Chapter 6 - THE PATERNITY REPORTSarah sat alone in the hospital room when Daniel arrived.
The door opened.
She looked up.
For one second, relief filled her face.
Then she saw the bruises on his wrists.
“What happened?”
Daniel closed the door.
“I need to ask you something.”
Sarah stood slowly.
“What?”
“Is the baby mine?”
Sarah stared.
The question felt like a slap.
“What?”
Daniel held out the report.
Sarah looked at it.
Her hands started shaking.
“This says you aren't the father.”
“I know.”
“It’s fake.”
“Is it?”
Sarah looked into his eyes.
“You don't believe me?”
Daniel's face twisted.
“I don't know what to believe anymore.”
Sarah threw the report onto the bed.
“Then ask me.”
“Who is the father?”
“You.”
“Sarah…”
“You.”
She stepped closer.
“I never cheated on you.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Then why is there a test?”
“I don't know.”
He looked at her.
“Think.”
Sarah tried.
Her mind raced through the last year.
Nothing.
No affair.
No secret.
No other man.
Then she remembered something.
A medical appointment.
Months earlier.
A specialist Eleanor had insisted she visit.
Sarah frowned.
“Your mother scheduled my genetic screening.”
Daniel looked at her sharply.
“Why?”
“She said Vance family doctors required it.”
Daniel's face turned pale.
Arthur had been standing near the door.
He interrupted.
“Your mother took your medical records.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Where?”
“I saw her carrying them into the east wing.”
Sarah whispered:
“She had access to everything.”
Arthur nodded.
“And there's more.”
He put the flash drive on the table.
“Watch this.”
The video showed Eleanor meeting a doctor.
The same doctor who had signed the paternity report.
Sarah stared.
“He works at St. Claire.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That's not possible.”
Arthur paused the video.
“Look at the date.”
Daniel leaned closer.
Three days before the alleged test.
Daniel whispered:
“Sarah wasn't even in that city.”
Exactly.
The paternity report had been created before Sarah ever entered the laboratory.
Daniel looked at Sarah.
“I’m sorry.”
Sarah’s eyes filled.
“You should be.”
He reached for her hand.
She didn't take it.
Then a doctor rushed into the room.
“Mrs. Vance, we need to move you.”
“Why?”
“Hospital security is compromised.”
Arthur stood.
“What happened?”
The doctor looked terrified.
“We found a sedative in her IV line.”
Daniel froze.
“Again?”
The doctor nodded.
“We're transferring her to a secured floor.”
They moved Sarah.
The hallway was crowded.
Nurses.
Doctors.
Security guards.
For a moment, everything seemed normal.
Then the lights went out.
Darkness.
A crash.
Someone screamed.
Sarah felt a hand grab her arm.
“Daniel?”
No answer.
A second hand covered her mouth.
She fought.
Then heard a whisper.
“Don't scream.”
Sarah froze.
She recognized the voice.
Not Eleanor.
Not Daniel.
A woman.
The lights came back.
The woman was gone.
On Sarah's blanket lay a silver pendant.
The same pendant from the photograph of Clara.
Sarah picked it up.
There was an inscription on the back.
FOR THE DAUGHTER WHO SURVIVES.
Arthur stared at it.
Daniel whispered:
“Clara.”
A hospital alarm suddenly began ringing.
A nurse ran toward them.
“Mrs. Vance!”
“What?”
“Your room has been breached.”
Daniel turned.
“How?”
The nurse's face went white.
“Someone left a message.”
She handed him a photograph.
It showed Sarah sleeping.
The photograph had been taken thirty seconds earlier.
From inside the hospital room.
On the back were four words.
SHE IS ALREADY HERE.
Sarah looked around.
“Who?”
No one answered.
Then she heard two soft knocks.
Knock.
Knock.
From the locked maintenance room across the hallway.
Daniel stared at it.
Arthur whispered:
“That's impossible.”
The second set of knocks came.
Knock.
Knock.
Sarah stepped forward.
A voice whispered from behind the door.
“Sarah…”
She recognized it.
It was a woman's voice.
May you like
And it said:
“I'm your sister.”
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