Chapter 9 - The Missing HourThree years earlier.
Isabella remembered waking in a hospital.
She had been twenty-seven.
Exhausted.
Confused.
Her head pounding.
A doctor told her she had fainted.
Nothing serious.
She was sent home.
She never asked questions.
Now the memory returned in fragments.
Rain.
A black car.
A man's hand.
A hospital corridor.
Someone saying her name.
Then darkness.
She looked at Nathan.
“You knew about that night.”
He didn't answer.
“You knew.”
Nathan nodded.
“Tell me.”
“I wasn't there.”
Victoria laughed.
“That's not what he told Voss.”
Nathan turned.
“Victoria.”
“What?”
She smiled.
“You deserve to know.”
She opened another file.
Inside was an old hospital report.
Patient:
Isabella Hart.
Admission:
October 12.
Reason:
Unexplained unconsciousness.
But the final page had been removed.
Isabella stared.
“Who was the doctor?”
Victoria said,
“Dr. Adrian Vale.”
Isabella shook her head.
“I don't know him.”
“You do.”
Victoria handed her a photograph.
A young man stood beside her in a hospital corridor.
Isabella looked closer.
She had no memory of him.
Nathan whispered,
“He was my father's biological son.”
Isabella looked at him.
“What?”
“My father had another child.”
Victoria smiled.
“Adrian was supposed to inherit Eclipse.”
“But he disappeared.”
Isabella's heart pounded.
“Why?”
Nathan answered,
“Because he knew the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That my father ordered your mother's death.”
Silence.
Isabella stared at Adrian's photograph.
Then the pieces began connecting.
The missing hour.
The hospital.
The mysterious doctor.
Her pregnancy records.
The altered DNA report.
Adrian had access.
Someone inside the medical system had used his identity.
Maybe he was still alive.
Maybe he was behind everything.
Marcus looked at the documents.
“Where is he now?”
Victoria smiled.
“That's the problem.”
She handed over another report.
Adrian Vale had officially died eight years ago.
But a financial record showed he had withdrawn money three years later.
Three years after his supposed death.
Isabella whispered,
“So he's alive.”
Nathan nodded.
“Most likely.”
A sound came from upstairs.
A door slammed.
Marcus ran toward the staircase.
Everyone followed.
They entered the old kitchen.
The window stood open.
Rain blew inside.
On the table was a cup of fresh coffee.
Still warm.
Beside it was another photograph.
Isabella and Nathan.
Taken six months after their wedding.
Someone had drawn a red circle around Isabella's stomach.
Below it:
HEIR CONFIRMED.
Isabella felt sick.
“He's been watching me for years.”
A second note appeared.
You looked for the wrong enemy.
Nathan grabbed it.
His face changed.
“What?”
He held the paper toward Isabella.
There was handwriting.
His handwriting.
The words said:
I WILL PROTECT HER NO MATTER WHAT.
Isabella stared.
“You wrote this?”
“No.”
“But that's your handwriting.”
Nathan looked terrified.
Someone had forged it.
Someone had copied his handwriting perfectly.
Then Marcus found a hidden camera beneath the table.
He removed the memory card.
They reviewed the last recording.
Adrian appeared on screen.
Older than the photograph.
Calm.
Healthy.
Alive.
He sat in a dark room.
“I know you're watching.”
He looked directly into the camera.
“Isabella.”
She froze.
Adrian continued.
“You were always curious.”
“You just asked the wrong questions.”
He placed a folder on the table.
“Your baby isn't the heir.”
Isabella swallowed.
“The child is the witness.”
“What does that mean?”
Adrian smiled.
“The baby carries a genetic sequence created by your father.”
Nathan stepped closer to the screen.
“Adrian.”
Adrian looked toward the camera.
“Nathan.”
A slight smile.
“You still obey your father.”
“I don't.”
“You always did.”
Nathan's expression hardened.
“You killed our mother.”
Adrian laughed.
“No.”
“I saved her.”
Isabella's face changed.
Nathan turned.
“What did you say?”
Adrian continued.
“She didn't die in the fire.”
“She escaped.”
“She lived for three days.”
“She gave me the ledger.”
Isabella could barely breathe.
“Then where is she?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Closer than you think.”
The video ended.
Isabella stared at the blank screen.
Closer than you think.
She turned toward Eleanor.
“Where is my mother?”
Eleanor didn't answer.
“Where?”
Eleanor began crying.
“I didn't know.”
“You knew something.”
“I thought she was dead.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“We need to find Adrian.”
Victoria suddenly laughed.
“Too late.”
Everyone turned.
Victoria held up her phone.
A live location appeared.
Adrian's signal was moving.
Straight toward them.
The house lights went out.
A door slammed downstairs.
Then a voice echoed through the dark:
“Isabella.”
She knew the voice.
She had heard it in her dreams.
Adrian.
“I came for my sister.”
Nathan went pale.
May you like
Because Adrian wasn't talking about the baby.
He was talking about Isabella.
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