Chapter 11 - The Brother Who Took My Father
“Thomas took Robert.”
Mom’s fingers tightened around my shirt.
Thomas stood twenty feet away.
Dad’s black briefcase hung from one hand.
The red folder was in the other.
Two police officers immediately raised their weapons.
“Drop everything!”
Thomas froze.
“Now!”
He slowly lowered the briefcase.
Then the folder.
“Hands up!”
He obeyed.
Gabriel backed against the wall.
I knelt beside Mom while a nurse rushed toward us.
“Mom, look at me.”
Her face was gray.
Blood covered one side of her blouse.
“Where are you hurt?”
“My shoulder.”
The nurse cut through the fabric.
A deep gash ran beneath Mom’s collarbone.
Not a gunshot.
Something sharp.
“Who did this?”
Mom looked at Thomas.
“He knows.”
Thomas shouted, “I didn’t touch her!”
An officer pushed him against the wall and cuffed him.
“Save it.”
“I came here to help.”
Mom laughed weakly.
“You always say that.”
Claire cried out behind me.
I turned instantly.
Another contraction.
The doctor was moving her into the delivery suite.
I stood.
For one impossible second, I looked between them.
My mother bleeding on the floor.
Thomas in handcuffs.
The red folder.
Gabriel.
And Claire.
My wife.
My daughter.
The choice wasn’t difficult.
I ran to Claire.
“I’m here.”
She grabbed my hand.
“Your mom?”
“Doctors have her.”
“Thomas?”
“Police have him.”
“Your dad?”
I looked back once.
“I don’t know.”
The doors closed.
For the next forty minutes, the world became one room.
Claire’s contractions kept coming.
The medication had failed.
Our daughter had apparently decided that seven months was long enough.
A neonatal team waited nearby.
The doctor spoke calmly.
Too calmly.
“We’re going to do everything we can.”
I hated that sentence.
Claire squeezed my hand until my fingers hurt.
“I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
I leaned closer.
“But you’re not doing it alone.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
Another contraction hit.
Then another.
The monitor changed.
The doctor looked at the nurse.
That look terrified me.
“What?”
“Baby’s heart rate dropped again.”
“What does that mean?”
“We need to move quickly.”
Claire stared at me.
“Daniel.”
“I’m here.”
“Don’t leave.”
“I won’t.”
The doctor made the decision.
Emergency C-section.
Everything accelerated.
Consent.
Anesthesia.
Scrubs.
Bright lights.
I stood beside Claire’s head while doctors worked behind the surgical drape.
She was shaking.
“So am I,” I whispered.
“You’re not supposed to tell me that.”
“You told me no more lying.”
She laughed once.
Then cried.
I kissed her forehead.
Minutes later, the room changed.
A tiny sound.
Barely a cry.
But it was there.
Our daughter.
Claire’s face broke.
“Is she okay?”
Nobody answered immediately.
The neonatal team moved fast.
I couldn’t see much.
Then a nurse looked at us.
“She’s breathing.”
Claire sobbed.
I closed my eyes.
“Can I see her?”
“Just a moment.”
Our daughter was tiny.
Too tiny.
But alive.
A nurse brought her close enough for Claire to see before taking her to neonatal intensive care.
Claire touched one miniature hand.
“Hi, baby.”
I couldn’t speak.
Everything my family had done.
Every lie.
Every secret.
Every dollar.
Every house.
None of it mattered in that moment.
Our daughter curled her fingers around Claire’s fingertip.
Then the nurses took her.
Claire looked at me.
“Go with her.”
“I promised I wouldn’t leave.”
“I’m okay.”
“I’m staying.”
“Daniel.”
“No.”
She smiled weakly.
“Fine.”
An hour later, Claire was stable.
Our daughter was in the NICU.
Small.
Fragile.
But fighting.
The doctors were cautiously optimistic.
I sat beside Claire’s bed.
Her eyes were closed.
She wasn’t asleep.
“How is she?”
“Stable.”
“You already told me.”
“You asked again.”
“I’ll probably ask every thirty seconds.”
“That’s okay.”
She opened her eyes.
“Your family?”
I almost laughed.
“Which disaster?”
“Your dad.”
Still missing.
Mom was being treated two floors below.
Thomas was detained.
Melissa had been located in the hospital parking garage.
Safe.
Gabriel and Leonard were under police protection.
Victor was still somewhere inside or near the hospital.
