Chapter 5 - THE DNA RESULTBy morning, I wanted one thing.
Nathan’s handwriting shook toward the end.
Some paragraphs were crossed out.
Others ended abruptly.
But the message was clear.
Caroline Kane had discovered something inside Kane Global that terrified her.
Nathan had tried to help.
Then she died.
Adrian read the letter twice without speaking.
I watched his face tighten with each line.
Finally, he lowered the pages.
“My father was many things.”
I waited.
“Controlling. Ruthless. Proud.”
He looked toward the city lights.
“But I never believed he would hurt Caroline.”
I thought about the phrase Nathan had written.
Caroline died because she discovered what her father had done.
“What did she discover?”
“That part isn’t here.”
“Convenient.”
Adrian looked at me sharply.
“You think Nathan is telling the truth?”
“I think somebody broke into my home looking for evidence he hid.”
“That doesn’t make Nathan innocent.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
Daniel was examining the documents from the box.
“Adrian.”
He lifted a yellowed hospital form.
“We have Caroline’s delivery record.”
Adrian crossed the room.
“How?”
“It was hidden beneath the passports.”
Daniel scanned the page.
“Infant female. Born at 3:42 a.m. Emergency transfer to neonatal unit.”
My pulse accelerated.
“Cause?”
“Respiratory distress.”
“What happened afterward?”
Daniel turned the page.
His brow furrowed.
“This doesn’t make sense.”
“What?”
“The discharge record is missing.”
Adrian’s voice sharpened.
“The baby supposedly died.”
“Yes.”
“Then there should be a death certificate.”
“There is.”
Daniel typed.
A public record appeared.
Baby Girl Kane.
Date of death.
Three days after birth.
“Then what’s wrong?” I asked.
Daniel enlarged the document.
“The physician listed here didn’t work at St. Catherine’s.”
“How do you know?”
“I checked hospital employment records this afternoon.”
Adrian took the computer.
“Who was he?”
“Dr. Samuel Hart.”
The name meant nothing to me.
Adrian went still.
“You know him.”
“My father’s private physician.”
Silence.
That was the first moment I truly believed Nathan’s letter might be real.
Over the next four hours, Daniel built a timeline.
Caroline gave birth.
Her daughter was transferred.
Richard Kane arrived at the hospital.
Dr. Hart signed papers.
Three days later, an infant death was recorded.
Seven weeks later, Caroline died.
Nathan disappeared.
And somewhere in those seven weeks, somebody had altered hospital records.
At three in the morning, Mia woke again.
This time she didn’t scream.
She simply walked into the living room carrying Mr. Bun and climbed onto my lap.
“I’m hungry.”
Adrian glanced at the clock.
“You ate dinner.”
“That was yesterday.”
Daniel laughed.
Adrian stared at him.
“What?”
“She’s technically correct.”
I carried Mia to the kitchen.
Adrian followed.
I made toast.
He attempted hot chocolate.
Attempted was generous.
“You’ve never made this before?” I asked.
“I own restaurants.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
He stared at the saucepan.
“What could possibly be complicated about milk?”
Five seconds later, it boiled over.
Mia giggled.
Adrian muttered something inappropriate under his breath.
For one surreal moment, it felt normal.
A child at a kitchen island.
A tired mother.
A man ruining hot chocolate.
Then Mia looked at Adrian and asked, “Did your little girl die?”
He froze.
I almost dropped the knife.
“Mia!”
“What?”
“How do you know about that?”
“I heard you talking.”
Adrian turned off the burner.
“She wasn’t my little girl.”
“Your sister’s?”
“Yes.”
“Were you sad?”
His face softened.
“Very.”
Mia considered him carefully.
“Mommy says people don’t stop loving someone just because they go away.”
I looked at her.
I had said that about Nathan.
Years ago.
Back when she still asked why Daddy didn’t come home.
Adrian swallowed.
“Your mommy sounds wise.”
“She says lots of stuff.”
“I’ve noticed.”
I kicked his shoe under the island.
He almost smiled.
Mia ate half her toast.
Then she reached into the pocket of her pajamas.
“I forgot.”
She placed something on the counter.
A small brass key.
My stomach tightened.
“Where did you get that?”
“Daddy.”
“When?”
“When he came to school.”
Adrian picked it up.
There was a number engraved on it.
Daniel was already searching.
“Storage locker.”
He turned the screen.
A facility in Brooklyn.
Locker 317.
Registered under one of Nathan’s aliases.
By sunrise, police had a warrant.
I insisted on going.
Adrian insisted on coming.
The locker contained almost nothing.
A chair.
An old suitcase.
A disposable phone.
And a safe.
Inside the safe was a flash drive.
Daniel inserted it into an offline laptop.
One video file.
Caroline Kane appeared on the screen.
She was sitting in what looked like a hotel room.
Blond hair pulled back.
Tired eyes.
Beautiful.
She resembled Adrian around the eyes.
And, disturbingly, she resembled Mia.
The recording began.
“My name is Caroline Elizabeth Kane.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
“If you’re watching this, something happened to me.”
My skin prickled.
Caroline looked directly into the camera.
“My father believes he can control everything. Companies. Politicians. Doctors. His children.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“I found evidence that Kane Medical has been paying doctors to hide dangerous complications connected to one of our experimental devices.”
Daniel went pale.
Kane Medical.
One of Kane Global’s largest subsidiaries.
Caroline continued.
“Patients died. Records were altered. Families were paid. Some were threatened.”
I felt sick.
“My father says exposing it would destroy thousands of jobs. He says one scandal could collapse the company.”
Her voice broke.
“But people are dead.”
She wiped her cheek.
“Nathan helped me copy the files. He wants us to leave.”
Then she glanced toward something off-camera.
“My daughter is alive.”
Adrian made a strangled sound.
“The records say she died.”
Caroline’s eyes filled with tears.
“That is a lie.”
Nobody moved.
“My father arranged it. He said it was the only way to keep her safe while we dealt with the evidence. But now he won’t tell me where she is.”
Adrian stepped closer to the screen.
“No.”
Caroline continued.
“I think he gave her to someone.”
My heart began pounding.
“To a family he controls.”
She took a breath.
“Nathan says he can find her.”
The video ended.
For several seconds, only the hum of the storage facility filled the silence.
Then Adrian punched the metal wall.
I jumped.
Blood appeared across his knuckles.
“Adrian!”
“My father stole her child.”
His voice broke.
“My father let us believe she was dead.”
I grabbed his wrist.
“Stop.”
He pulled away.
“I buried an empty coffin.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Daniel noticed another file on the drive.
A spreadsheet.
Names.
Payments.
Hospitals.
Doctors.
And one entry dated six years earlier.
St. Catherine’s Hospital.
A payment authorized under Richard Kane’s old private foundation.
Recipient:
Nathan Cole.
Amount:
$2,000,000.
Date:
The day after Mia was born.
I stared until the numbers blurred.
Adrian looked at me.
“Emily.”
“No.”
“We need to understand—”
“No.”
Nathan had received two million dollars the day after our daughter’s birth.
Why?
My legs weakened.
Then Daniel clicked another tab.
A handwritten notation had been scanned beside the payment.
Four words.
Second child. Identity secured.
I stopped breathing.
Second child.
Not Caroline’s baby.
Mia.
My daughter.
May you like
Something about Mia’s birth had been planned.
And Nathan had been paid for it.
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