Chapter 8 - THE BODYGUARD'S SECRET“Gabriel?”
Victor's voice was dangerously quiet.
His oldest friend stood beside the apartment door, holding a pistol pointed toward the floor.
Chloe backed away.
Gabriel looked at Pierce.
“You weren't supposed to survive.”
Victor moved between them.
“Put the gun down.”
Gabriel obeyed immediately.
Then he removed his jacket.
A small recording device was fastened beneath its lining.
“I've been collecting evidence against Caldwell for fourteen months.”
Victor stared at him.
“You should have told me.”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because your father built Mercy's security network, and I was hired to manage its remaining records. Caldwell used my credentials to approve transfers long after I stopped working there.”
Pierce struggled to sit upright.
“That's a lie.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Then explain why you were paid two hundred thousand dollars last Thursday.”
Silence.
Victor's gaze shifted toward the doctor.
Pierce began shaking.
Chloe stepped forward.
“Who's telling the truth?”
Gabriel placed a folder on the table.
Inside were photographs of Saint Agnes.
Security footage.
Patient schedules.
And a recent image of Rebecca Bennett.
Chloe grabbed it.
Her mother looked older, thinner, and exhausted.
But she was unmistakably alive.
Chloe pressed the photograph against her chest.
“Mom.”
Gabriel continued.
“I've spent months trying to get her out. Every time I arranged an extraction, Caldwell moved her.”
Victor looked furious.
“You should have trusted me.”
Gabriel met his eyes.
“Would you have believed me if I'd told you your father personally signed the original detention order?”
Victor went silent.
Chloe stared at him.
“Your father imprisoned my mother?”
Gabriel nodded.
“She was going to testify about the experiments. He wanted her silenced.”
Suddenly, Pierce laughed bitterly.
“You still don't understand.”
Everyone turned.
The doctor wiped blood from his mouth.
“Rebecca was never the only prisoner.”
Victor approached him.
“Explain.”
Pierce looked directly at Chloe.
“Your mother agreed to stay because someone else was being held in the building.”
Chloe felt a horrible certainty growing inside her.
“Who?”
Pierce whispered, “Your father.”
Chloe shook her head.
“My father died five years ago.”
Pierce gave a weak, bitter smile.
“That's what his medical records say.”
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Then he revealed the truth.
“Your father is alive, too.”
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