Chapter 10 - The Final Recording
Tessa pulled out a small silver phone.
Nolan aimed his weapon at her.
“Put it down.”
Tears ran across her face.
“I can explain.”
Elena stared at the woman who had confessed, helped her escape, and struck the syringe from Dr. Greer’s hand.
“Who are you?”
“My name is not Tessa Grant.”
Margaret’s expression changed from anger to fear.
The bridesmaid removed a thin strip of artificial skin from her wrist.
Beneath it was a small tattoo bearing the Vale Biomedical symbol.
“My name is Theresa Vale.”
Elena’s breath caught.
Henry had never spoken of another daughter.
Ryan stepped closer.
“That is impossible.”
Theresa looked at Elena.
“Henry is my father too.”
Celeste laughed in disbelief.
“You expect us to believe this?”
Theresa unlocked the silver phone.
A photograph appeared showing Henry beside a young woman and a little girl. The child had Theresa’s eyes.
“My mother worked in his research division,” Theresa said. “Henry hid us after Margaret discovered the patent trust.”
Elena struggled to process the words.
“You are my sister.”
“Half sister.”
“Why did my father never tell me?”
“Because he believed everyone close to you was being watched.”
Ryan looked at Theresa.
“You sent me the encrypted messages.”
“Yes.”
“You ordered me to cooperate with Margaret.”
“I ordered you to pretend long enough to discover where Henry was being held.”
Elena’s voice sharpened.
“He did more than pretend.”
Theresa looked at Ryan with disgust.
“I did not tell him to sleep with Celeste. I did not tell him to gaslight you or forge your signature. Those were his choices.”
Ryan lowered his eyes.
Police pounded against the roof access door.
Margaret moved suddenly.
She grabbed Celeste and held the syringe against her daughter’s neck.
“No one opens that door.”
Celeste stared at her mother.
“You would inject me?”
“I will do whatever is necessary.”
Elena stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
Margaret smiled.
“You still think this is about family.”
“It stopped being about family when you tried to turn my child into a financial instrument.”
Margaret’s hand tightened.
Theresa raised the phone.
“The complete archive has already been sent to federal investigators.”
Margaret’s smile disappeared.
“Then why are they still outside?”
Theresa looked toward Nolan.
“Because someone blocked the upload before it finished.”
Nolan remained perfectly still.
Elena remembered Henry’s warning.
Do not let Nolan Pierce take the archive.
Nolan slowly lowered his weapon.
“I blocked one folder.”
“Which folder?” Elena asked.
“The one identifying the person who ordered Henry’s plane diverted.”
Margaret stared at him.
“You?”
“No.”
Nolan looked at Elena.
“Your mother.”
Elena felt the air leave her lungs.
Her mother, Caroline Vale, had died when Elena was fourteen.
At least, that was what Henry had always told her.
Theresa opened the final file on the silver phone.
A live video appeared.
Henry sat in Elena’s nursery again.
This time, a woman stepped into view beside him.
She had silver hair, Elena’s eyes, and the same small scar above her eyebrow that Elena remembered touching as a child.
Caroline Vale looked directly into the camera.
“Elena,” she said. “Your father has lied to both of us for twenty years.”
Henry turned toward her.
“Caroline, do not.”
She ignored him.
“The Whitmores were never trying to steal the patent from our family.”
Margaret’s face went white.
Caroline continued.
“They were trying to stop Henry from using it.”
Elena looked at the flash drive in her hand.
“What does the treatment do?” she whispered.
Nolan locked the roof door before the police could break through.
Ryan moved beside Elena.
For the first time that night, fear in his face appeared completely genuine.
The screen flickered.
Henry struggled with someone outside the camera frame.
Caroline leaned closer.
“The child you are carrying is the final requirement.”
The nursery lights went out.
A gunshot sounded through the phone.
The live feed vanished.
At the same moment, Elena felt warm liquid reach the floor beneath her gown.
Her water had broken.
The clock changed to 11:58 p.m.
Nolan extended his hand toward the flash drive.
“Elena, give it to me now.”
Ryan stepped between them.
Theresa raised her weapon.
Margaret still held the syringe against Celeste.
Police began forcing the roof door open.
Elena looked from the flash drive to the clock, then toward the dark screen where her mother had appeared after sixteen years.
Another contraction seized her body.
Before anyone could move, the elevator behind them opened.
Henry Vale stood inside, covered in blood.
He looked at Elena’s stomach.
Then he looked at Nolan.
“You were supposed to make sure the baby was never born.”
May you like
The roof door burst inward.
Cut to black.
