Chapter 14 - The Daughter Who Was Transferred
Police surrounded St. Aurelia before sunrise.
This time, the Vale Foundation could not prevent them from entering.
The broadcast from Suite 14 had already spread across private news networks and secure legal servers. Families connected to the hospital archive began contacting attorneys. Vale Consolidated shares were frozen before the market opened. Several board members resigned within the hour.
Owen Price was taken into custody after doctors treated his wounded arm.
The investigator secured the white folder.
Marcus demanded to see it.
Khloe refused.
“You have controlled every document in my life. Not this one.”
Dr. Shaw transferred Khloe to a guarded medical unit. Tests confirmed that she had suffered bruising but no serious injury. The baby remained safe.
For the first time in days, Khloe allowed herself to cry.
Not from fear.
From relief.
Noah sat outside her room with Isabella.
He had stopped speaking after Suite 14.
Marcus waited at the far end of the corridor between two detectives.
No one had arrested him yet.
The broadcast showed Eleanor threatening them and Owen holding Noah at gunpoint. It also captured Marcus stepping between Owen and Khloe.
But earlier recordings showed Marcus discussing the trust and Khloe’s memory.
Marcus claimed those statements had been edited.
Adrian claimed the files were authentic.
The truth remained tangled in years of manipulation.
Victoria arrived with an attorney and an independent genetic specialist.
Khloe opened the Arden Infant Transfer folder.
The first page described a newborn girl admitted to St. Aurelia twenty-one years earlier.
The mother’s name had been removed.
The child suffered no illness, yet she was transferred to a secure private nursery within hours of birth.
A second page authorized a replacement identity.
Original designation: VALE FEMALE INFANT 02.
Assigned identity: KHLOE ELIZABETH ARDEN.
Khloe read the page until the letters blurred.
“This says I was born a Vale.”
Victoria looked devastated.
“I did not know.”
“Was Thomas Arden my father?”
“He raised you.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Victoria lowered her eyes.
“I do not know.”
Marcus stepped forward despite the detectives.
“My father once mentioned a second infant.”
Everyone turned toward him.
“What second infant?” Khloe asked.
“Eleanor had two granddaughters removed from the official family records. One died. One disappeared.”
“Why?”
“Because the trust did not limit succession to male heirs. A verified granddaughter could challenge my father’s authority.”
Khloe placed both hands over her stomach.
“If I am part of the Vale bloodline, what does that make my baby?”
Marcus answered quietly.
“The strongest legal heir.”
Noah stood in the doorway.
“Stronger than me?”
Khloe looked at him.
“This is not a competition.”
“To them it is.”
His words silenced the corridor.
Isabella put one hand on his shoulder.
“No one is taking anything from you.”
Noah looked at Marcus.
“You already did.”
The detectives escorted Marcus into an interview room.
Before he entered, he turned toward Khloe.
“Eleanor will come for you.”
“She already did.”
“No. Suite 14 was a warning.”
“What does she really want?”
Marcus looked at the transfer folder.
“She wants to know which infant survived.”
Khloe frowned.
“The file says I survived.”
“It says Khloe Arden survived.”
He lowered his voice.
“It does not prove you are the baby who left the hospital.”
The interview room door closed behind him.
Khloe looked down at the folder again.
A sealed plastic sleeve was attached to the final page.
Inside were two infant identification bracelets.
Both carried the same date.
One read VALE FEMALE INFANT 01.
The other read VALE FEMALE INFANT 02.
May you like
A handwritten note lay beneath them.
THE SISTERS MUST NEVER MEET.
