Chapter 17 - THE WOMAN IN THE BALLROOM
Smoke poured through the clinic.
Daniel grabbed Elena.
“Move!”
Marcus lifted Rachel.
Adrian freed Claire from the floor cuffs but kept one wrist attached.
Charles struggled to breathe.
They ran toward the service tunnel.
Behind them, fire spread through rooms filled with records.
Daniel understood immediately.
Someone was destroying evidence.
Again.
At the tunnel entrance, a metal gate dropped.
Adrian cursed.
“Remote lock.”
Marcus searched for another route.
Rachel pointed.
“Laundry corridor.”
They turned.
The ceiling cracked behind them.
Elena coughed.
Daniel covered her mouth with his jacket sleeve.
“Stay close.”
They reached a narrow stairwell.
At the top, Adrian kicked through a rusted door.
Fresh rain hit their faces.
Everyone stumbled outside.
Daniel turned.
Flames rose from the ruined clinic.
Firefighters were already approaching.
Too quickly.
Marcus noticed too.
“They were called before the fire started.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Meaning?”
“Whoever did this wanted witnesses to see an accidental fire.”
Rachel stared at the flames.
“The archive.”
Elena touched her shoe.
“We still have the card.”
Rachel exhaled.
“Good.”
A black SUV drove past the road.
Slowly.
Daniel looked.
For one second, the rear window lowered.
Judge Eleanor Voss sat inside.
Elegant gray hair.
Pearl earrings.
Calm expression.
She looked directly at Daniel.
Then the window rose.
Daniel ran toward the road.
The SUV accelerated.
Marcus shouted into his radio.
“Stop that vehicle!”
No response.
Again.
Nothing.
Marcus stared at his radio.
“Channel jammed.”
Adrian looked toward the road.
“She has police.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“She has people.”
Daniel remembered the gala.
Judge Voss had been one of the foundation’s biggest donors.
She had known him since childhood.
She had given Noah birthday gifts.
She had kissed Vivienne on both cheeks every Christmas.
He wanted to vomit.
Rachel grabbed his arm.
“She knows the card survived.”
“How?”
“She always knows.”
Marcus’s phone regained signal.
Messages flooded in.
His face changed.
“What?”
Daniel asked.
Marcus looked at him.
“Vivienne escaped custody.”
Daniel laughed once.
Of course she had.
“How?”
“Transport vehicle intercepted.”
“By Voss?”
“Probably.”
Rachel shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Vivienne and Voss hate each other.”
Daniel frowned.
“They worked together.”
“They used each other.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
Adrian nodded slowly.
“Victor kept them balanced.”
Rachel continued.
“When Victor died, the alliance fractured.”
Daniel looked at her.
“So Vivienne might be running from Voss too.”
“Yes.”
Elena stared.
“Does that make her less dangerous?”
“No.”
Rachel’s answer came immediately.
“She still stole Noah.”
“She still helped hide Sophie.”
“She still knew about Eli.”
“But if Voss wants her dead, Vivienne may be the only witness who can expose her.”
Daniel hated that possibility.
They moved Rachel to a secure federal facility.
Marcus no longer trusted local custody.
He contacted a federal investigator he had worked with years earlier.
Agent Camille Brooks arrived before dawn.
She listened to everything without interrupting.
Then she looked at the memory card.
“That card never leaves my sight.”
Elena held it.
“No.”
Camille raised an eyebrow.
Elena continued.
“You can copy it.”
“But I keep the original.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Agent Brooks considered.
Then nodded.
“Fair.”
The card contained hours of material.
Payment ledgers.
Medical footage.
Consent forms.
Audio recordings.
One video showed Victor Laurent speaking with Judge Voss.
Daniel watched from behind Agent Brooks.
Victor looked younger.
Alive.
Smiling.
“We need families that won’t ask questions.”
Voss replied.
“Then stop using hospitals with oversight.”
Victor laughed.
Daniel felt sick.
Another video showed Charles arguing with Victor.
Charles shouted that the program had to stop.
Victor replied that it was already too profitable.
Charles left.
Daniel looked at his father.
“You tried.”
Charles nodded.
Daniel’s expression did not soften.
“You also covered it up.”
“Yes.”
“Which let it continue.”
Charles closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Another file opened.
Vivienne appeared.
Younger.
Standing beside a hospital incubator.
Inside lay Noah.
Elena covered her mouth.
Vivienne touched the glass.
Victor spoke off camera.
“The second boy won’t make it.”
Vivienne asked.
“Are you sure?”
“Almost.”
“And Noah?”
“Strong enough.”
Vivienne looked at the infant.
Then she said something that made Daniel’s blood run cold.
“Then give me this one.”
Elena turned away.
Daniel’s fists tightened.
The video continued.
Victor laughed.
“You sound like you’re choosing a dress.”
Vivienne replied.
“I’m choosing my future.”
Noah was asleep in another room now.
Daniel was grateful.
Elena stared at the screen.
Any sympathy she had ever felt for Vivienne died in that moment.
Then another file appeared.
Judge Voss.
She was signing paperwork.
Fake birth records.
Fake death records.
Fake adoption orders.
Fourteen names.
Agent Brooks paused.
“There.”
Daniel looked.
One name was highlighted.
Nathaniel Cole.
Elena frowned.
“Who is that?”
Rachel stared.
“I don’t know.”
Agent Brooks opened the file.
Male child.
Born six years ago.
Genetic profile.
Noah and Sophie’s half-brother.
Daniel looked at Adrian.
Adrian went pale.
“How many children did they create from you?”
He whispered.
“I don’t know.”
Charles looked devastated.
Agent Brooks scrolled.
Current guardian.
Judge Eleanor Voss.
Silence.
Daniel stared.
“She kept one.”
Rachel nodded.
“Insurance.”
“For what?”
Agent Brooks looked at the file.
“Possibly leverage against Victor or Charles.”
Daniel stared at the date.
Nathaniel was six.
A child Judge Voss had publicly described as her late nephew’s orphaned son.
Daniel had seen him at charity events.
He remembered a quiet boy standing near Voss.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
Another stolen child had been standing in front of him for years.
Elena whispered.
“We have to get him.”
Agent Brooks nodded.
“We will.”
Marcus entered quickly.
“We have a problem.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“Voss just filed an emergency custody petition.”
Elena frowned.
“For Nathaniel?”
Marcus shook his head.
“For Noah.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
“She claims Elena is mentally unstable.”
Elena went white.
Marcus continued.
“She included seven-year-old psychiatric records.”
The fake records.
The ones created after Noah’s birth.
Daniel felt fury.
“She is using their own forgery against Elena.”
“Yes.”
Agent Brooks looked at the clock.
“A hearing?”
Marcus nodded.
“Eight a.m.”
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
“In front of whom?”
May you like
Marcus’s expression darkened.
“Judge Voss.”
