Chapter 13 - The Woman in the HospitalWe drove straight to the hospital.
Mom's room was empty.
The bed had been stripped.
A nurse told me she had been transferred.
“No one told me.”
“She was moved two hours ago.”
“To where?”
The nurse checked the system.
“Blackwood Manor.”
I stared.
“That's not a hospital.”
The nurse looked confused.
I realized then.
Someone had accessed the system.
Emily grabbed my arm.
“Don't go there.”
“I have to.”
“You don't understand.”
“I do.”
I looked at her.
“My whole life has been a lie.”
Then I called Adrian.
He answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“The hospital.”
“What happened?”
“Mom was transferred.”
Silence.
Then Adrian said:
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“She was dead.”
My hands went cold.
“What?”
“She died thirty minutes ago.”
I turned toward Emily.
“Then who took her?”
Adrian's voice hardened.
“They did.”
“Who?”
“The people behind Project Orchid.”
We drove toward Blackwood Manor.
The house looked abandoned.
No police.
No reporters.
No lights.
Just darkness.
I opened the front door.
It unlocked by itself.
Inside, the air smelled like smoke.
We entered the kitchen.
A laptop sat on the table.
The screen was already on.
A video began playing.
Mom.
She was sitting in a chair.
Behind her stood Daniel.
Alive.
My father looked directly into the camera.
“You were always curious.”
He smiled.
“That's what made you dangerous.”
I stepped closer.
The video continued.
“Your biological mother is not the woman you think.”
Mom began crying.
Daniel put his hand on her shoulder.
“You've been asking the wrong question.”
The screen displayed a photograph.
A woman in a hospital.
Then another.
Then another.
Three women.
All pregnant.
One of them was my mother.
One was Daniel's wife.
The third was unfamiliar.
Daniel spoke:
“On the night you were born, three babies were delivered.”
I froze.
“Three?”
He smiled.
“One died.”
“One was Kyle.”
“And one was you.”
The video changed.
A birth record appeared.
But the mother's name had been blacked out.
Daniel continued.
“Your biological mother signed away her parental rights.”
“Your father agreed.”
“And your identity was transferred.”
I felt sick.
“Why?”
Daniel smiled.
“Because you were born with something valuable.”
Blood.
The ledger.
Inheritance.
Access.
Then he said the words that shattered everything.
“You aren't Adrian Vale's son.”
The room went silent.
Adrian's voice suddenly came through a speaker behind us.
“That's a lie.”
I turned.
Adrian stepped out of the darkness.
He looked exhausted.
“Daniel.”
Daniel laughed from the screen.
“You finally came.”
Then the video changed again.
A DNA test appeared.
I stared at the result.
Adrian Vale.
0.00% biological match.
My world collapsed.
Adrian stared at me.
“I didn't know.”
Then the front door locked.
The lights turned on.
May you like
And Daniel stepped into the room.
Alive.
