Evelyn Vale looked directly into the security camera and raised one finger to her lips.
Then the live feed went black.
“No.”
Harrison snatched the investigator’s phone, but the screen showed only a connection error.
SIGNAL LOST.
“Get security down there now.”
The hospital administrator stared at him.
“Where?”
Harrison froze.
Audrey noticed.
“You haven't told them where the archive is.”
Her grandfather handed the phone back.
“Sublevel four.”
The administrator frowned.
“Saint Aurelia only has three basement levels.”
“Officially.”
Everyone stared at Harrison.
Dominic gave a disbelieving laugh.
“Of course there’s a secret basement.”
Harrison ignored him.
“Take the service elevator in the west research wing. There’s a mechanical access panel beneath the B3 controls.”
The administrator immediately called security.
The federal investigator spoke into his radio.
Audrey listened as instructions moved rapidly through the hospital.
Seal exits.
Lock the research wing.
Preserve camera footage.
Nobody enters the lower levels alone.
Evelyn was no longer a missing person.
She was somewhere beneath the hospital.
And she had staged her own kidnapping.
Audrey looked at Natalie.
“You knew.”
Natalie’s head snapped toward her.
“No.”
“The photograph showed Evelyn tied up.”
“I received the same message you saw.”
“But you weren’t surprised enough when she appeared in that archive.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
Natalie stood.
Maria tried to stop her.
“I’m fine.”
“You were having abdominal tightening.”
“Stress.”
“Stress can matter at twenty-six weeks.”
Natalie’s hand moved protectively over her stomach.
Audrey saw the instinct.
For one moment, she did not see her husband’s mistress.
She saw another pregnant woman terrified for her child.
Then Audrey remembered the coat.
The affair.
Eleven months of lies.
Compassion did not require forgiveness.
“Why did Evelyn contact you about genetic testing?” Audrey asked.
Natalie looked toward Dominic.
“I already explained.”
“No. You gave us fragments.”
“That’s all I have.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Natalie’s eyes hardened.
“I don’t particularly care.”
Dominic stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Audrey stared at him.
“You don't get to protect her from questions.”
“She’s pregnant.”
“So was I.”
The words struck harder than Audrey intended.
Dominic looked away.
Good.
Let him.
Audrey continued.
“I was pregnant when you slept with her.”
“Audrey—”
“I was pregnant when you moved her into our apartment.”
His jaw tightened.
“I was pregnant when someone connected to your company installed a defective respiratory valve in our daughter’s breathing system.”
“I did not hurt Chloe.”
“Then help me prove it.”
Dominic looked at her.
“How?”
“Tell the truth.”
“I am.”
“No. You’re giving me whichever version keeps you safest.”
Something flashed across his face.
Audrey knew she was right.
Dominic might genuinely be confused by Evelyn’s surveillance files.
He might even be telling the truth about not knowing Audrey’s family identity when they met.
But there were other secrets.
There were always other secrets.
The federal investigator approached Harrison.
“How long will it take to reach the archive?”
“Four minutes from the west elevator.”
“And how many exits?”
“One.”
“Are you certain?”
Harrison hesitated.
The investigator noticed.
“How many?”
“Two.”
“Where does the second lead?”
“An old service tunnel.”
“To?”
“The original Vale research building.”
The hospital administrator frowned.
“That building was demolished.”
“Above ground.”
Audrey stared at her grandfather.
“How many secret rooms are under this hospital?”
“This was built during a different time.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No,” Harrison said tiredly. “It isn't.”
His phone rang.
He answered immediately.
“Harrison Vale.”
Silence.
His face changed.
“Evelyn.”
Every person in the corridor went still.
Audrey wheeled closer.
Harrison put the call on speaker.
A woman’s voice filled the corridor.
“You got old.”
Harrison’s expression hardened.
“You staged your kidnapping.”
“I needed federal attention without giving them time to stop me.”
“You could have contacted me.”
Evelyn laughed softly.
“That has never worked particularly well.”
Audrey felt a strange sensation hearing her aunt’s voice for the first time.
She had imagined anger.
Instead, Evelyn sounded calm.
Educated.
Almost amused.
“Did you put that valve into Chloe’s respiratory circuit?” Audrey asked.
Silence.
Then:
“So that’s Audrey.”
Harrison stepped closer to the phone.
“Answer her.”
“I didn’t install the valve.”
“You were on camera.”
“Yes.”
“Beside Dominic.”
