Chapter 9 - The Woman Peter Declared Dead
Canadian authorities located Catherine through an old medical photograph.
She had lived under the name Carol Bennett inside a private neurological residence for eleven years.
Peter served as legal guardian.
Records described delusions, aggression, and financial paranoia.
The language matched Dr. Cross’s report about me.
Catherine discovered Peter using hospital billing companies to move Northbridge money.
She confronted him.
Then she slipped in the shower.
The injury was real.
The explanation was not.
Peter isolated her during recovery and announced her death.
Years later, Catherine regained enough independence to begin contacting former employees.
She helped Laura escape.
She also helped Daniel move between facilities, sometimes to protect him from Peter, sometimes under pressure from him.
Her role remained complicated.
The woman on the boat was Catherine.
She had not helped Peter willingly.
She moved Daniel because Peter threatened Laura.
After reaching Canada, Catherine changed vehicles and attempted to contact federal investigators.
Someone intercepted her message.
She left one audio fragment.
“Peter is taking Daniel to the original Apex site. He needs Emma’s token and Ethan’s blood.”
Ethan’s blood.
Northbridge required Carter authentication.
Why would Ethan matter?
Hale opened the oldest founder records.
Peter Blake was not Ethan’s biological father.
Daniel Carter was.
The room became silent.
Ethan had been born before Daniel married my mother.
His biological mother was Catherine Blake.
Daniel and Catherine worked together during the first Apex project.
Their relationship ended before Ethan’s birth.
Peter married Catherine and raised the boy as his own.
Ethan knew none of it.
Or claimed not to.
DNA from the assault arrest confirmed a close paternal relationship between Ethan and me.
Half siblings.
The marriage was legally invalid.
The revelation made me physically ill.
Peter had known.
Daniel likely knew Ethan was his son but may not have known Peter targeted me for marriage.
Ethan stared at the laboratory report during questioning.
Then he began laughing.
Not because it was funny.
Because his mind could not hold another shape.
“My father told me Daniel stole everything from us.”
“Daniel was your father,” Nolan said.
“No.”
“DNA confirms it.”
“No.”
“You married his daughter.”
Ethan stopped laughing.
“Peter selected her.”
He said the words slowly.
The responsibility shifted in his mind.
Peter selected.
Peter ordered.
Peter lied.
All true.
Still, Ethan restrained me.
Ethan kicked me.
Ethan demanded the password.
Manipulation explained the road.
It did not erase the person who walked it.
Northbridge’s biometric system recognized Daniel’s direct children.
Me.
Ethan.
Potentially Liam? Liam and I share same parents, yes Liam is Daniel’s son too. Why Ethan’s blood specifically? Perhaps Peter created competing heir claim or needs three children? Need logical.
The founder protocol required confirmation from Daniel or two adult descendants if Daniel lacked capacity.
Peter needed Ethan and me.
Liam had been excluded from the original corporate records because he entered medical school and signed a personal waiver years earlier.
He believed the waiver declined business involvement.
A hidden clause removed his biometric authority permanently.
Peter prepared it.
Ethan’s blood and my token could activate Northbridge without Daniel.
If Peter controlled both, he could redirect the cooperative shares through false descendant consent.
That was why Ethan married me.
A spouse could access my medical information, devices, and eventually the token.
Peter had placed Daniel’s two corporate heirs inside one household.
Liam remained outside as the physician capable of recognizing physical abuse.
So Peter created records undermining him before the hospital transfer.
The original Apex site stood beneath an abandoned construction office outside the city.
Daniel’s first records called it Northbridge One.
Federal agents entered after midnight.
The building appeared empty.
Beneath the basement, they found an operating medical suite.
Daniel lay inside one room.
Alive.
Sedated.
Catherine sat restrained beside him.
Peter was gone.
A refrigeration case contained Ethan’s blood sample collected after arrest.
Another empty slot was labeled Emma Carter.
Peter still needed mine.
The token remained in court custody.
Daniel and Catherine were transferred to an independent federal hospital.
Liam and I could not see Daniel until doctors stabilized him.
Catherine asked for Laura.
She also asked whether Ethan knew.
No one answered yet.
Peter remained missing.
His access to hospital systems and private transport made him dangerous.
Ethan requested to see Daniel.
The court denied direct contact.
He recorded a message instead.
“Tell him Peter made me what I am.”
Daniel watched from his hospital bed.
He replied with six words.
“Peter taught you. You still chose.”
The same distinction I had been trying to hold.
Before I could meet Daniel, Northbridge sent an automatic alert.
Founder status changed.
Daniel Carter: medically incapacitated.
Descendant activation initiated.
Two required identities appeared.
Emma Carter.
Ethan Blake.
The system had activated without the token.
May you like
Someone had inserted a duplicate.
Continue to the next part: Peter begins activating Northbridge using a copied token while Emma and Ethan remain under hospital and police control.
