Chapter 3 - Four Positive Tests
Dr. Porter stood outside with blood on her coat.
Liam opened the door only after checking the windows.
The doctor stumbled inside.
Clara caught her.
“What happened?”
“Clinic.”
Elaine struggled for breath.
“Someone broke into my office.”
Clara felt cold.
“My records?”
“Gone.”
Liam locked the door.
“All of them?”
“No.”
Elaine looked directly at Clara.
“Only yours.”
The doctor explained that someone had entered after closing, bypassed the alarm, accessed the clinic computer, and removed Clara's paper file.
Nothing else had been touched.
“Did you call police?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“They think it was a burglary.”
Liam gave a humorless laugh.
“A burglar who steals one prenatal file.”
Elaine looked at him.
“Exactly.”
Clara sat down.
Someone knew.
Someone cared enough to follow her.
And someone had known before Dominic.
“Why come here?” she asked.
Elaine hesitated.
“Your mother.”
Clara stared.
“What about her?”
“I knew her.”
The room became silent.
“You never told me that.”
“I promised I wouldn't.”
“To whom?”
“Your mother.”
Clara shook her head.
“My mother died fifteen years ago.”
Elaine reached into her coat.
She produced a small key.
“She gave me this three days before she died.”
Liam leaned closer.
“What does it open?”
“I don't know.”
Elaine placed it in Clara's palm.
A number was engraved into the metal.
Archive 17.
Clara looked at Liam.
He had gone pale.
The cabin suddenly felt too small.
“My mother knew?”
“Your parents knew something,” Elaine said. “Something they believed could destroy powerful people.”
“Dominic’s family?”
“I don't know.”
Clara closed her fingers around the key.
Her phone rang.
Dominic.
She stared at his name.
Liam said, “Answer.”
Clara did.
“Where are you?”
Dominic's voice was controlled, but she heard something beneath it.
Fear.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“I’m not telling you.”
“Clara, someone disabled two cameras near the south gate tonight.”
Her eyes met Liam’s.
“The SUV?”
“What SUV?”
So Liam had not told him.
“Nothing.”
“Stop saying nothing.”
“Then stop keeping secrets.”
Dominic went silent.
Finally he said, “Come home.”
“No.”
“I can protect you.”
“Like you protected my parents?”
Silence.
She regretted it immediately.
Not because it was unfair.
Because his silence hurt.
“I deserved that,” he said.
Clara closed her eyes.
“Dominic—”
“Come home and I’ll tell you everything I know.”
She almost agreed.
Then she looked at the key.
“No.”
“Clara.”
“I need time.”
“You don't have time.”
“Why?”
His answer chilled her.
“Because the man who signed your parents’ vehicle inspection is at the estate tonight.”
“Who?”
Dominic breathed once.
“Liam’s father.”
Clara slowly turned.
Liam was staring at her.
His face had changed.
“Clara?”
Dominic continued.
“Liam Bradley Sr. didn't die seven years ago.”
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
“He's alive.”
Clara looked at Liam.
“Where is your father?”
Liam said nothing.
“Liam?”
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Everyone froze.
Liam raised his gun.
Another creak.
The cabin had been empty when they arrived.
Or they had believed it was.
Liam moved toward the staircase.
Clara followed despite his gesture ordering her back.
A shadow crossed beneath the upstairs door.
Then a man's voice called quietly from the darkness.
“Clara Higgins.”
Liam's gun lowered by an inch.
His face went white.
Because he recognized the voice.
May you like
“Dad?”
The upstairs door began to open.
