Chapter 7 - THE GRAVE THAT HELD NO BODYChloe had buried her mother eleven years ago.
She remembered the rain.
The white flowers.
The minister's trembling voice.
And Liam, still a little boy, asking why Mommy wouldn't wake up.
Now Elena was claiming Rebecca Bennett had survived.
“I saw her coffin,” Chloe whispered.
Victor studied her carefully.
“Was it open?”
Chloe shook her head.
“The accident was terrible. Dad said we shouldn't see her.”
Gabriel immediately began searching the death records.
Within minutes, he found an irregularity.
Rebecca Bennett's death certificate had been issued by a private physician.
The physician had later lost his medical license.
The funeral home had since closed.
And the official identification report was missing.
Victor looked at Gabriel.
“Find the physician.”
Chloe paced the apartment.
“If she's alive, why would she abandon us?”
Victor answered gently.
“We don't know that she did.”
A sudden knock interrupted them.
Gabriel drew his weapon but kept it lowered.
“Who is it?”
A weak voice answered.
“Dr. Nathan Pierce.”
Chloe froze.
The same doctor who had authorized Liam's transfer.
Gabriel opened the door cautiously.
Pierce stumbled inside, his coat soaked with freezing rain.
Blood stained his shirt near one shoulder.
“Please,” he gasped. “Caldwell is going to kill me.”
Victor caught him before he collapsed.
“Where's the boy?”
Pierce shook his head.
“Elena took him away from Caldwell's men. I don't know where she went.”
Chloe knelt beside him.
“Tell me about my mother.”
The doctor closed his eyes.
“Rebecca discovered the children were being used to test an experimental immune therapy. She tried to expose everything.”
“Where is she now?”
Pierce struggled to breathe.
“Mercy never closed. They simply moved the operation.”
Victor leaned closer.
“Where?”
Pierce gripped his sleeve.
“Saint Agnes. The rehabilitation wing.”
Chloe's heart stopped.
Saint Agnes was where her father had spent the final six months of his life.
Before she could speak, Pierce grabbed her hand.
“Your mother wasn't hiding from you.”
Tears ran down his face.
“She was a prisoner.”
Chloe whispered, “For eleven years?”
Pierce nodded.
Then he revealed the final horror.
“She tried to escape three times. Each time, Caldwell threatened to kill one of her children.”
He pointed toward Victor.
“And the man who kept signing the orders wasn't Caldwell.”
Victor went rigid.
Pierce whispered the name.
“Gabriel.”
Chloe turned.
May you like
Gabriel was standing behind them.
And his expression had suddenly become unreadable.
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