And Dad?
Nothing.
I kissed Claire.
“I need to talk to Thomas.”
She nodded.
“Go.”
“I’ll be back.”
“You better.”
Two officers escorted me to a secure consultation room.
Thomas sat handcuffed to a chair.
The red folder and briefcase were already in evidence custody.
He looked exhausted.
“Congratulations.”
I stopped.
“How did you know?”
“A nurse told an officer.”
I stared at him.
“Claire?”
“Fine, they said.”
“The baby?”
“NICU.”
Thomas nodded.
“I’m glad they’re alive.”
I sat across from him.
“Where’s Dad?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mom says you took him.”
“She’s wrong.”
“She sounded pretty certain.”
“She saw me put Robert into an SUV.”
“That sounds a lot like taking him.”
“I was getting him away from Victor.”
I leaned forward.
“Start talking.”
Thomas rubbed his wrists against the cuffs.
“Victor contacted Robert before the funeral incident.”
“Before Melissa threw the shoe?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He knew something was changing.”
“What?”
“Robert had decided to turn over the Northstar records.”
“To who?”
“Federal prosecutors.”
That surprised me.
“Dad was going to cooperate?”
“Yes.”
“Why now?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Because Claire is pregnant.”
I stared.
“What does my wife have to do with Northstar?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why?”
“Because Robert knew he was going to become a grandfather.”
I said nothing.
Thomas continued.
“He’d spent thirty-three years telling himself silence protected you. Then he realized he was about to watch another generation enter the family while Victor was still out there.”
My anger weakened slightly.
Not gone.
Never gone.
But shifted.
“So Dad decided to confess.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor found out.”
“Someone leaked it.”
“The person inside law enforcement?”
“Probably.”
“Then what happened at the mansion?”
“I arrived because Evelyn called me.”
“Dad walked in behind you.”
“Yes.”
“Later he was forced into the SUV.”
“That was me.”
I stared.
“You?”
“Me and a man I trust.”
“The photograph made it look like a kidnapping.”
“That was intentional.”
“Why?”
“To make Victor believe someone else had taken Robert.”
My jaw tightened.
“And then Victor actually got him.”
Thomas looked down.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“We took Robert to a safe property.”
“Where?”
“Outside the city.”
“Victor found it within an hour.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I genuinely don’t.”
“Was Dad hurt?”
“Not when I last saw him.”
“What happened?”
“Power went out. Two vehicles arrived. Men came through the back.”
“Victor’s people?”
“Yes.”
“And you ran?”
“Robert made me.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
“He gave me the briefcase.”
“The red folder?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor wanted it.”
“What is inside?”
Thomas looked toward the one-way glass.
“DNA reports. Northstar records. James’s evidence.”
“I’ve already seen most of that.”
“Not all of it.”
“What else?”
“Names.”
“Whose?”
“People who financed Northstar.”
“Still alive?”
“Some.”
“Powerful?”
“Very.”
I leaned back.
“And Mom?”
“She found me afterward.”
“Where?”
“The parking garage.”
“Why did she say you took Dad?”
“Because she didn’t know the plan.”
“Why not?”
“Robert didn’t trust her.”
That hurt.
After what she had admitted about James, I understood why.
“Who cut her?”
Thomas shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“She said you know.”
“I know who was there.”
“Who?”
“Melissa.”
My stomach dropped.
“My sister attacked Mom?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Melissa wasn’t alone.”
“Who was with her?”
“Victor.”
I stared.
“That makes no sense. Melissa was running from him.”
“She was.”
“Then why would she be with him?”
“She wasn’t there willingly.”
My jaw tightened.
“Explain.”
“Victor brought her to force Evelyn to surrender the original Northstar file.”
“Why Mom?”
“Because he believed she had it.”
“But you did.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Evelyn tried to get Melissa away. One of Victor’s men grabbed her. She fought. He cut her.”
“So Victor was at the garage.”
“Yes.”
“And now he’s in the hospital?”
“I think so.”
“Why?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Gabriel.”
Victor had demanded I bring Gabriel to the fourth floor.
“Why is Gabriel so important?”
“Because Gabriel can prove Northstar wasn’t just fraud.”
“What was it?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Human experimentation.”
I felt sick.
“On me?”
“Not directly.”
“That is not reassuring.”
“Daniel, the fertility procedures were real. The pregnancies were real. But Victor collected medical data for years without proper consent.”
“From the children?”