“Yes.”
Dominic moved forward.
“What were you doing there?”
Evelyn laughed again.
“Still handsome, Dominic. Still asking questions after it’s too late.”
“Did you put that thing in my daughter’s ventilator?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“You did.”
Dominic went completely still.
“That’s a lie.”
“Is it?”
“I never touched Chloe’s respiratory equipment.”
“You carried the kit.”
“I carried what you gave me.”
Silence.
Audrey’s pulse accelerated.
Dominic realized his mistake.
The federal investigator immediately stepped forward.
“What kit?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
His attorney’s voice exploded through the phone still in his hand.
“Dominic, stop talking.”
Audrey stared at him.
“You were there.”
“I went to see the babies.”
“At three in the morning?”
“You were unconscious.”
“So?”
“I thought—”
He stopped.
“What?”
Dominic looked at the incubators.
For once, his answer came without arrogance.
“I thought one of them was going to die.”
Audrey felt the words in her chest.
“Who told you that?”
“Evelyn.”
Harrison’s face hardened.
The voice on the speaker remained calm.
“I told you Chloe was unstable.”
“You said she probably wouldn’t survive the transfer.”
“She might not have.”
“And you gave me a respiratory kit.”
“I asked you to carry it.”
“Why?”
“Because my hands were full.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.”
Audrey interrupted.
“What happened next?”
Dominic looked at her.
“Evelyn connected something to the transport incubator.”
Evelyn immediately said, “Incorrect.”
“You were standing there.”
“I removed a component.”
“Then who replaced it?”
Silence.
Audrey felt cold.
“Evelyn?”
No answer.
“Who replaced the valve?”
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
Audrey’s patience broke.
“My daughter nearly died.”
“I know.”
“Then answer me!”
For the first time, Evelyn’s voice lost its calm.
“I saved your daughter.”
Silence.
Audrey stared at the phone.
“What?”
“The valve attached during transfer was not the defective one.”
The federal investigator frowned.
“Explain.”
“I discovered that a Dominion valve had been installed. I removed it because I knew that batch was compromised.”
Dominic shook his head.
“That’s not what happened.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Then why was another defective valve found today?”
“That is the question Audrey should be asking.”
Audrey’s skin prickled.
The valve had nearly killed Chloe hours later.
If Evelyn had replaced the original—
Someone had switched it again.
“Who had access to Chloe after you left?”
Evelyn became quiet.
“Harrison knows.”
Audrey looked at her grandfather.
He shook his head.
“I do not.”
“You always were a terrible liar.”
“Stop playing games.”
“I’m not playing.”
“Then come upstairs.”
“No.”
“Federal agents are already going down there.”
“I know.”
Harrison looked toward the investigator.
Evelyn could see more than the archive camera.
She had access to hospital surveillance.
The investigator understood too.
“Cut network access to sublevel four.”
The administrator began making calls.
Evelyn sighed.
“You're wasting time.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not the danger.”
Audrey closed her eyes.
“Then who is?”
“Someone who has been inside your family longer than Dominic.”
Harrison’s expression changed.
“Evelyn.”
“Tell her.”
“No.”
Audrey turned.
“Tell me what?”
Evelyn continued.
“Ask Harrison why he really hired Richard Mercer.”
Harrison stared at the phone.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know exactly why.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Why was my father hired?”
Evelyn ignored him.
“Richard was not originally assigned to security.”
Harrison said nothing.
“He was brought into Vale Health because Eleanor wanted him close.”
Dominic’s voice became quieter.
“Why?”
“Because of your bloodline.”
Natalie wrapped both arms around her stomach.
The genetic report.
Audrey remembered the message.
“Who was Richard’s biological father?”
Evelyn paused.
“That answer is inside the archive.”
“Then send it.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because the archive wasn’t designed to preserve one secret.”
A metallic crash sounded through the speaker.
Evelyn stopped talking.
Harrison leaned toward the phone.
“What was that?”
No answer.
“Evelyn?”
Breathing.
Then footsteps.
Not Evelyn’s.
Someone else was down there.
Her voice became a whisper.
“They’re early.”
The federal investigator spoke sharply.
“Dr. Vale, hide and keep this line open.”
Another crash.
Then Evelyn said something that made Audrey’s blood run cold.
“They know the archive opened.”
“Who?”
“The people your mother was running from.”
Audrey gripped her wheelchair.
“My mother knew about this?”
