Chapter 8 - Damian Mercer’s Promise
Elena was going.
Damian knew it before she spoke.
“No.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“It’s a trap.”
“I know.”
“That’s why you’re not going.”
Elena turned on him.
“You spent eight months destroying yourself because your son stopped speaking. Don’t stand there and tell me what I’m allowed to risk for my child.”
He had no answer.
Noah appeared in the doorway.
“Lily?”
Elena looked at him.
It was the clearest word he had spoken.
“Yes.”
Noah took Captain Buttons and offered him to Elena.
“For Lily.”
She accepted the bear.
Damian watched them.
Then made a decision.
“We go together.”
Alexander demanded Elena alone.
Damian Mercer had never been good at obeying demands.
At 11:40 p.m., Elena entered the abandoned surgical wing.
Damian’s people surrounded the building invisibly.
She carried no weapon.
Only Captain Buttons.
Alexander waited in an operating theater.
Grace was tied nearby.
Lily was nowhere visible.
“You look like Evelyn,” Alexander said.
“Where is my daughter?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
“First, the drive.”
Elena had brought a copy.
She placed it on the table.
Alexander smiled.
“Rebecca always believed evidence mattered.”
“You killed her.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“Rebecca’s heart killed her.”
Elena stared.
Alexander explained.
Rebecca had the same congenital condition that killed Lily’s biological father.
She knew she could die suddenly.
That morning, Alexander came to warn her that the medical network had discovered her investigation.
Grace brought tea.
Rebecca collapsed minutes later.
“Why did you run?”
“Because the people behind the network wanted me dead too.”
“Why take Lily?”
“To keep her alive.”
Elena’s anger exploded.
“You stole my child.”
“I removed her from a hospital that had already marked her for death.”
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
Alexander’s face changed.
“I didn’t know that part.”
Elena stared.
Someone else had arranged the false death.
Someone inside St. Catherine’s.
“Who?”
Alexander looked toward Grace.
Grace began crying.
“I did.”
Elena turned.
Grace whispered:
“I falsified Lily’s death certificate.”
“Why?”
“Because they were coming for her.”
“You could have told me!”
“They were watching you.”
Grace explained that Lily received emergency surgery secretly after Rebecca intervened.
But the procedure exposed the hospital’s manipulated transplant network.
To protect Lily, Grace declared her dead and transferred her into hiding.
It was supposed to last weeks.
Then Rebecca died.
Alexander disappeared.
The network survived.
And Grace became trapped inside Mercer House, protecting Noah while searching for Lily.
Elena’s knees weakened.
“Where is she now?”
Alexander looked behind the operating room doors.
“She’s waiting.”
Elena stepped forward.
Damian’s voice suddenly came through her hidden earpiece.
“Stop.”
Too late.
The operating doors opened.
A little girl stood there.
Seven years old.
Elena knew her instantly.
“Lily.”
The child ran.
Elena dropped to her knees.
They collided.
“Mommy!”
Elena sobbed into her daughter’s hair.
Damian entered despite the plan.
He saw mother and daughter together.
Something in him softened.
Then Alexander raised his hands.
“I kept my promise.”
Damian looked at him.
“What promise?”
“To Rebecca.”
Alexander reached inside his coat.
Damian’s guards raised their guns.
“Don’t!”
Alexander slowly removed an envelope.
Rebecca’s handwriting covered the front.
FOR DAMIAN — WHEN NOAH SPEAKS.
Damian reached for it.
Before his fingers touched the envelope, a red laser dot appeared on Alexander’s chest.
A shot shattered the glass.
May you like
Alexander fell.
And someone locked the operating room doors from outside.
