Chapter 7
His name was Caleb Ward.
He had been head of estate security when Marcus was a teenager.
Victoria fired him after Arthur’s “death.”
Caleb never left the town.
“I promised your father I would watch,” he said.
Marcus stared at him.
“You knew he was alive?”
“I suspected. I could never prove it.”
“And you waited?”
Caleb flinched.
I almost hated him.
Then he showed us his phone.
Videos.
Victoria meeting Dr. Vale at the estate.
Medical deliveries.
Hidden staff entrances.
A van leaving at midnight three months earlier, the night of Victoria’s fake funeral.
Caleb had been collecting proof for years.
“Why now?” I asked.
He looked at my belly.
“Because she has never gone after a baby before.”
Police arrived six minutes later.
Caleb had called Detective Mara Stone before he stepped from the shadows.
When officers entered the estate, Victoria had already vanished.
But the hidden room remained.
The monitors.
The reports.
The forged documents.
The medication.
The tea.
Everything.
Detective Stone found the locked medical room where Marcus’s father appeared on camera.
But the room was empty when they arrived.
Arthur was gone.
Marcus nearly collapsed.
“She moved him.”
Detective Stone touched his arm.
“We will find him.”
I did not go to the hospital willingly.
I went because my blood pressure spiked and the baby needed monitoring.
Marcus rode beside me in the ambulance, holding my hand like it was the only real thing left in his life.
At the hospital, Dr. Hale examined the vitamins.
Her face hardened.
“These contain a hallucinogenic compound and a stimulant. Dangerous in pregnancy.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“I gave them to her.”
“You trusted your mother,” I said.
He looked at me.
“I should have trusted you.”
May you like
The words did not fix it.
But they mattered.
