## CHAPTER 12 — VANESSA’S DEAL
Vanessa survived with a fractured wrist and a head injury.
She refused to speak unless Logan came alone.
Detective Hale placed a recording device on him before he entered the hospital room.
Vanessa was handcuffed to the bed.
Her confidence was gone.
“Who attacked you?” Logan asked.
“A man wearing a police uniform.”
“Name.”
“I never saw his face.”
“You said the woman at the estate wasn’t Claire.”
“It wasn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Claire can barely walk.”
Logan’s chest tightened.
“Where is she?”
Vanessa smiled weakly.
“I need protection.”
“You abused my son.”
“I followed orders.”
“You enjoyed it.”
Her smile disappeared.
“At first, I was supposed to observe him. Make him dependent. Keep him quiet.”
“You locked him in dark rooms.”
“I needed the Board to believe I was loyal.”
“You drugged him.”
“Keller prescribed it.”
“You struck him.”
Vanessa looked away.
Logan leaned closer.
“You will never be part of his life again.”
“I know.”
For the first time, she sounded frightened rather than angry.
“The Board is cleaning everything,” she said. “Knox was supposed to destroy the archive. When he failed, they activated another plan.”
“What plan?”
“To make Elena look responsible.”
Logan’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because she is the only person Claire trusted.”
“Where is Claire?”
“Safe for now.”
“That is not an answer.”
Vanessa looked toward the camera in the corner.
“They’re listening.”
“Hale’s officers control this floor.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You still think uniforms mean control.”
She asked Logan to move closer.
Then she whispered a location.
“Blackwood House. Room twenty-three.”
“What is Blackwood House?”
“Where they keep people who officially don’t exist.”
“Who is the woman in the blue coat?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with panic.
“Claire’s replacement.”
A sudden alarm sounded in the hallway.
Doctors rushed past the door.
The lights flickered.
Vanessa grabbed Logan’s sleeve.
“Your father built the Board,” she whispered. “But he isn’t Number One anymore.”
“Who is?”
She opened her mouth.
The heart monitor screamed.
Vanessa’s body convulsed.
A nurse rushed in and pushed Logan aside.
Someone had changed the medication in Vanessa’s IV.
As the doctors fought to stabilize her, Logan looked through the glass wall.
At the far end of the hallway stood Elena.
She was watching him.
May you like
Then she turned and disappeared into the stairwell.
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