Chapter 14 - THE LAST BETRAYALGabriel stared at his own name on the screen.
Victor slowly turned toward him.
“Tell me you didn't sign this.”
Gabriel examined the document.
“I didn't.”
Madeline shook her head.
“Caldwell said Gabriel would cooperate if they threatened his daughter.”
Victor stopped.
“Your daughter?”
Gabriel's face crumpled.
For years, he had kept his private life hidden.
His fourteen-year-old daughter, Lily, lived with her mother in another state.
Three weeks earlier, she had disappeared.
Gabriel had told Victor she was staying with relatives.
In reality, Caldwell's people had taken her.
“I was trying to get her back,” Gabriel whispered.
Victor stood perfectly still.
“You should have told me.”
“I thought they'd kill her if I did.”
Chloe stepped closer.
“Then we'll find her, too.”
Madeline opened another file.
It contained a security-camera image.
A frightened teenage girl sat in a locked room.
Chloe recognized the hallway.
“That's Saint Agnes.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“We searched the lower floors.”
Rebecca leaned toward the screen.
“Not all of them.”
She pointed to a section of the building plans.
“A hidden service level connects the old rehabilitation wing to the neighboring property.”
Victor immediately contacted the federal task force already handling the Mercy investigation.
Agents surrounded the property while medical staff moved the remaining patients to safety.
Caldwell attempted to escape through the service tunnel.
He never reached the exit.
Federal agents arrested him beside a maintenance staircase.
Adrian was detained minutes later.
Elena was discovered in a private office, destroying paper records.
She tried to blame everything on Caldwell.
But Madeline's recordings contradicted her.
Meanwhile, Gabriel ran toward the concealed room.
Victor followed.
Inside, Lily sat trembling beneath a thin blanket.
“Daddy?”
Gabriel dropped to his knees.
His daughter rushed into his arms.
Victor turned away, giving them privacy.
Then Chloe noticed something beneath Lily's chair.
A small metal box.
Inside were records marked with Rebecca Bennett's initials.
Chloe opened the first folder.
Her hands began shaking.
“Victor.”
He approached.
The records documented dozens of children who had been enrolled in the program.
Some had survived.
Some had died.
Others remained unidentified.
But the final page contained something unexpected.
A signed statement from Victor's father.
I ordered the experiments terminated when I discovered their true purpose. Elena and Caldwell continued them without my authorization.
Victor read it twice.
His father had financed the original program.
He was still responsible for terrible decisions.
But the statement suggested he had later tried to stop the abuse.
Then Chloe found a second letter.
It was addressed to her.
Written by her father five years earlier.
And it contained a sentence that brought her to tears.
Chloe, if you ever discover what happened at Mercy, please understand that I spent my final years trying to save your mother.
Rebecca read the letter.
Her lips trembled.
“He really tried,” she whispered.
Chloe embraced her.
For the first time, the truth was finally within reach.
But one mystery remained.
Liam's latest medical results contained an unexpected finding.
May you like
The doctors had discovered that his condition was improving.
And they believed they finally understood why.
