Chapter 7 - Daniel survived.Barely.
An ambulance rushed him to a private Moretti hospital under armed guard.
Emma sat beside his bed.
Her father's face looked smaller than she remembered from photographs.
Vincent stood outside the room.
Isabella refused to leave.
For hours, doctors worked.
Finally, the surgeon stepped out.
“He lost a lot of blood, but the bullet missed his heart.”
Emma closed her eyes.
Thank God.
Then the doctor added,
“There is something else.”
Emma looked up.
“What?”
“He has been poisoned.”
Vincent's expression hardened.
“What?”
“The bullet wound wasn't the only problem.”
The doctor handed him a report.
“There's a sedative in his bloodstream. High enough to keep him unconscious for hours.”
Emma whispered,
“Someone expected him to survive.”
Vincent nodded.
“That means they wanted him incapacitated.”
Emma looked at him.
“Why?”
“So they could take him.”
The hospital went into lockdown.
Every employee was questioned.
Security checked every camera.
Nothing.
No one entered Daniel's room.
Yet two hours later, his IV bag had been replaced.
Emma stared at the empty hallway.
Someone inside the hospital had access.
Vincent's phone buzzed.
One photograph.
Daniel sleeping in his hospital bed.
Taken from inside the room.
The message underneath read:
You keep looking outside.
Another message appeared.
You should look closer.
Vincent immediately ordered a security audit.
Then a nurse entered.
Emma recognized her.
She had been working in the ICU since Daniel arrived.
The nurse stopped beside the bed.
“I need to change his medication.”
Vincent raised his hand.
“Stop.”
The nurse froze.
“You already changed it.”
Her face went pale.
“I did?”
“Yes.”
Vincent looked at the IV label.
Different handwriting.
The nurse backed away.
Security seized her.
She screamed.
“You don't understand!”
Vincent stared.
“Then explain.”
The nurse began crying.
“I was paid to change the IV.”
“By who?”
She shook her head.
“I never saw his face.”
“Who paid you?”
She whispered,
“Someone from your family.”
Emma's stomach tightened.
“Which family?”
The nurse looked at her.
“The Carters.”
Emma stepped backward.
“My family?”
The nurse nodded.
“Your mother came to the hospital three nights ago.”
Emma's blood went cold.
“That’s impossible.”
“She visited a patient.”
“Who?”
The nurse looked toward Daniel.
“Your father's double.”
Silence.
Emma stared.
“What double?”
The nurse whispered,
“The man from the photograph.”
Vincent immediately ordered guards to bring the security footage.
They found footage from three nights earlier.
A woman entered the hospital.
Her face hidden beneath a scarf.
She walked into a private room.
Thirty-seven minutes later, she left.
Vincent paused the video.
Zoomed in.
Emma recognized the handbag.
It belonged to her mother.
But when the woman turned slightly, Emma saw something else.
The woman had a distinctive scar beneath her ear.
Her mother did not.
“This isn't my mother.”
Vincent nodded.
“It's someone pretending to be her.”
Emma felt dizzy.
Then the hospital alarm sounded.
All elevators stopped.
A security officer rushed in.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“What?”
“We've lost contact with the ICU.”
Vincent ran.
Emma followed.
They reached Daniel's room.
The guards were unconscious.
The window was open.
Daniel's bed was empty.
Only the IV tubing remained.
Emma's knees nearly gave out.
“He's gone.”
Vincent found something on the pillow.
A black card.
He picked it up.
On the front was a photograph of Emma.
On the back, one sentence.
THE SON IS READY TO MEET HIS SISTER.
Emma stared.
“My brother.”
Vincent's face darkened.
“We need to get to your mother.”
They rushed to Emma's house.
The front door was open.
Everything inside had been overturned.
Photographs were scattered across the floor.
Emma ran upstairs.
“Mom!”
No answer.
Her mother's bedroom was empty.
But on the bed lay an old photograph.
Emma picked it up.
It showed her mother, Daniel, and another young man.
The young man was standing beside Victoria Langford.
He looked around twenty-five.
Emma recognized him.
The man from the rooftop.
On the back was a name.
Julian Moretti.
May you like
Underneath it:
Your brother.
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