Chapter 14 - The Physician's Second Face.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Elena remembered Dr. Pierce covering the hidden phone with his hand.
She remembered the key he slipped beneath her palm.
She remembered his warning that the safe had been opened.
Everything had looked like help.
Now every gesture looked different.
Nathan reached for his phone.
"He's been our doctor for twenty years."
Ruiz's voice remained hard.
"Do not call him."
"We need to find him before he knows Caleb survived."
Nathan lowered the phone.
Vanessa looked pale.
"Daniel never trusted Pierce."
Elena turned toward her.
"But Pierce knew about the hidden camera."
"He knew about my padded cardigan."
"He knew the safe had been opened."
Ruiz replied.
"Which suggests he wasn't merely observing Daniel."
"He was observing us."
Elena's mind returned to the hospital arrival.
Pierce had appeared at the mansion before the ambulance.
Nobody had called him in front of Elena.
"Who called Pierce after I fell?" she asked.
Nathan frowned.
"I assumed Mom did."
Margaret reentered the room at that moment.
She heard the question.
"I didn't call him."
Nathan stared at her.
"Helen?"
Margaret shook her head.
"Helen called the ambulance."
Elena looked at Vanessa.
Vanessa slowly shook her head too.
"Not me."
Cold spread through the room.
Pierce had known the fall would happen.
Perhaps before Vanessa did.
Ruiz spoke quickly.
"Elena, ask Margaret how long Pierce has treated the family."
Margaret answered herself.
"Since before Nathan was born."
"His father treated Robert before him."
Ruiz went silent.
Elena understood why.
"The DNA question."
Margaret lowered herself into the chair.
"What DNA question?"
Nathan looked toward his mother.
There was no gentle way to say it.
"Daniel believed Dad wasn't his biological father."
Margaret's face lost all color.
"Where did you hear that?"
Vanessa answered.
"From Daniel."
Margaret stared at her.
Then she whispered.
"Samuel."
Nathan stepped closer.
"Mom?"
Margaret looked at Elena rather than her son.
"Before I married Robert, Samuel Pierce and I were together."
Elena felt the room shift again.
Margaret continued with visible effort.
"It ended before the wedding."
"Months before."
"But Daniel was born early."
Nathan's voice was barely audible.
"Did Dad know?"
"He suspected."
Margaret's eyes filled.
"We never tested."
"Samuel begged me not to."
Ruiz spoke from the phone.
"Then Dr. Pierce may have believed Daniel was his son for decades."
Margaret covered her face.
Elena finally understood the doctor's strange protection.
He was not protecting Elena.
He was protecting the secrets around Daniel.
Nathan's jaw tightened.
"Why would he attack Caleb?"
Vanessa answered first.
"To get the DNA report before Daniel saw it."
Elena nodded.
"If the report proved Pierce was Daniel's father, it could destroy him professionally and personally."
"If it proved Robert was Daniel's father, Pierce would lose the fantasy he had protected for decades."
Ruiz said quietly.
"Either way, he had motive to take it."
A nurse entered with Elena's discharge paperwork.
"Your obstetrician is comfortable sending you home with strict rest and follow-up."
Nathan almost laughed from disbelief at the timing.
Elena took the papers.
"We're not going home."
The nurse blinked.
"Where are you going?"
Elena looked at Vanessa.
"Somewhere Dr. Pierce thinks nobody knows about."
Vanessa understood immediately.
"Daniel's old lake house."
Margaret rose sharply.
"Absolutely not."
Elena pointed toward the brass key.
"If Pierce took the bag, Daniel will hunt him."
"If Daniel believes Pierce has the report, he'll go somewhere tied to their past."
Margaret shook her head.
"The lake house was sold years ago."
Vanessa whispered.
"No."
Everyone turned.
"Daniel bought it back through a shell company last year."
At that moment, Nathan received a photograph from an unknown number.
It showed Dr. Pierce tied to a chair inside the lake house.
Behind him stood Daniel Howard.
The message beneath it contained only one sentence.
BRING ELENA, OR THE DOCTOR DIES.
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THE REVERSED PLAN
