Chapter 13 - THE SECOND ATTEMPT
Elise was moved to a secure neonatal room.
Access required two separate identification checks.
Armed guards remained outside.
Still, someone reached her.
At 3:04 a.m., the ventilator monitor registered an unexplained interruption.
Lily was inside the room within seconds.
A clear plastic cap had been placed over the air sensor.
It caused the machine to display normal airflow while delivering less oxygen.
Elise’s levels dropped.
Lily removed the obstruction.
Elise recovered quickly.
Security footage showed no unauthorized visitor.
Only hospital staff entered.
The attack came from inside the trusted team.
Every employee was questioned.
One respiratory therapist disappeared before her shift ended.
Her name was Karen Mills.
The real Karen Mills.
The same identity used during Noah’s kidnapping.
Karen was found in the staff parking garage.
She was unconscious inside her car.
Her badge was missing.
Someone had been using her identity for days.
Facial recognition analyzed the impostor’s image.
The woman was not a hospital employee.
She was Derek Shaw’s wife, Monica.
Derek had helped Grant escape.
Monica had helped kidnap Noah.
The Shaw family owned shares in Helix Meridian.
Police traced Monica’s phone.
She was inside Vale Tower.
Federal agents returned to the underground laboratory.
Most evidence had already been removed.
Monica stood beside a computer terminal deleting files.
She surrendered after a brief standoff.
Her phone contained photographs of Elise’s security setup.
She had sent them to an account labeled V.
Investigators assumed V meant Vanessa.
Vanessa denied it.
The account traced to Victor Lang, chief executive of Helix Meridian.
Victor was a respected investor.
He sat on the boards of two children’s charities.
He had attended my wedding.
He had held Maisie—my cousin’s child—during the reception and spoken about family values.
Now he had ordered attacks on my twins.
Victor denied every allegation.
His attorneys claimed Monica acted alone.
Then Helen discovered something in Grant’s divorce papers.
A schedule of business interests listed a proposed consulting contract with Lang Strategic Partners.
Grant would receive ten million dollars after the divorce.
The payment required two events.
Transfer of company control.
And removal of “neonatal liabilities.”
The phrase appeared exactly once.
Grant had signed beneath it.
He claimed he never read the schedule.
That excuse sounded familiar.
I had signed the divorce papers after reading every page.
Grant signed his own future without reading the one sentence that revealed a conspiracy against his children.
The federal prosecutor met me in a private room.
“We need Grant to testify against Victor Lang.”
“What does Grant want?”
“A reduced sentence.”
“How reduced?”
“Possibly twelve to fifteen years.”
“He tampered with my medication.”
“He concealed defective devices.”
“He helped them reach the NICU.”
“He also saved Noah and provided the first confession.”
I looked through the window at the twins.
Justice did not always arrive in the shape grief wanted.
Sometimes guilty people received mercy because their testimony stopped someone worse.
“What happens if he refuses?”
“The case against Lang becomes difficult.”
I closed my eyes.
“Then offer the deal.”
The prosecutor nodded.
“There is one condition Grant requested.”
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“What?”
“He wants to see Noah and Elise.”
