Chapter 10 - THE WRONG FATHER
Ethan struck Graham’s arm as the gun fired.
The bullet tore through Vivian’s sleeve and buried itself in the wall.
Claire pulled her mother to the floor.
Detective Reed entered with two officers.
“Drop the weapon.”
Graham turned toward them.
His face showed confusion.
For one second, he appeared not to recognize anyone.
Then he looked at the gun in his hand.
“What happened?”
Ethan took the weapon away.
“You shot Daniel.”
Graham stared toward the doorway.
Daniel remained on the floor.
Blood spread beneath him.
Paramedics rushed into the room.
Graham moved backward.
“No.”
“You aimed at Vivian.”
“No.”
“I saw you.”
Graham pressed both hands against his head.
“I was in the car.”
“What car?”
“The crash.”
His breathing became frantic.
“Daniel was driving.”
“Victor was behind us.”
Ethan caught his shoulders.
“Dad, look at me.”
Graham focused on him.
“You were twelve.”
“I’m thirty-four.”
“No.”
Graham’s memory shifted before their eyes.
The Helix damage had pulled him into another year.
Another fear.
Another version of reality.
Reed placed him in restraints.
Graham did not resist.
He continued whispering about the crash.
Claire remained beside Daniel.
The bullet had entered his upper chest.
He was conscious, but barely.
“Stay with me.”
Daniel looked at her.
His face had aged, but Claire recognized the man from every photograph.
The father who taught her to ride a bicycle.
The father who burned pancakes on Sunday mornings.
The father whose funeral she attended at eighteen.
“You found her,” he whispered.
“You said you were my father.”
“I was.”
“Vivian said you weren’t.”
He coughed.
Blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“She means biologically.”
Claire’s heart tightened.
“Who is my biological father?”
Daniel looked toward Graham.
Claire followed his gaze.
“No.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Graham and Vivian were together before he married Eleanor.”
Ethan stood several feet away.
He heard every word.
Claire felt the floor disappear beneath her.
Graham was her biological father.
Ethan was Graham’s son.
The realization produced immediate horror.
She and Ethan had been engaged.
They had loved each other.
They had nearly built a life together.
Daniel saw her expression.
“No.”
“What?”
“Ethan is not Graham’s biological son.”
Claire looked toward Ethan.
Eleanor had raised him.
Evelyn had given birth to him.
Graham had apparently not fathered him.
“Victor?” Ethan asked.
Daniel shook his head weakly.
“I don’t know.”
Claire struggled to follow.
Graham was her biological father.
Daniel had raised her.
Evelyn was Ethan’s biological mother.
Eleanor had raised him.
The people who created them and the people who loved them had been divided by lies.
“You knew?” Claire asked Daniel.
“From the beginning.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Graham signed away his rights.”
“He became part of my life anyway.”
“He loved Vivian.”
“Did he love me?”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“He was afraid loving you would destroy my place in your life.”
“So everyone lied instead.”
“I was your father in every way that mattered.”
Claire took his hand.
“You still are.”
Paramedics lifted him onto a stretcher.
Before they moved him, Daniel pulled Claire closer.
“Graham’s blackout was triggered.”
“How?”
“Victor implanted a medication pump.”
“Where?”
“Near his spine.”
“Can it be controlled remotely?”
“Yes.”
Claire looked toward Graham.
He sat restrained beside the wall, staring at nothing.
Victor had turned him into a weapon.
“Who activated it?” she asked.
Daniel’s eyes shifted toward the observation booth.
“The person using Northbridge’s control system.”
Reed checked the security terminal.
The access log showed a remote login.
The account belonged to Eleanor Ashford.
Ethan stared at the screen.
“My mother triggered him.”
Claire shook her head.
“Victor could be using her credentials.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You are defending the woman who pushed you down a staircase.”
“I am saying the evidence is too convenient.”
Vivian touched the torn sleeve where the bullet passed.
“Eleanor knew how to control Graham.”
“You know that?”
“She helped design his treatment schedule.”
Ethan called Eleanor’s police escort.
No answer.
He called again.
A hospital supervisor confirmed Eleanor had never arrived at the secured holding facility.
The transport vehicle had been found beneath a highway overpass.
Both officers were unconscious.
Eleanor was gone.
So was Evelyn.
The sisters had disappeared together.
Reed ordered a regional alert.
Claire remained with Vivian while doctors examined her.
Helix had damaged her short-term memory, but her long-term memories remained mostly intact.
She remembered developing the compound.
She remembered the laboratory fire.
She remembered Graham carrying Claire from the treatment room.
She remembered Evelyn locking the security doors.
She remembered Victor standing outside the glass as flames spread.
