Chapter 3
The flash drive contained Richard’s private correspondence with Vale Medical.
For years, the company had developed an experimental treatment for a rare blood disorder.
Richard carried the genetic mutation.
So did Vanessa.
A child conceived by both of them could inherit the condition.
My medical records showed that I did not carry it.
Richard had married me because any child we conceived would be a healthy genetic match for someone already receiving treatment.
“Who needs the match?” I asked.
Harrison opened the final file.
A photograph appeared.
A boy sat in a hospital bed.
He looked about six years old.
He had Richard’s dark hair and Vanessa’s green eyes.
The file identified him as Oliver Blake.
Richard and Vanessa’s son.
I could barely breathe.
Their affair had not started during our marriage.
They had been together for years.
Oliver was born before Richard met me.
“Why didn’t they marry?” I asked.
“Richard’s father refused to allow it,” Harrison said. “Two carriers were considered a risk to the Vale bloodline.”
“So they found me.”
The documents showed that Richard researched my family’s medical history before our first date.
Our meeting at a charity dinner had not been an accident.
He had selected me.
They planned to use our daughter’s cord blood and other biological material for Oliver’s treatment.
I would have agreed to save a child if doctors said the procedure was safe.
But Richard never intended to ask.
He wanted complete control.
The threatened custody case was designed to remove me after the delivery.
Vanessa had pushed me because I found the financial records proving Vale Medical paid Richard for “donor acquisition.”
My daughter was not his family.
She was inventory.
The hospital door opened.
Richard entered wearing an ankle monitor.
The officers outside had received a forged order saying he was permitted to visit me.
He locked the door behind him.
“You opened the drive,” he said.
I pressed the emergency button.
Nothing happened.
“The system is offline.”
Of course it was.
Conrad’s security company controlled it.
Richard approached my bed.
“Oliver is dying.”
“You planned to steal our daughter.”
“I planned to save my son.”
“By threatening hers?”
“The procedures are safe.”
“Then why lie?”
“Because you are emotional. You would have asked questions while Oliver ran out of time.”
He reached for me.
I grabbed the metal water pitcher and struck his arm.
Richard seized my wrist.
“You will sign the custody agreement.”
“No.”
“If you don’t, the court will declare you unstable.”
Harrison hit the door from the other side.
“Emily!”
Richard pulled a syringe from his jacket.
I kicked the tray table into him.
The syringe fell.
He grabbed my throat.
Then Harrison broke the door window with a fire extinguisher.
He reached through and unlocked it.
Richard turned toward him.
I drove my knee into Richard’s stomach.
Harrison forced him against the wall until police rushed inside.
Detective Hayes picked up the syringe.
“What is in this?”
Richard said nothing.
A laboratory later identified a sedative strong enough to make me appear confused and dangerous.
It was the same drug Vale Medical used in disputed clinical trials.
Richard was arrested again.
This time, federal agents took custody.
As they led him away, he shouted, “If Oliver dies, it will be your fault!”
The words hurt because the boy was innocent.
But my daughter was innocent too.
That night, Vanessa called me.
She was crying.
“Richard took Oliver.”
“What?”
“He was removed from the hospital before Richard came to your room.”
“Who took him?”
“I don’t know. But my father says they’ll kill Oliver unless you surrender the flash drive.”
Before I could answer, someone grabbed Vanessa.
The phone fell.
A man’s voice whispered in the background.
May you like
“Bring Emily to the old Vale clinic.”
Then the call ended with a child screaming.