“Catherine discovered what Eleanor had done.”
“What had she done?”
“She created a succession experiment.”
Harrison closed his eyes.
Audrey stared at him.
“A what?”
Evelyn’s breathing quickened.
“She spent thirty years arranging marriages, careers, trusts and introductions.”
Dominic whispered, “No.”
“Yes.”
“You’re saying she arranged Audrey and me?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“She created possibilities.”
Another metallic sound.
Closer.
Evelyn whispered.
“Your meeting was supposed to be one of them.”
Audrey felt nauseated.
“My marriage was planned?”
“Your meeting was. What happened afterward was your choice.”
Dominic stared at Audrey.
Neither spoke.
For all his betrayals, the idea that someone had engineered their first encounter seemed to horrify him too.
Audrey forced herself to continue.
“Why us?”
Evelyn did not answer.
“Why Dominic?”
“Because Eleanor believed two family lines carried something she needed.”
“What?”
“The Vale line had ownership.”
“And the Mercer line?”
Silence.
Then Evelyn said:
“Access.”
Footsteps echoed through the speaker.
A door opened somewhere underground.
Evelyn stopped breathing.
The federal investigator motioned for everyone to remain silent.
A man’s voice could faintly be heard.
“Dr. Vale?”
Evelyn whispered, “He found me.”
Harrison looked terrified.
“Who?”
Evelyn did not answer him.
Instead, she spoke directly to Audrey.
“If I don’t come upstairs, open file C-17.”
“What is C-17?”
“Your mother’s final recording.”
Audrey’s heart stopped.
“My mother left a recording?”
“Yes.”
“What does she say?”
The man’s footsteps came closer.
Evelyn’s voice dropped further.
“She tells you who killed her.”
The line disconnected.
Audrey stared at the phone.
Harrison whispered, “No.”
She turned toward him.
“You knew about the recording.”
“I knew Catherine made one. I never found it.”
“Where is C-17?”
Harrison looked toward the service elevator.
“In the archive.”
The federal investigator received a radio transmission.
His expression sharpened.
“Our team reached sublevel four.”
Audrey waited.
“And?”
“The archive is empty.”
Harrison frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
“They found blood.”
Audrey’s stomach tightened.
“Evelyn?”
“We don’t know.”
The investigator listened to his earpiece.
Then his face changed.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“They found a second passage behind the archive shelves.”
Harrison stared.
“There is no second passage.”
“Apparently there is.”
The investigator listened again.
“They’re following it.”
Seconds passed.
Then—
“They found a room.”
Audrey could hear static through his radio.
“What room?”
The investigator looked at Harrison.
“A nursery.”
Nobody spoke.
Audrey almost thought she had misunderstood.
“A what?”
“A sealed nursery.”
Harrison looked genuinely shocked.
The investigator continued listening.
“Old crib. Medical equipment. Filing cabinets.”
Then he frowned.
“There are photographs covering the walls.”
“Of whom?” Audrey asked.
The investigator’s eyes lifted toward her.
“You.”
Audrey’s mouth went dry.
“How old?”
“All ages.”
He listened.
“Some from childhood.”
Another pause.
“Some recent.”
Audrey gripped the chair.
The investigator suddenly looked toward the NICU.
His expression became something close to horror.
“What?”
He did not answer.
“What did they find?”
He removed the radio earpiece.
“There are photographs of Liam and Chloe.”
Audrey felt the world tilt.
“That’s impossible.”
The twins were two days old.
“They were taken through the NICU glass.”
“When?”
The investigator listened again.
“One was printed this morning.”
Audrey looked around the corridor.
Someone had been watching them.
Someone was still inside Saint Aurelia.
Then the investigator received one final transmission.
He went completely still.
“What?” Harrison demanded.
The man looked at Audrey.
“The newest photograph isn’t of the twins.”
He hesitated.
“It’s Natalie.”
Natalie covered her stomach.
The investigator continued.
“The photograph was taken less than an hour ago.”
Dominic stepped in front of Natalie instinctively.
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“What does it show?”
The investigator swallowed.
“Her leaving the obstetric clinic two months ago.”
Natalie stared at him.
On the bottom of the photograph, someone had written a message in red ink.
The investigator read it aloud.
THE THIRD HEIR DOES NOT BELONG TO DOMINIC MERCER.
Dominic slowly turned toward Natalie.
And this time, when he asked whether the baby was his, Natalie could not look him in the eye.