“Yes.”
“Including me?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Doctors. Schools. Insurance records.”
My skin crawled.
“You’re telling me Victor tracked me my entire childhood?”
“Until you were sixteen.”
“Why did it stop?”
“Robert discovered it.”
“And?”
“He burned one of Victor’s record facilities.”
I stared.
“Dad did that?”
“Yes.”
I almost smiled.
Almost.
“Victor never forgave him.”
Thomas leaned closer.
“Your accident at nineteen wasn’t about stopping you from leaving for an internship.”
“You told me it was.”
“I lied.”
I felt anger return instantly.
“Why?”
“Because I wasn’t ready to tell you this.”
“Tell me what?”
“Victor didn’t hit your car because he wanted time to identify you.”
“Then why?”
“He wanted to collect you.”
The words were so strange I almost didn’t understand them.
“Collect me?”
“Take you.”
“Why?”
“Northstar.”
I stared.
Thomas continued.
“You were the first successful birth from Gabriel’s sample. Victor believed your adult medical profile would prove the program worked.”
“So he tried to kidnap me?”
“Yes.”
“And Dad stopped him?”
“Robert and I did.”
“The crash?”
“Victor’s driver forced you off the road. I reached you before they did.”
That finally explained why Thomas had been there.
Why Dad arrived.
Why they hid everything.
Not justified.
But explained.
I stood.
“Where would Victor take Dad?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Then opened them.
“The original Northstar clinic.”
“Still exists?”
“The building does.”
“Where?”
“Under a different name.”
I waited.
Thomas gave me the address.
I immediately opened the door.
An officer stood outside.
I handed him the information.
“Send everyone.”
Thomas shouted behind me.
“Daniel.”
I turned.
“What?”
“Victor won’t keep Robert there.”
“You just said—”
“I said that’s where he would take him first.”
“Why?”
“To retrieve something.”
“What?”
“The original donor archive.”
“Why does he care about thirty-year-old samples?”
Thomas stared at me.
“Because Gabriel wasn’t N-01 by accident.”
“What does that mean?”
Before he could answer, the hospital intercom came alive.
Static.
Then Victor.
Again.
“Daniel.”
Every officer in the corridor stopped.
“Your daughter arrived early.”
My blood turned cold.
Nobody outside the maternity staff should have known.
Victor continued.
“Congratulations.”
I ran toward Claire’s room.
Officers followed.
The intercom crackled.
“You’ve spent two days learning what your family did before you were born.”
I reached Claire.
She was awake.
Terrified.
“What is happening?”
I grabbed her hand.
Victor’s voice filled the room.
“But there is one secret Robert protected more carefully than all the others.”
The monitor beside Claire beeped steadily.
I looked toward the NICU hallway.
Our daughter.
Victor continued.
“One secret he knew you would never forgive.”
My phone buzzed.
A photograph arrived.
Dad.
Alive.
Standing inside what looked like an abandoned medical laboratory.
No restraints.
No visible guards.
He was holding a gun.
Beside him stood Melissa.
I stared.
Claire whispered, “What?”
Then a video call appeared.
DAD.
I answered.
Dad’s face filled the screen.
“Daniel.”
“Are you safe?”
“No.”
“Where are you?”
“Listen to me.”
“Police are going to Northstar.”
His face changed.
“No.”
“Dad—”
“Stop them.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor wants them there.”
“Then tell me where you are.”
Dad looked behind him.
Melissa was crying.
“Daniel, I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For all of it.”
“Dad, we can do this later.”
“No.”
His eyes filled.
“There may not be a later.”
“Don’t say that.”
“You need to know why I kept Gabriel away from you.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He isn’t the man you think he is.”
“DNA says he’s my father.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
Dad swallowed.
“Northstar wasn’t created to study Gabriel.”
A sound came from somewhere behind him.
Dad turned.
Fear crossed his face.
Then he rushed his words.
“Gabriel created Northstar.”
I looked toward the hospital corridor.
Gabriel was gone.
“Dad?”
“He wasn’t Victor’s victim.”
The video shook.
“He was Victor’s partner.”
My stomach dropped.
“Where is Gabriel?”
Dad shouted.
“Get Claire and the baby out of that hospital now.”
I turned toward the door.
Too late.
The handle moved.
Slowly.
Claire gripped my hand.
The door opened.
May you like
Gabriel stepped inside.
And he was holding my newborn daughter.
