Chapter 7 - The Doctor Who KnewWe returned to the hospital too late.
Dr. Serena Ward was gone.
Her office had been emptied.
The computer was missing.
Her desk had been wiped clean.
The police found nothing.
Then a security officer rushed in.
“The camera archive has been accessed.”
Marcus asked,
“By who?”
The officer looked at me.
“Your doctor.”
The footage from my room was being deleted.
Page after page disappeared.
But the technician had created a backup.
Marcus demanded to see it.
The final preserved file showed Isabella entering again.
Only this time, she wasn't attacking me.
She was crying.
“Please,” she whispered toward the camera. “I don't want to do this.”
Serena entered behind her.
She slapped Isabella.
“You were told what to do.”
“I can't kill her.”
“Then we'll kill the baby.”
I covered my mouth.
Marcus went rigid.
The footage continued.
Serena held up a syringe.
“It will look like a spontaneous complication.”
Isabella shook her head.
“What about Khloe?”
“Her death is unfortunate.”
Marcus whispered,
“She was going to murder my wife.”
Then another person entered.
A man.
Tall.
Dark coat.
We couldn't see his face.
But his voice was clear.
“You're both making this harder than necessary.”
Isabella backed away.
“I was told Marcus would approve the procedure.”
The man laughed.
“Marcus knows nothing.”
He turned toward Serena.
“Where is the embryo file?”
Serena replied,
“Safe.”
The man said,
“No. It belongs to Evelyn.”
At that moment, Isabella looked directly at the hidden camera.
She knew it was there.
That explained everything.
She had not been terrified because the camera showed her attack.
She had been terrified because it had recorded the man.
Marcus paused the footage.
“Enhance his face.”
The technician tried.
The image sharpened.
I looked at the screen.
I knew that face.
Not personally.
From family photographs.
Marcus’s father.
Dead for four years.
Marcus stared.
“No.”
I whispered,
“That's your father.”
The police checked the archived footage frame by frame.
The man was not Marcus's father.
It was his identical twin brother.
Adrian Vale.
Everyone believed Adrian had died before Marcus was born.
But he was alive.
And he had been living under another identity.
The technician searched the hospital records.
His name appeared as a consultant.
Dr. Adrian Voss.
Access level: unrestricted.
Marcus suddenly looked toward the door.
“Where is Isabella?”
Nobody knew.
Then my phone rang.
Isabella.
I answered.
Her voice was barely audible.
“Khloe.”
“Where are you?”
“I don't have much time.”
“Tell me everything.”
A sob.
“Your baby is not the only child they changed.”
“What does that mean?”
“I saw the nursery.”
“What nursery?”
“The private one under the Vale estate.”
My heart raced.
“What was inside?”
Silence.
Then Isabella whispered,
“Seven cribs.”
I froze.
“Isabella, what are you talking about?”
“Seven babies.”
The line crackled.
“One of them had your name.”
Then another voice came through.
Male.
Cold.
“You shouldn't have answered.”
A struggle.
Isabella screamed.
The call ended.
I looked at Marcus.
“There are seven babies.”
He said,
“We're going to the Vale estate.”
Then the hospital doors slammed shut downstairs.
The entire building went into lockdown.
May you like
And someone announced over the intercom,
“Mr. and Mrs. Vale are not permitted to leave.”
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