Chapter 13 - THE DOCTOR WHO KNEW HIS FATHER’S SIN
Luke followed Evelyn to the hospital roof.
Rain swept across the concrete.
A helicopter waited near the landing zone, its blades motionless.
Evelyn stood beside the railing.
“You should not have come alone,” she said.
“I didn’t.”
Marco stepped from the stairwell behind Luke.
Evelyn gave a tired smile.
“Of course.”
Luke approached.
“Why did you return?”
“To warn you.”
“Then start talking.”
“Catherine will not leave the country.”
“Her jet crossed the border.”
“The jet did. She did not.”
Luke’s eyes narrowed.
“I saw her inside.”
“You saw a woman who looked like her.”
Marco cursed quietly.
Evelyn removed a small drive from her pocket.
“This contains Arthur’s private medical records.”
Luke did not take it.
“What did he do?”
“He believed the Ashford bloodline carried a rare genetic resistance to certain neurological diseases. Your grandfather survived an epidemic that killed nearly everyone in his unit. Arthur became obsessed with discovering why.”
“And your clinic?”
“Funded the research.”
“On children?”
Evelyn looked away.
“On embryos.”
Luke’s jaw tightened.
“You created Adrian.”
“No.”
“What does that mean?”
“Adrian was my biological child, conceived naturally. Arthur took him because Catherine’s second child died during delivery. He needed an heir whose existence he could control.”
“Why yours?”
“Because I carried the genetic marker Arthur wanted.”
Marco looked at the drive.
“And Luke?”
Evelyn faced him.
“Luke carries it too.”
The rain grew heavier.
Luke thought of Adrian’s statement.
“The baby carries something Arthur tried to reproduce.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“A combination of markers from both Luke and Elena.”
Luke stared.
“Elena?”
“Her mother participated in one of Arthur’s early studies.”
Luke’s breath slowed.
“Elena’s mother died of cancer.”
“That was the official diagnosis.”
“What was the real one?”
“An immune-system collapse caused by an experimental treatment.”
Luke moved before Marco could stop him.
He grabbed Evelyn by the throat and forced her against the railing.
“You killed her mother.”
“I was twenty-four. I followed Arthur’s orders.”
Luke tightened his grip.
Marco stepped closer.
“Luke.”
Evelyn did not resist.
“She trusted the clinic,” Evelyn said. “She believed the treatment would save her. Arthur cared only about the child she had already given birth to.”
“Elena.”
“Yes.”
Luke released her.
Evelyn coughed and steadied herself.
“Arthur monitored Elena for years. When you met her, he encouraged the relationship.”
Luke felt sick.
“My marriage was arranged?”
“Not directly. He placed you in the same university program. He funded the scholarship that brought Elena there.”
Every memory shifted.
The first lecture.
The coffee shop.
The chance meeting during a rainstorm.
Luke had believed fate brought Elena into his life.
His father had built the road beneath their feet.
“Did Catherine know?” he asked.
“Parts of it.”
“Did Adrian?”
“Not until recently.”
“Who told him?”
“Daniel Mercer.”
“We saw Mercer die.”
“You saw one of Arthur’s former employees using Mercer’s identity.”
Luke thought of the man in the warehouse.
“Then the real Mercer is alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Evelyn looked toward the city.
“He controls the Ashford Foundation’s medical network.”
Marco took out his phone.
“Mercer has no official position.”
“That is how he survived.”
Luke finally accepted the drive.
“What does he want with the baby?”
“To continue Arthur’s work.”
“Elena would die before allowing that.”
“He knows.”
The words hung between them.
Luke’s voice turned cold.
“Then why is she still alive?”
“Because the child cannot survive without her yet.”
Marco checked the stairwell.
“We need to move Elena.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“The hospital is already compromised.”
“Then why bring her here?”
“I did not choose this hospital.”
Luke looked at her.
“The ambulance route was changed.”
“Yes.”
Someone inside the emergency system had directed them to Saint Augustine.
Mercer’s network.
Luke called the hospital room.
No answer.
He called again.
A nurse picked up.
“Room 417.”
“Where is Elena?”
A pause.
“She’s with you.”
Luke’s blood froze.
“No, she isn’t.”
The nurse gasped.
“We were told Mr. Ashford authorized her transfer.”
Luke ran toward the stairwell.
“When?”
“Five minutes ago.”
“To where?”
“I don’t know.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Mercer.”
Luke reached Elena’s room.
The bed was empty.
The intravenous line lay across the floor.
On the pillow rested the missing lower half of Elena’s letter.
Luke picked it up.
The final lines were written in shaking ink.
May you like
The baby is not the secret they are protecting.
I am.
