Chapter 7 - THE ABANDONED CLINIC|
Adrian refused to take Elena to the abandoned clinic.
He said it was too dangerous. She said that if he expected her to keep helping, he would stop treating her like a child. They argued for twenty minutes before he finally agreed to bring her, provided she remained behind the security team.
The building stood at the end of a deserted road. Broken windows reflected the gray afternoon sky, and weeds had grown through the cracked parking lot.
Two guards checked the entrance.
"Clear."
Adrian entered first.
Elena followed, carrying the photograph of her mother and Sophia.
Inside, the clinic smelled of damp plaster and old smoke. The reception desk had been overturned. A faded sign still listed departments that no longer existed.
"Why would Sophia come here?" Elena asked.
"She was investigating something. Perhaps she found a connection to the people who ran this place."
They moved down a corridor.
Room fourteen had a new lock.
Adrian looked at Elena.
"The key."
She handed it to him.
It fit.
The door opened with a metallic click.
Inside was a small office. Dust covered the desk, but the computer had been removed. A filing cabinet stood against the wall, and a large mirror hung above a sink.
Elena opened the first drawer.
Empty.
The second contained medical forms, most of them damaged by water.
Then she found a folder marked M. HARTWELL.
Her hands began to tremble.
"Adrian."
He approached.
Inside were copies of medical records bearing her mother's name. The dates matched the final weeks of her life.
One document had been signed by Dr. Howard.
The same doctor who had prescribed Isabella's medication.
Elena read the report.
Her mother had been admitted for an examination after complaining of dizziness, headaches, and chest pain. The final diagnosis listed a sudden cardiac event.
But another page told a different story.
A blood test had detected an unusual chemical compound.
Elena looked at Adrian.
"Someone poisoned her."
He read the document.
"Possibly. We need a specialist to confirm it."
"Why would a doctor write one diagnosis and hide another?"
"Because someone paid him to."
She opened the folder further and found a photograph of Sophia with a baby.
Isabella.
A note was attached.
The child has the same reaction. Stop the medication immediately.
Elena felt sick.
"Isabella was being given the same substance?"
Adrian's expression became terrifyingly calm.
"Apparently."
A noise sounded in the corridor.
The guards raised their weapons.
"Who's there?"
A figure ran past the doorway.
Adrian moved first, but Elena grabbed his sleeve.
"Wait!"
He turned.
"What?"
"Don't chase him. There may be someone else."
The security chief looked at her with disbelief.
Then a gunshot shattered the silence.
One of the guards fell.
Adrian pulled Elena behind the desk as bullets struck the wall.
"Stay down!"
The room filled with smoke and dust.
A second shot came from the corridor.
Then footsteps.
The attackers were retreating.
Adrian's men moved after them, but he remained beside Elena.
"Are you hit?"
"No."
"Look at me."
"I'm fine."
He checked her arms anyway.
A guard called from the doorway.
"Sir, we found something."
In the corridor, a security officer held a small phone. Its screen was cracked, but a recording remained.
Adrian played it.
Sophia's voice filled the room.
"If anything happens to me, Adrian, don't believe the report. Your father knows. Charles knows. And the person who gave the order is closer to Isabella than you think."
The recording ended.
Elena looked at Adrian.
"Your father?"
Adrian didn't answer.
His father, Dominic Corsetti, had died three years earlier.
The family had buried him in a private cemetery, with hundreds of people attending the funeral.
But the recording continued to play a few seconds later.
A second voice appeared.
A man's voice.
"Your father didn't give the order, Sophia. He only paid for it."
May you like
Adrian recognized the speaker.
It was his own voice.
