Chapter 10 - What Claire Hid Inside Sophie's Coat)
Damian immediately moved Sophie out of the Vance residence.
Not because he believed his own home was unsafe.
Because he no longer knew what safe meant.
Brooks arranged a confidential location through federal contacts.
Only four people were told.
Damian.
Brooks.
Nora.
Emily.
Marcus was not.
When he discovered the children were gone, he confronted Damian.
"You moved them without telling me."
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Somewhere safe."
"I'm your security chief."
"Not for this."
Marcus stared.
"You think I work for Michael."
"I think Claire didn't trust Vance security."
"Claire trusted me."
"Did she?"
"She came to me."
"And then disappeared."
Marcus's jaw tightened.
"I didn't hurt her."
"Help me prove it."
"How?"
"Tell me everything you know about Michael."
Marcus looked toward the windows.
"I thought he was dead."
"Thought?"
"Your father never believed it."
Damian froze.
"What?"
"Richard Vance believed Michael staged the boating accident."
"My father died six months later."
"Yes."
"You never told me."
"Your father ordered me not to."
Damian laughed bitterly.
"You seem remarkably comfortable obeying dead men."
Marcus stepped closer.
"Your father was afraid Michael would come back for the company."
"Why?"
"Because Michael claimed half the technology inside Vance Biogenetics belonged to him."
"What technology?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm not a scientist."
"Did you know Daniel Reed?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"He came to your father with evidence."
"What evidence?"
Marcus hesitated.
"Human trials."
Damian's stomach turned.
"On what?"
"I don't know."
"Children?"
"No."
"Pregnant women?"
"I said I don't know."
Damian stared at him.
"Where is Claire?"
"If I knew, I would tell you."
"Did you go to her apartment?"
"No."
"Did you send a vehicle?"
"No."
"Did you disable cameras at my wedding?"
"Yes."
"Did Victoria ask you to stop Emily reaching me?"
"Yes."
"Why did you obey her?"
Marcus looked exhausted.
"Because three weeks ago Claire told me someone would use Emily to get to you."
Damian became still.
"She said that?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"She made me promise."
"Enough with promises."
Marcus raised his voice for the first time.
"I was trying to keep your daughter alive before you even knew she was yours."
The words landed between them.
Damian said nothing.
Marcus lowered his voice.
"Claire contacted me because she believed Michael had returned."
"Why?"
"Daniel Reed left something behind."
"Sophie?"
"I didn't know."
"What did Daniel leave?"
"Evidence."
"Where?"
"Claire wouldn't say."
Damian remembered her video.
Sophie may be the only proof.
Not Sophie has the proof.
Sophie may be the proof.
That distinction mattered.
That evening Emily found something.
She was sitting beside Sophie while Nora changed the toddler into pajamas at the safe house.
Sophie refused to remove the light colored coat she had worn to the wedding.
"My coat."
"You can have it tomorrow," Emily said.
"No."
"Come on, Soph."
Sophie screamed.
Nora stopped.
"Maybe there's something in it."
Emily checked the pockets.
Nothing.
Then she noticed the inside seam.
One section had been sewn by hand.
Claire was terrible at sewing.
Emily recognized the uneven stitches.
"Wait."
She pulled carefully.
The thread came loose.
Something small dropped into her hand.
A memory card.
Damian arrived thirty minutes later with Brooks.
The card contained hundreds of encrypted files.
A specialist opened the first folder.
Medical records.
Research logs.
Internal emails.
Photographs of laboratory equipment.
Then a video.
Daniel Reed appeared.
Sophie was an infant in his arms.
Claire stood beside him.
"If anything happens to me," Daniel said, "the Vance project cannot be allowed to disappear again."
Damian leaned toward the screen.
Daniel continued.
"Michael Vance funded unauthorized genetic embryo trials through shell companies after the official program was closed."
Brooks whispered, "Jesus."
"We discovered patient records were being altered. Births were hidden. Failures were concealed."
Claire looked terrified.
Daniel held Sophie closer.
"I copied the database."
Damian understood.
The memory card.
Daniel continued.
"Michael believes the final surviving dataset is inside Vance servers. It isn't."
He looked down at Sophie.
"He also believes Sophie carries something he needs."
The screen glitched.
The specialist paused.
"File corruption."
"Can you recover it?"
"Maybe."
The next available segment resumed several minutes later.
Daniel was alone.
"If Michael finds Claire, he will ask for the child."
Damian's stomach tightened.
"Do not believe anyone who says Michael is doing this for money."
Daniel looked directly at the camera.
"Money stopped mattering to him years ago."
The video ended.
Emily looked at Sophie.
"What does he want from her?"
No one knew.
Then the specialist opened a hidden text file.
One line appeared.
M.V. internal access confirmed.
Brooks looked at Damian.
"Michael Vance?"
"Probably."
The specialist shook his head.
"Not necessarily."
He pulled up the metadata.
"The user account that accessed the database wasn't Michael Vance."
"Whose?"
The specialist turned the laptop.
May you like
MVALE.
Marcus Vale.
