Chapter 10 - THE CHILD THEY HAD ALREADY CHOSEN
-10
Chadworth tightened his grip on Daniel’s shoulder.
“Which daughter?”
Daniel looked toward the corridor.
“We need to move.”
“Which daughter?”
“Gemma.”
The name struck him like a physical blow.
“Why Gemma?”
“Because she’s younger.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“The trust has a survivorship provision. If one child becomes unavailable through death, disappearance, permanent institutionalization or contested identity, her beneficial interest temporarily consolidates into the other child’s guardianship structure.”
Chadworth stared.
“Why would my father write something like that?”
“He didn’t.”
“What?”
“It was amended after his death.”
“Impossible.”
“Not if the amendment used a preauthorized family-office mechanism.”
“Who authorized it?”
Daniel gave him a look.
“You did.”
Chadworth stepped backward.
“No.”
“Eight years ago. You signed a package restructuring tax provisions around several legacy trusts.”
Chadworth remembered signing hundreds of pages during a merger.
“You’re saying it was hidden inside?”
“Yes.”
“Who prepared the documents?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Edmund Carlisle.”
The room seemed to become smaller.
Marcus cursed softly.
Chadworth shook his head.
“Edmund wouldn’t.”
“I don’t know whether he knew.”
“But his office created it?”
“Yes.”
“And Claire worked for him.”
“Exactly.”
Chadworth closed his eyes.
Claire had positioned herself everywhere.
Financial offices.
Medical networks.
Family trusts.
She had been planning the Prescott operation long before Sabina entered his life.
“Why Gemma?”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Because they’ve been building her medical file longer.”
The fake diagnoses.
Hallucinations.
Anxiety.
Emergency episodes.
The poisoned milk the night Evelyn died.
Gemma had been the selected child for years.
“What is the plan?”
“Stage an incident. Make it appear she ran away during a psychological episode. Keep her hidden. Use the event to demonstrate family instability.”
Chadworth felt something savage rise in him.
“Then?”
“You suffer a breakdown.”
“The drugs.”
“Yes.”
“Sabina challenges my paternity.”
“Yes.”
“Lorelai remains.”
“Under a court-appointed guardian.”
“Sabina.”
“If the paternity evidence is accepted.”
The scheme was horrifying because almost every step could appear legal.
A missing child.
A grieving father.
A documented history of neurological decline.
A previously unknown biological heir.
A surviving minor.
Courts.
Doctors.
Trustees.
No masked gunmen.
No obvious theft.
Just paperwork.
Marcus unlocked Daniel’s restraints.
“You’re coming.”
Daniel shook his head.
“There’s a server room.”
“Where?”
“Claire’s laboratory.”
“We saw it.”
“The central records are there.”
“What records?”
“Everything.”
Daniel looked at Chadworth.
“Every family. Every doctor. Every judge they bribed. Every trustee. Every payment. Every manufactured diagnosis.”
“That can destroy them.”
“Yes.”
“Then we take it.”
Marcus frowned.
“We came to retrieve a prisoner, not assault a secure data center.”
Chadworth looked at him.
“We’re already inside an illegal underground hospital filled with kidnapped billionaires.”
“Fair point.”
Daniel tried to stand.
His legs collapsed.
Marcus caught him.
“I’ve been sedated for years,” Daniel whispered.
“We need to move slowly.”
“No,” Chadworth said.
“We need to move now.”
His phone vibrated.
No service should have reached underground.
Yet a message appeared.
FROM EDMUND.
THE GIRLS ARE SAFE.
Then another.
ROSAMUND FOUND SOMETHING.
A photograph loaded.
A tea tin.
Evelyn’s old tea tin.
Inside was a small glass vial.
A handwritten label:
C.V.
Claire Voss.
Chadworth stared.
Evelyn had known.
Before she died, she had obtained physical evidence tied directly to Claire.
Another message.
ROSAMUND SAYS THERE IS A SECOND LETTER.
Then his phone went black.
Signal lost.
Marcus looked at him.
“What?”
“Evelyn named Claire.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t Claire destroy the archive?”
