Chapter 10
The hospital went into lockdown.
Police surrounded Anna and me.
Detective Morales coordinated with officers near Chloe’s school.
Security footage showed Chloe leaving through a side gate.
She had followed a woman in a hospital volunteer jacket.
Linda.
Anna could barely breathe.
“She took my daughter.”
“Our daughter,” I whispered.
The words felt strange.
But true.
Chloe belonged to both of us in different ways.
Daniel gripped my shoulder.
“We’ll find her.”
My phone rang.
Linda.
Detective Morales motioned for silence.
I answered on speaker.
“Sophie.”
Her voice was calm.
“Where is Chloe?”
“She’s safe.”
“If you hurt her—”
“I would never hurt my granddaughter.”
I nearly screamed.
“You stole her at birth.”
“I saved her.”
“From what?”
“Marcus.”
Detective Morales began tracing the call.
Linda continued.
“You still don’t understand. Marcus never wanted one heir. He wanted control of all of them.”
Daniel frowned.
“All of who?”
Linda laughed.
“The children.”
My stomach tightened.
“What children?”
“Samuel wasn’t the only source Marcus used.”
Detective Morales wrote: KEEP HER TALKING.
I forced myself to breathe.
“Where are you?”
“You think I’m the villain.”
“You forged my signature and tried to take Noah.”
“Because Marcus was coming for him.”
That stopped me.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. But you will.”
A child’s voice appeared faintly in the background.
“Mom?”
Anna covered her mouth.
Chloe.
She was alive.
I spoke carefully.
“Let me talk to her.”
“No.”
“Linda.”
“I need Daniel.”
Daniel stiffened.
“For what?”
“The Carter trust documents require a biological male descendant.”
“Then Noah.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Daniel.
Linda continued.
“But Marcus discovered another child.”
Detective Morales frowned.
“Who?”
Linda ignored her.
“Sophie, you think Emily and Chloe were the only babies switched eight years ago?”
I felt sick.
“How many?”
“Three.”
Anna stared at me.
Daniel went pale.
“What third baby?”
Linda whispered, “Rebecca’s.”
Daniel grabbed the phone.
“Lily?”
“Yes.”
His six-year-old niece.
Rebecca’s daughter.
Linda continued.
“Marcus kept records on every child. Every substitution. Every biological parent.”
“Where?”
“That is why he needs Chloe.”
My chest tightened.
“What does Chloe know?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why take her?”
“Because Peter Reynolds has something Marcus wants.”
Anna turned toward her husband.
Peter went white.
“What do you have?”
He backed away.
“Nothing.”
Anna stared at him.
“Peter.”
He shook his head.
Then Detective Morales stepped toward him.
“Sir?”
Peter finally reached inside his jacket.
He removed a small black flash drive.
Anna looked horrified.
“What is that?”
Peter whispered, “Marcus gave it to me eight years ago.”
I stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Not what was on it.”
“Why keep it?”
“Because he told me if anything happened to Chloe, I should give it to the police.”
Detective Morales took it.
Linda heard everything through the phone.
Her voice changed.
“Peter, you idiot.”
Then the line disconnected.
Police rushed the drive to a hospital computer.
Files opened.
Hundreds of names.
Birth dates.
DNA profiles.
Payments.
Adoptions.
Hospital transfers.
Detective Morales scrolled.
Then stopped.
My name appeared repeatedly.
So did Samuel’s.
Emily’s.
Chloe’s.
Noah’s.
Rebecca’s daughter Lily.
Then another folder appeared.
PROJECT CARTER — ACTIVE CHILDREN.
There were twelve photographs.
Not three.
Twelve.
Daniel whispered, “Oh, God.”
At the bottom was a live tracking map.
One blinking marker moved rapidly north.
Chloe.
Another marker appeared nearby.
Linda.
And a third marker followed them.
Marcus.
Detective Morales grabbed her radio.
“We have a location.”
Daniel ran toward the door.
I followed.
Then the computer beeped.
A new file opened automatically.
VIDEO MESSAGE — MARCUS HALE.
Marcus appeared on screen.
Older.
Smiling.
“If you’re watching this, Linda finally failed.”
My skin crawled.
He leaned toward the camera.
“You’ve spent years asking who stole your children.”
His smile disappeared.
“You should have been asking why Sophie was selected in the first place.”
Daniel stopped.
I stared at the screen.
Marcus lifted an old photograph.
My father stood beside him.
Then he said the words that made my knees weaken.
May you like
“Because Sophie’s father started the program with me.”
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