Chapter 8 - The Leak Inside the House
Maya pressed the alarm.
Security officers entered within seconds.
Diane raised her hands and did not resist.
Adrian arrived barefoot, followed by Lena and two police officers stationed outside the estate.
Reed arrested Diane for extortion, kidnapping, unlawful entry, and suspected involvement in the bank attack.
As they handcuffed her, Diane looked only at Maya.
“Check the flash drive.”
At the police station, Diane refused to answer questions without immunity.
The district attorney rejected a full agreement but offered limited protection if her information prevented an immediate threat.
Diane began talking.
She admitted arranging Maya’s illegal transfer as an infant.
She admitted blackmailing Charles and Celeste.
She admitted kidnapping Charles to locate the ledger.
But she denied setting the bank fire or preparing Northstar House for Maya’s baby.
“That was Celeste,” Diane said.
“Celeste says it was you,” Reed replied.
“Celeste has spent thirty years making other people hold the knife.”
Diane claimed the fifty-thousand-dollar demand was designed to activate an old Northstar tracking account. Any transfer of that amount between specific accounts would trigger an encrypted notification.
“I needed to see who responded,” she said.
“You could have explained that,” Maya replied through the interview-room glass.
Diane laughed.
“Would you have trusted me?”
“No.”
“Exactly.”
The flash drive contained security footage from Saint Catherine’s Medical Center.
A nurse entered the maternity pharmacy and replaced sealed medication trays.
The timestamp was from the previous night.
The nurse wore a mask, but Lena recognized her walk.
“That’s the woman from Charles’s room.”
They enlarged the image.
A partial reflection revealed her face.
It was not Diane.
It was Dr. Helen Ross, Maya’s original obstetrician from Vale Memorial.
Police arrested Dr. Ross before dawn.
She claimed she had entered Saint Catherine’s under Celeste’s orders to correct a medication error.
No such error existed.
The replaced medication contained a compound designed to induce labor and suppress fetal movement.
The discovery confirmed that Maya’s new hospital had been compromised.
But it did not explain how Celeste learned the location.
Only four people knew.
Maya.
Adrian.
Lena.
Dr. Shah.
Police examined phones and computers.
No evidence showed Lena or Dr. Shah communicating with Vale Medical Group.
Adrian’s phone contained an encrypted background application installed during a system update.
The application transmitted location data and microphone recordings.
His phone had been turned on during the conversation about Saint Catherine’s.
“You did tell them,” Diane had said.
Not intentionally.
The enemy had been listening from inside their home.
Technicians found similar software on the estate’s security network.
The cameras meant to protect Maya had become tools of surveillance.
Adrian ordered the entire system disconnected.
For the first time in years, the Bennett estate went dark.
The baby shower was four days away.
Diane remained in custody.
Celeste publicly denied every allegation and released a statement calling Diane a disturbed former employee seeking revenge.
Vale Medical Group’s lawyers attacked the authenticity of the Northstar files.
Public opinion divided.
Some saw Celeste as a respected doctor targeted by a criminal.
Others demanded an investigation.
Maya stayed silent publicly.
Privately, she prepared.
The baby shower would proceed at the Hartwell Ballroom, but the guest list was reduced. Police officers would pose as servers. Every entrance would be monitored by an independent system.
The fifty thousand dollars would be placed in a locked case on the presentation table.
Diane would remain in custody, so if anyone appeared to collect it, Maya would know Diane was not the final enemy.
The night before the event, Lena sat beside Maya in the nursery.
The room was painted soft green. An empty crib stood against the wall.
“Are you afraid?” Lena asked.
“Yes.”
“Then why do you look so calm?”
“Because fear is easier when it finally has a face.”
“Celeste?”
“Maybe.”
Lena studied her.
“You still don’t trust Adrian.”
“I trust that he loves me.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Maya folded a small blanket.
“He kept the truth because he thought he could control the consequences.”
“People do terrible things for less noble reasons.”
“I know.”
Lena touched Maya’s arm.
“Whatever happens tomorrow, I’m with you.”
Maya smiled.
“We lost twenty-seven years.”
“We didn’t lose everything.”
“We should have grown up as twins.”
“We still fought like twins.”
Maya laughed softly for the first time in days.
Then Lena’s phone vibrated.
She glanced at the screen and stood too quickly.
“Who is it?” Maya asked.
“No one.”
“You’re pale.”
“It’s work.”
Lena walked toward the door.
Her phone vibrated again.
This time, Maya saw the message preview.
WE KNOW YOU TOOK PAGE 48.
Lena hid the screen.
Maya stared at her.
“You have another page.”
Lena stopped.
Slowly, she turned around.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“After the baby shower.”
“Show me.”
Lena’s eyes filled with tears.
“The page isn’t about you.”
“Then who?”
“Me.”
She opened the hidden folder on her phone.
Page forty-eight contained a record for Child A.
Lena.
The notation beneath her name read:
ORIGINAL CHILD A DECEASED AT 11 HOURS.
REPLACEMENT INFANT ASSIGNED TO EVELYN HART.
Maya looked at the woman she had believed was her twin.
May you like
The room seemed to shrink around them.
“If the original Child A died,” Maya whispered, “who are you?”
