Chapter 10 - The Night Amelia Died
Smoke poured into the operating theater.
Marcus and the tactical team forced open a maintenance hatch while Elena carried Noah and Daniel lifted Ethan.
Dr. Cross refused to move.
“If Julian destroys the laboratory, the records disappear.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Then they disappear.”
“You need those records.”
“I need my sons alive.”
They escaped through a drainage tunnel seconds before flames consumed the lower floor.
Outside, police surrounded the building.
Julian was gone.
He had used an underground passage connecting the observation gallery to the marsh.
Daniel held Ethan against his chest as paramedics approached.
The boy’s eyes opened slightly.
“Dad?”
“I’m here.”
“Where’s Mara?”
Elena knelt beside him.
“I’m here.”
Ethan reached for her.
Daniel let him go.
The gesture cost him more than he expected.
Noah woke in the ambulance and refused treatment until Elena climbed beside him.
At the hospital, doctors confirmed the twins had been sedated but not otherwise harmed.
Daniel stood outside their room while Marcus delivered the news.
“Julian’s accounts are frozen. Ports and airports are alerted.”
“He has private aircraft.”
“All grounded.”
“He will have help.”
“We are identifying everyone connected to Saint Catherine’s.”
“What about Rachel?”
“No official records under that name.”
Daniel looked through the glass.
Elena sat between the boys’ beds, holding one hand from each child.
“They need her,” Marcus said.
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Daniel turned.
Marcus had worked for him for eight years and rarely challenged him.
“She lied about her identity,” Daniel said.
“She also saved them.”
“Both can be true.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked back at Elena.
“She came for evidence.”
“She stayed for the boys.”
Daniel said nothing.
Marcus handed him a recovered drive.
“Our team pulled this from the clinic server before the fire spread.”
“What is on it?”
“One video file.”
The video showed Amelia seated in a motel room on the night she died.
A digital timestamp marked 9:42 p.m.
Her eyes were red from crying.
“Daniel,” she said into the camera, “I do not know whether I will be brave enough to show you this.”
Daniel sat alone in the hospital conference room and watched.
Amelia explained that the fertility clinic had switched embryos without her knowledge. She discovered the truth after finding a blood-type discrepancy in Noah’s medical chart.
When she investigated, she learned four boys had been born through an illegal reproductive program funded by Charles Whitmore.
The program’s goal had been to preserve the Whitmore bloodline through carefully selected genetic matches.
Charles considered Daniel too independent to control.
Julian, raised secretly as Charles’s biological son, had been trained to protect the program.
Amelia believed Julian knew about the children.
She did not know whether Daniel did.
“I wanted to trust you,” Amelia said through the screen. “But every path led back to your father. Every account carried your authorization code.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Charles had controlled many accounts using Daniel’s credentials before his death.
Amelia continued.
“I am driving to Maine to meet Elena. I hid everything inside Door 17. If something happens to me, she will know how to protect the boys.”
Headlights appeared through the motel window behind Amelia.
She looked over her shoulder.
Someone knocked.
“Amelia,” Julian’s voice called. “It’s me.”
The video shook as Amelia picked up the camera.
She whispered, “He found me.”
The image cut to darkness, but audio continued.
A door opened.
Julian said, “You should not have involved Elena.”
Amelia answered, “Daniel deserves the truth.”
“No. Daniel deserves the life Father designed for him.”
“Charles is dead.”
“His work is not.”
A struggle followed.
Then another voice entered the room.
A woman’s voice.
Identical to Amelia’s.
“Let her go, Julian.”
Rachel.
There was a gunshot.
The recording ended.
Daniel replayed the last seconds.
Julian had not been alone with Amelia.
Rachel was there.
One of them had followed Amelia onto the road.
One of them caused the crash.
The conference-room door opened.
Elena entered.
“The boys are asking for you.”
Daniel closed the laptop.
“I know what happened the night Amelia died.”
Elena looked at the screen.
“Who killed her?”
“I don’t know yet.”
His phone rang.
The caller ID displayed Julian’s name.
Daniel answered.
Julian spoke calmly.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
“What?”
“Elena.”
Daniel looked at her.
Julian continued.
“Send her to the summer estate tomorrow night, or I will release the boys’ genetic records to every newspaper in the country.”
“You think I care what the world calls them?”
“No.”
May you like
Julian laughed.
“But Elena will care when she learns why Amelia really brought her into the family.”