“She never found all of it.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“Evelyn was smarter than all of us.”
They moved toward the laboratory.
At the nursing station, alarms suddenly activated.
Not loud.
A soft pulsing tone.
Daniel froze.
“They know.”
Marcus drew his weapon.
“Move.”
Doors began locking automatically.
The guard forced one open.
They reached the laboratory corridor.
Claire stood at the far end.
Alone.
She did not look surprised.
“Mr. Prescott.”
Chadworth stopped.
“Claire.”
She smiled.
“I wondered how long it would take you.”
“Five years too long.”
“Yes.”
Her answer contained no sarcasm.
Only agreement.
“You killed my wife.”
“No.”
“Sabina says you ordered it.”
“Sabina says whatever keeps her alive.”
“Did your father kill her?”
Claire’s smile faded.
“My father is a coward. He ruins people with diagnoses. He doesn’t crash cars.”
“Then who?”
“You still haven’t understood.”
Daniel whispered, “Don’t listen.”
Claire’s eyes shifted toward him.
“Daniel.”
His body stiffened.
“You look terrible.”
“You kept me underground for five years.”
“And yet you’re alive.”
“Not because of mercy.”
“No.”
Claire looked at Chadworth again.
“Your wife’s death was unfortunate.”
“You’re going to tell me who killed her.”
“I can.”
“Then do it.”
“But you won’t believe me.”
“Try.”
Claire touched her tablet.
A screen on the laboratory wall activated.
Security footage appeared.
A rainy highway.
Four years earlier.
Evelyn’s car entered the frame.
The black sedan followed.
Then Edmund’s SUV.
Chadworth stared.
The footage changed.
A roadside camera.
Evelyn pulled over.
The black sedan stopped behind her.
She got out.
Dr. Voss approached.
They argued.
Then another person exited Edmund’s SUV.
The face was obscured by rain.
Claire enhanced the image.
Chadworth stopped breathing.
Marcus whispered, “No.”
The person walking toward Evelyn was not Claire.
Not Sabina.
Not Edmund.
It was Marcus Vale.
Chadworth slowly turned toward him.
Marcus looked as shocked as anyone.
“That isn’t me.”
Claire smiled.
“The camera disagrees.”
Marcus stared at the footage.
“I was at the hospital.”
“Eventually.”
Chadworth remembered.
Marcus had arrived at the hospital after Gemma was admitted.
How long after?
He could not remember.
Marcus raised his weapon toward Claire.
“Turn it off.”
Chadworth moved between them.
“Lower the gun.”
“Chadworth, that video is fake.”
“Lower it.”
Marcus hesitated.
Then lowered the weapon.
Claire looked delighted.
“This is what my father taught me.”
“What?”
“Never create a lie from nothing.”
She stepped closer.
“Build it around something true.”
Chadworth stared.
“What part is true?”
Claire’s smile vanished.
“Marcus was on that road.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Claire touched the screen again.
Another video appeared.
This time, the timestamp was earlier.
Marcus stood beside Evelyn outside Bellweather Restaurant.
They were arguing.
Evelyn shoved him.
Marcus grabbed her shoulders.
Chadworth looked at him.
“You said you followed her because she asked you to.”
Marcus’s face was pale.
“She did.”
“That doesn’t look like a request.”
“She was terrified.”
“Of you?”
“No.”
“Then why did she push you?”
Marcus looked at Claire.
Claire waited.
Finally Marcus whispered:
“Because I told her Daniel Harker was dead.”
Daniel went still.
Marcus turned toward him.
“I believed you were.”
Daniel stared.
“You never searched.”
“I searched for eighteen months.”
“You stopped.”
“Because they sent me your dental records from a body recovered in Quebec.”
Daniel’s anger collapsed into disbelief.
Claire smiled.
“Another useful document.”
Chadworth looked at her.
“You manipulated everyone.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She tilted her head.
“Because powerful families believe the greatest danger comes from strangers.”
Her eyes moved toward Daniel.
“Usually it comes from the person holding the file.”
May you like
Then the lights went out.
A second later, Daniel screamed.
