Chapter 12 - The Daughter They Chose
Amelia’s phone signal ended near the old Vale headquarters.
Ethan and Ortiz reached the building within twenty minutes. Claire remained at the secure residence with Mara, Oliver, and two officers.
She hated waiting.
Every instinct told her that Amelia’s disappearance connected to the mysterious A.V. initials, Richard’s warning, and the missing files.
Oliver sat beside Claire.
“You helped my mom,” he said.
“She helped me first.”
“She was scared to come back.”
“So was I.”
“You didn’t look scared at the wedding.”
Claire smiled faintly.
“That is because expensive makeup is powerful.”
Oliver laughed.
The sound eased the pressure in the room for a moment.
Then Claire’s phone received a video call from Amelia.
Amelia appeared inside a dark office. She was not restrained, but someone stood behind the camera.
“Claire, listen carefully,” Amelia said. “They want the ledger.”
“Who is with you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
A man’s voice instructed Amelia to continue.
Amelia looked away from the camera.
“I found Dad’s office. There’s a safe behind the northern wall. The combination is the date Northstar received its first patient.”
Claire understood.
The caller wanted her to retrieve something from the safe.
“Why contact me instead of Ethan?”
“Because they said Ethan would never open it.”
The screen went dark.
Claire called Ortiz and relayed the message.
Ethan had already located Amelia inside Richard’s former office. She was alone.
The door had been locked from the outside, but no kidnapper was present.
A phone on Richard’s desk had delivered the instructions through a hidden speaker.
It was another trap designed to divide them.
Ethan opened the wall safe using the first patient’s admission date.
Inside was no money, weapon, or ledger.
There was a medical file belonging to Amelia.
At age fourteen, Amelia had been admitted to Vale Memorial Hospital after falling from a horse. She recovered completely, or so the family believed.
The hidden file showed that Harrow had classified her as the first possible family candidate for Northstar. Richard discovered the plan before any device was used.
He removed Amelia from the hospital and confronted Harrow.
That confrontation began the conflict that ended with Richard’s disappearance.
Amelia was the family member Northstar had chosen.
Not because she threatened the foundation.
Because Harrow wanted proof that Richard would protect the program when the patient was his own daughter.
Richard refused.
From that day forward, Harrow began preparing to destroy him.
The file also contained a letter from Richard to Ethan.
I FAILED TO END NORTHSTAR THROUGH THE BOARD.
I WILL END IT FROM OUTSIDE.
TRUST CLAIRE WHEN SHE COMES.
SHE WILL FIND THE NUMBERS I COULD NOT EXPLAIN.
Ethan read the final sentence repeatedly.
The letter had been written eight years before Ethan met Claire.
“How did he know her name?” Amelia asked.
Claire examined the page when Ethan returned.
The name appeared in darker ink than the rest of the letter.
It had been added later.
Someone had placed the letter in the safe after Claire joined the family.
The building’s internal camera system had recorded no visitors for years, but a hidden mechanical counter inside the safe showed it had been opened six months before Claire’s accident.
Someone with the combination had entered Richard’s office.
That same evening, Claire’s body tightened with a sudden contraction.
Mara called the independent hospital.
The contractions continued.
Claire was only days from her expected delivery, but the medical team wanted her examined immediately.
As Ethan drove her to the hospital, another contraction came.
Claire gripped his hand.
“Promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“When our daughter arrives, no secrets.”
“No secrets.”
“Even if your father walks into the room.”
Ethan looked toward the road.
“If he’s alive, he will answer every question.”
At the hospital entrance, a man in medical clothing waited with a wheelchair.
He said the maternity department had sent him.
Ethan noticed the identification card first.
The photograph did not match the man’s face.
He locked the car doors.
The man reached inside his coat.
Police vehicles turned into the hospital drive.
The stranger ran.
He was captured near the emergency entrance carrying a Northstar access card.
The card had been issued that morning.
The authorizing signature belonged to Dr. Julian Harrow.
May you like
Harrow was alive.
And he knew Claire had gone into labor.
