Chapter 9 - The Room Without a Camera
Nora secured a private wing at Westbridge Medical Center.
Every staff member entering Elena’s room was identified and recorded. Ethan remained beside her while Dr. Sienna Patel performed tests.
“The baby is stable,” Dr. Patel finally said. “The pain was caused by stress and minor trauma from the collision. We need to keep Elena under observation.”
“For how long?” Ethan asked.
“At least forty-eight hours.”
“Can she be moved somewhere private?”
“The safest place is here.”
Elena looked at Nora.
“Can Vivian enter?”
“Not without your permission.”
Ethan closed the blinds.
“What about Dr. Bell?”
“He has no authority at this hospital.”
Dr. Patel left.
Nora placed a small security camera above the door.
“This records locally,” she explained. “No one outside this wing can access it.”
Elena watched her.
“You said Arthur’s investigation was stopped by the hospital board.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you helping us?”
Nora hesitated.
“Arthur was my godfather.”
Ethan stared at her.
“He never mentioned you.”
“He was trying to protect me.”
“From my mother?”
“From everyone involved.”
Nora sat near the bed.
“Arthur hired me to investigate missing medical records connected to Saint Orla House. The facility officially closed twenty-eight years ago, but a private trust continued paying taxes and maintenance costs.”
“The Vale Legacy Trust?” Elena asked.
“No. A trust called Lark Holdings.”
Ethan’s expression changed.
“The password.”
“Yes.”
“Who controls Lark Holdings?”
“The ownership records are sealed.”
“Malcolm?”
“Possibly. But Arthur believed Malcolm was an employee, not the person in charge.”
Elena thought of the anonymous warnings.
“Someone has been helping us.”
Nora nodded.
“I traced one message. It was sent from a terminal inside Saint Matthew’s Hospital.”
“Could Miriam have sent it?”
“No. The terminal was inside Dr. Bell’s restricted office.”
Ethan looked toward the corridor.
“Bell warned Elena?”
“Or someone used his computer.”
Nora gave Ethan a copy of the ambulance driver’s statement.
The driver claimed he had received instructions from a woman through an encrypted application. She called herself Lark.
“She knew Elena’s medical schedule,” Nora said. “She also knew about the trust.”
“Could Lark be my biological mother?” Ethan asked.
“It’s possible.”
“Arthur’s letter said she contacted him before he died.”
Elena turned toward the window.
“Then why would she arrange my abduction?”
“Maybe she didn’t,” Nora said. “Someone could be using the name.”
A nurse entered with Elena’s medication.
Nora checked her identification.
The nurse scanned the package.
Everything matched.
After she left, Ethan sat beside Elena.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I’m not tired.”
“You haven’t slept since London.”
“I’ll sleep after this is over.”
Elena looked at him.
“We don’t know when that will be.”
Ethan took her hand.
“I should have believed you immediately.”
“You did believe me.”
“Not enough.”
“You came home.”
“Because the merger ended early.”
“You still chose me when the board forced you to choose.”
“That wasn’t a choice.”
“It was to your mother.”
Ethan looked at the monitor beside the bed.
“Arthur raised me. Whatever the records say, he was my father.”
“He knew that too.”
“Then why did he hide the truth?”
“Maybe because telling you would have placed you in danger.”
“Or because he was ashamed.”
“Elena.”
Ethan met her eyes.
“You are not the secret someone kept,” she said. “You are the child someone tried to protect.”
His expression softened.
A noise came from the doorway.
Nora examined the security monitor.
The corridor was empty.
She opened the door.
A white envelope lay on the floor.
No one appeared on the camera recording.
Nora checked the footage again.
For six seconds, the video had turned black.
Inside the envelope was a memory card.
It contained audio recorded in Vivian’s study three nights earlier.
Malcolm’s voice spoke first.
“If Elena refuses to sign, Bell will certify incapacity.”
Vivian answered.
“And Ethan?”
“The board will remove him.”
“What about the child?”
A third voice entered the conversation.
A woman’s voice.
Older, controlled, unfamiliar.
“The child must be born inside our system. After that, Elena is unnecessary.”
Ethan replayed the sentence.
“Who is she?”
Nora checked the audio file information.
The recording device was registered to Arthur Vale.
Then a final line played.
Vivian’s voice was quieter than before.
“You promised no one would hurt Elena.”
The unknown woman laughed softly.
May you like
“You made the same request for Ethan’s real mother.”
The recording ended.
