
She remembered seeing that pattern before.
“Where was this taken?”
Dr. Vale looked carefully.
“Not here.”
Claire leaned closer.
“I know that wall.”
“Where?”
“Dad’s private clinic.”
Rachel frowned.
“Victor owned a clinic?”
“It closed fifteen years ago. The building is near the warehouse.”
The warehouse where Daniel had been attacked.
Gabriel was taking Mia and Daniel back to where the secret began.
Deputy Harlan arrived at the hospital with two detectives.
Rachel gave them everything she knew.
They warned her not to leave.
She waited until they walked away to coordinate with local officers.
Then she turned to Claire.
“Where is the clinic?”
“I’ll show you.”
“You are not coming.”
“Gabriel will kill me if he sees me.”
“Then stay here.”
“I know how to get inside.”
Rachel did not trust her.
But she did not have time to argue.
Dr. Vale grabbed Rachel’s arm.
“If Gabriel is preparing a transplant, he will need Mia alive.”
“That is supposed to comfort me?”
“The procedure will not happen immediately. We have time.”
“You said he has doctors.”
“He may have equipment, but Mia must undergo additional testing.”
Claire looked away.
Rachel caught it.
“You know something.”
“No.”
“Tell me.”
Claire remained silent.
Rachel stepped into her path.
“You already put Mia’s life at risk once. If you hide one more thing, whatever happens next is on you.”
Claire’s eyes filled with tears.
“The additional tests are already complete.”
Rachel stared at her.
“What do you mean?”
“When I took Mia to St. Catherine’s, Daniel wasn’t the only reason.”
“You allowed them to test her?”
“I thought Lucy would die without her.”
“You had no right.”
“She’s my sister too.”
“Mia is a child.”
“So is Lucy!”
“Lucy is twenty-two.”
“She spent most of those years locked inside hospitals because our father treated her like a shameful experiment!”
Claire’s voice broke.
“I wanted to save her.”
Rachel understood the conflict now.
Claire had been burning the records to prevent Mia from inheriting the estate.
But she had also taken Mia for medical testing to help Lucy.
Greed and guilt had twisted together until Claire could no longer tell herself apart from the monster she feared.
“Do you know where Lucy is?” Rachel asked.
“No.”
“Does Daniel?”
“He might. He found a recent photograph at the warehouse.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“He intended to. Then Gabriel attacked him.”
Rachel looked at Dr. Vale.
“You said you didn’t know who attacked Daniel.”
“I suspected Gabriel,” he admitted. “I had no proof.”
“Everyone around me speaks in half-truths.”
Rachel took Claire’s car keys.
“What are you doing?”
“Going to the clinic.”
“The police told you to wait.”
“The police don’t know Gabriel’s exact location.”
“It could be a trap.”
“It is.”
Rachel opened the driver’s door.
“But my daughter is inside it.”
Claire entered the passenger side.
Dr. Vale tried to join them.
Rachel locked the doors.
“No.”
“I can help Lucy.”
“You already helped create this.”
Rachel drove away before he could respond.
Claire directed her down narrow country roads.
The sky darkened.
Rain began striking the windshield.
After twenty minutes, they reached the abandoned warehouse.
Behind it stood a smaller brick building almost hidden by overgrown trees.
One window glowed.
Rachel parked behind a line of rusted equipment.
Her phone showed no signal.
Claire pointed toward a drainage tunnel beneath the clinic.
“It leads to the basement.”
“How do you know?”
“I used to play here as a child.”
Rachel took a flashlight from the car.
She found a tire iron in the trunk.
Claire stared at it.
“You can’t fight armed men with that.”
“I’m not planning to fight them.”
“What are you planning?”
“Getting Mia out.”
They crossed the wet field and entered the tunnel.
The passage was narrow and smelled of mud.
At the far end, Claire found an old metal grate.
The lock had already been cut.
Someone expected them.
Rachel tightened her grip on the tire iron.
They entered the basement.
Voices echoed from above.
A man spoke calmly.
“Daniel, you can end all of this. Tell me where Victor hid the final ledger.”
Daniel answered weakly.
“My father is dead.”
“He left instructions.”
“I don’t remember.”
“You remembered enough to hide the bracelet.”
Rachel and Claire climbed the stairs.
Through a cracked door, they saw Daniel tied to a chair.
Gabriel Ruiz stood in front of him.
He was the same age as Dr. Vale, with dark hair streaked by gray.
Beside him was a hospital bed.
A young woman lay beneath white blankets.
Her face was thin and pale.
But even from a distance, Rachel saw the resemblance.
She looked like an older version of Mia.
Lucy.
A second bed stood nearby.
Empty.
Prepared.
Waiting for Rachel’s daughter.
“Where is Mia?” Rachel whispered.
Claire pointed toward another door.
A child was crying on the other side.
Rachel’s body moved before her mind could stop it.
She crossed the basement and reached the door.
Her hand closed around the knob.
Then a pistol pressed against the back of her head.
May you like
Gabriel’s voice was soft.
“I knew a mother would come.”
