Chapter 10 - The Father David Buried
David discharged himself against medical advice.
Dr. Winters called him an idiot.
He agreed.
Then did it anyway.
We moved Chloe to a secure apartment owned by neither the Carters nor me.
Dr. Winters came.
Marcus too.
Margaret refused to leave.
David could barely stand but insisted.
I hated him for that.
I also understood.
Then Amelia appeared.
No guards.
Silver hair.
Dark coat.
She entered slowly.
Marcus froze.
Thirty-two years disappeared from his face.
“Amelia.”
She looked at him.
“Dad.”
One word destroyed him.
He stepped forward.
Stopped.
“May I?”
She nodded.
Marcus hugged his daughter.
No speeches.
Just grief.
Then Elena stood.
Amelia looked at her.
This reunion was different.
Angrier.
Elena didn't move.
“You left.”
“Yes.”
“You could have called.”
“Yes.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
Elena slapped her.
Amelia accepted it.
Then Elena hugged her.
Families are ridiculous.
David entered last.
Half-siblings.
They studied each other.
“You look like Father,” Amelia said.
David answered:
“That’s unfortunate.”
Almost a joke.
Then:
“Where is he?”
Amelia gave us the location.
A private medical facility beneath an abandoned Carter pharmaceutical warehouse.
Vincent had been living there.
Why not kill him?
Amelia had tried exposing him instead.
But Vincent controlled too many systems.
Too many people.
Then David asked:
“Did he cause my hemorrhage?”
“Yes.”
Nobody moved.
Vincent had manipulated the medication.
He wanted David near death.
Why?
“Because he needed Chloe voluntarily brought to the hospital.”
My stomach dropped.
The rare-blood crisis was bait.
He knew my name remained emergency contact.
He knew Dr. Winters would call.
He predicted I might bring Chloe because her blood was rare.
If not, other contingencies existed.
This had been planned for years.
David looked physically ill.
“He used me as bait for my daughter.”
Amelia nodded.
Then she handed David Vincent’s letter.
Son,
If you survive, you will understand that blood is the only loyalty nature guarantees.
David ripped it in half.
Good.
Then Amelia told us what Vincent wanted.
Not Chloe’s blood.
Bone marrow stem cells.
Repeated future samples.
A living genetic source.
I pulled Chloe closer.
“No.”
Nobody disagreed.
Then Amelia added:
“There's another reason.”
The Carter succession trust.
If David died, Chloe inherited controlling legitimate assets.
Vincent couldn't allow that.
He wanted custody leverage.
A medical guardianship.
If he established Chloe as essential to experimental treatment and portrayed me as obstructing care—
He could attempt to control her through legal channels.
“This is insane.”
Margaret answered:
“He’s done worse with better lawyers.”
Then Amelia revealed the final problem.
Vincent had someone inside our group.
A person feeding him movements.
Who?
She didn’t know.
We tested it.
Three false locations sent to three different people.
One to Margaret.
One to Marcus.
One to Cole.
Within thirty minutes, Vincent's men appeared at the location given only to Dr. Cole.
Everyone looked at him.
Cole went pale.
“No.”
David’s expression became terrifying.
“You.”
“I swear—”
Then Cole's phone rang.
He stared at it.
Vincent.
David answered.
His father laughed.
“Wrong traitor.”
Then an explosion shook the apartment building.
Windows shattered.
Security lights died.
Amelia looked toward the hallway.
“Move!”
The front door opened.
Not Vincent's men.
Hospital police.
Dr. Winters stared at their leader.
Then froze.
“Captain Harris?”
He smiled.
Amelia went white.
“That’s not Captain Harris.”
The man raised his weapon.
David stepped between him and Chloe.
And Marcus whispered:
“I know him.”
“Who?”
May you like
His face hardened.
“The man who kidnapped Amelia thirty-two years ago.”
