Chapter 3 - The message remained on the screen.THE BABY CANNOT BE BORN.
Emily read it twice.
Then a third time.
Her hand instinctively covered her stomach.
Raymond noticed.
“Don't panic.”
“Someone just threatened my unborn child.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
Raymond said nothing.
Emily's voice rose.
“You know who they are.”
“Not yet.”
“You know something.”
He hesitated.
“Yes.”
“What?”
Before Raymond could answer, the office door shook violently.
Everyone jumped.
“Open the door!”
A security officer shouted from the hallway.
Raymond unlocked it.
The officer rushed inside.
“We’ve got a situation downstairs.”
“What happened?”
“The backup generators failed.”
Raymond frowned.
“That doesn't happen.”
“Exactly.”
Dr. Shaw looked at Emily.
Someone had intentionally disabled parts of the hospital.
The security officer continued.
“And one of the cameras on this floor was turned away.”
Raymond’s expression hardened.
“Someone is inside.”
A scream echoed from the corridor.
Emily flinched.
Raymond immediately ordered:
“Lock down the third floor.”
The officer nodded.
Doors slammed.
Staff members were moved into rooms.
The hospital suddenly felt less like a medical facility and more like a fortress.
Emily sat in a chair.
Her hands were trembling.
Raymond crouched in front of her.
“I need you to listen carefully.”
She looked at him.
“Sixteen years ago, your mother discovered something.”
“What?”
“A financial scheme involving this hospital.”
Emily frowned.
“What kind?”
“Fake patients. Insurance fraud. Illegal clinical trials.”
Her expression changed.
“My mother knew?”
“Yes.”
“And she died because of it?”
Raymond looked away.
“I never proved that.”
Emily's voice became quiet.
“But you suspected it.”
“Yes.”
“Who was involved?”
Raymond didn't answer.
Emily stood.
“Who?”
He looked at her.
“Victoria's family.”
Silence.
Emily's mind raced.
“Daniel Hayes?”
“His father.”
“Richard Hayes?”
Raymond nodded.
“The Hayes family helped finance the hospital.”
Emily remembered Victoria’s confidence.
Her certainty that nobody could touch her.
Everything suddenly made sense.
But one piece didn't.
“Then why put Daniel's name on my pregnancy file?”
Raymond stared at her.
“That is the part I don't understand.”
The door opened.
A forensic technician entered carrying a hard drive.
“We recovered deleted files from Dr. Shaw's system.”
The doctor went pale.
“You accessed my computer?”
“We were authorized.”
Raymond took the drive.
“Show me.”
The technician connected it.
A hidden folder appeared.
Emily leaned closer.
There were dozens of files.
Her name appeared repeatedly.
Prenatal.
Bloodwork.
Ultrasound.
Genetic screening.
And one file labeled:
PROJECT BLACK ROSE
Raymond went completely still.
Emily looked at him.
“You know that name.”
He didn't respond.
“Uncle.”
He finally said:
“It was supposed to be destroyed.”
“What was?”
“The project.”
“Explain.”
Raymond opened the file.
The first page contained medical notes.
The second contained financial transfers.
The third made Emily physically step backward.
It was a photograph.
A young woman lying unconscious in a hospital bed.
Emily stared.
She recognized her.
Her mother.
Margaret.
But Margaret wasn't sixteen years younger.
She looked exactly the same age as when Emily remembered her.
Then Emily saw the date.
The photograph had been taken twelve years after her supposed death.
Her knees almost gave out.
“No.”
Raymond caught her.
“That picture should not exist.”
Emily stared at the screen.
“My mother was alive?”
Raymond's face was grim.
“Apparently.”
Dr. Shaw shook his head.
“This is impossible.”
The forensic technician zoomed in.
“There’s something else.”
A second person appeared in the corner of the photograph.
A man.
His face was partially obscured.
But the outline was familiar.
Emily stared.
Then slowly looked at Raymond.
“That's you.”
Raymond didn't deny it.
“I was there.”
“Why?”
He inhaled slowly.
“Because your mother asked me to take you and disappear.”
Emily's voice broke.
“You lied to me for my entire life.”
“I was trying to save you.”
“By letting me believe she was dead?”
“You were sixteen.”
“You should have told me!”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
Raymond looked at the screen.
“Because the person who ordered your mother's death was still alive.”
Emily whispered:
“Who?”
Before Raymond could answer, the office television flickered.
The hospital security system had been hacked.
A live camera feed appeared.
Victoria was standing in the basement.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then she smiled.
Behind her stood a woman.
Emily stopped breathing.
Raymond whispered:
“Margaret.”
The woman on the screen lifted her head.
And even through the grainy security footage, Emily knew instantly.
It was her mother.
Alive.
Then Victoria turned toward the camera and said:
May you like
“Tell Emily her mother has been waiting for her.”
The screen went black.
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