“What happened after the fire?” Claire asked.
“I woke inside a private clinic.”
“Victor’s clinic?”
“Yes.”
“Did Valerie visit?”
“Once.”
“Did she help you escape?”
“She tried.”
“What happened?”
“Graham stopped her.”
Claire looked through the glass toward Graham.
“He imprisoned you?”
“He believed I would expose the company.”
“Did he know you had survived?”
“Yes.”
“For twenty-five years?”
“Not continuously.”
“Explain.”
“His memories were altered.”
“By Helix?”
“By additional drugs.”
“Victor controlled what Graham remembered.”
“Yes.”
“Why did Graham arrange Valerie’s release?”
“Perhaps he remembered the plan we made.”
“What plan?”
Vivian looked at Claire.
“To expose everything once you were old enough to survive the truth.”
“I was an adult twelve years ago.”
“That was when Daniel found me.”
“And then he was attacked.”
“Yes.”
“Why pretend he died?”
“To protect you.”
Claire closed her eyes.
There was the word again.
Protection had become the excuse beneath every grave.
Daniel survived the car crash, but Victor controlled police and hospital officials.
The official death allowed Daniel to disappear and continue investigating.
He formed the Bennett Restoration Trust with Graham’s help.
They funded Northbridge to care for surviving trial patients.
Then Victor discovered the facility and slowly took control.
“Why call me now?” Claire asked.
“Because Patient Zero began remembering.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
“What did you remember?”
Vivian looked toward the door.
“The location of the original Helix formula.”
“Isn’t it in the ledger?”
“The ledger contains financial evidence.”
“The formula was hidden separately.”
“Where?”
“Inside Ashford Corporation.”
Claire frowned.
“Victor has controlled the company for years through Eleanor.”
“He does not know which file contains it.”
“Who does?”
“I do.”
Ethan entered.
“Then we destroy it.”
Vivian looked at him.
“The formula can save lives.”
“It has killed people.”
“Because Victor altered the dosage and trial design.”
“How many more people must die before everyone stops talking about potential?”
Vivian studied him.
“You sound like Eleanor.”
Ethan flinched.
Claire stepped between them.
“The formula remains hidden until the patients are safe and Victor is in custody.”
Vivian nodded reluctantly.
An officer entered the room.
“Detective Reed needs you downstairs.”
They followed him to the lobby.
A television displayed breaking news.
Ashford Corporation stock had collapsed after leaked trial records reached reporters.
Federal agents were entering company headquarters.
Board members publicly denied knowledge.
Naomi Cole appeared live outside the hospital.
She revealed Victor’s threats and confirmed the existence of the ledgers.
The case was no longer private.
Victor could not bury every witness.
Then the broadcast switched to another live feed.
Eleanor stood inside Ashford Corporation’s boardroom.
Evelyn stood beside her.
Both women faced the cameras.
Eleanor began speaking.
“My name is Eleanor Ashford.”
“For decades, I helped conceal crimes committed through the Ashford Corporation.”
Ethan moved closer to the television.
Eleanor continued.
“I accept responsibility for my actions.”
“However, the individual responsible for Project Helix is not Victor Hale.”
Vivian stared at the screen.
Eleanor held up a photograph.
It showed Vivian inside the original laboratory.
“The architect of Helix was Dr. Vivian Bennett.”
Reporters shouted questions.
Eleanor looked directly into the camera.
“Vivian Bennett is alive.”
“She has manipulated my family for twenty-five years.”
“She is currently holding seven vulnerable patients inside an illegal facility called Northbridge.”
Claire turned toward Vivian.
“This is Victor’s strategy.”
Vivian did not answer.
On television, Eleanor reached beneath the podium.
She revealed a sealed medical vial.
“This contains the final Helix formula.”
Vivian went pale.
“That is impossible.”
“What?” Claire asked.
“I hid the formula in a file.”
Eleanor held the vial toward the cameras.
“Vivian plans to release the compound into the public medical system.”
“She must be stopped.”
Federal vehicles raced away from Northbridge.
Reed checked his radio.
Agents had received orders to arrest Vivian.
Someone high inside the Justice Department had accepted Eleanor’s story.
Vivian grabbed Claire’s arm.
“The vial is not Helix.”
“What is it?”
“Something far worse.”
The television camera moved closer.
A handwritten label appeared on the glass.
Patient One.
Claire recognized her mother’s writing.
“What is inside it?” Ethan asked.
Vivian looked at Claire.
“Your blood.”
Claire touched the scar on her arm.
“Why would Eleanor have my blood?”
“She does not.”
“Then whose is it?”
May you like
Vivian’s face filled with terror.
“The child who died so you could live.”
