Chapter 16 - The Hospital FileWe went back to the hospital.
Not because it was safe.
Because we needed the birth records.
Mara knew a doctor who had worked there twenty-five years earlier.
His name was Dr. Samuel Cross.
He was retired.
He lived alone.
When we found him, he opened the door and stared at Ethan.
Then at me.
“I knew you'd come.”
I stepped inside.
“What happened the night my son was born?”
He sighed.
“I was ordered not to tell you.”
“By Victor?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
He looked at Linda.
She lowered her eyes.
“Your mother.”
I turned.
“Why?”
“Because there were two babies.”
Silence.
Emily stiffened.
“What?”
Dr. Cross continued.
“When Ethan was born, another woman delivered a baby within the same hour.”
“What does that have to do with us?”
“Everything.”
He opened an old file.
The second mother's name had been removed.
The child's name had been removed.
Only one detail remained.
A genetic classification.
MATCH: 99.8%.
“Who was the baby?”
Dr. Cross looked at me.
“Another boy.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
Emily stepped back.
“When?”
“Six days old.”
“Why?”
“His brain developed too quickly.”
I stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you've seen Lullaby.”
He showed us the scan.
The child's neural activity looked almost identical to Ethan's.
Mara leaned closer.
“The control pathway.”
Dr. Cross nodded.
“They tested it on the first child.”
“What happened?”
“He stopped sleeping.”
Then he stopped eating.
Then he stopped responding.
Finally, his brain shut down.
Emily covered her mouth.
“So Ethan…”
“Is stronger,” Dr. Cross said.
“Because he's the first successful combination.”
I looked at my son.
He was asleep in Emily's arms.
He looked peaceful.
Innocent.
Like none of this belonged to him.
Then Dr. Cross lowered his voice.
“There's one more thing.”
“What?”
“Your son was not delivered where you think he was.”
Emily stared.
“What?”
“The records were altered.”
“By whom?”
Dr. Cross looked at Linda.
She whispered:
“Me.”
I turned toward my mother.
“What did you do?”
Linda's face crumpled.
“I moved him.”
“You moved my baby?”
“I switched the records.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor had someone inside the hospital.”
“Who?”
Linda looked at Emily.
“The doctor who delivered him.”
Emily froze.
“That wasn't you?”
Dr. Cross shook his head.
“No.”
He looked terrified.
“I arrived after the birth.”
I stared.
“Then who delivered Ethan?”
No one answered.
The room fell silent.
Then Dr. Cross slowly pointed toward the door.
Someone was standing in the hallway.
A nurse.
Watching us.
She smiled.
May you like
Then said:
“His real mother is waiting downstairs.”
