Chapter 7 - ANNIE’S SISTER
Rebecca Reed had worked as a nurse at a rehabilitation clinic owned by Marcus Vale.
She discovered patients enrolled in behavioral drug trials without consent.
One patient was Nolan.
Another was Hannah Cross.
Rebecca copied records and contacted a journalist.
The night before they were supposed to meet, a delivery truck struck her car.
Police blamed icy roads.
Annie was twenty-four.
She became legal guardian for their aunt because Rebecca had been helping support her.
The medical debt forced Annie to leave college.
She worked cafeteria shifts and cleaned offices at night.
“Why would Lauren know about Rebecca?” Kevin asked.
Annie held the note with both hands.
“Maybe the journalist told her.”
Nolan searched the flash drive.
Rebecca’s files were there.
Medication logs.
Vale’s payments.
Video from inside the clinic.
Hannah Cross appeared strapped to a bed while Vale questioned her.
She was not simply Samuel’s willing daughter.
She had once been his patient.
The recordings showed severe conditioning.
Vale used sleep deprivation, isolation, and drugs to shape her responses.
Samuel called it loyalty rehabilitation.
Annie watched one clip.
Hannah repeated the same sentence until her voice became empty.
“My father protects the future.”
Kevin looked away.
Hannah had entered his house and harmed his sons.
She had also been broken by the same men who killed Lauren and Rebecca.
That did not erase what she did.
It explained how Samuel created useful people.
A security alert sounded on Nolan’s laptop.
Someone had located the server.
Three vehicles approached the studio.
Nolan began disconnecting the equipment.
“We need to leave.”
The rear stairway led toward an alley.
Kevin called his private guard.
No answer.
Samuel still controlled too many people in his security network.
Annie lifted the metal box.
“I know another exit.”
“How?”
“I cleaned this building for two years.”
She led them through a storage room.
Behind stacked canvases was an old freight shaft connected to the neighboring warehouse.
They crossed seconds before armed men entered the studio.
From the warehouse roof, Kevin saw the men carry gasoline.
They intended to burn Lauren’s second refuge.
Nolan transferred the evidence to a secure federal server.
The upload reached forty percent.
A gunshot struck the metal door behind them.
Annie led them down another staircase.
At street level, Hannah Cross waited beside a van.
She held a pistol.
Her auburn hair was shorter now.
A scar ran along her forehead.
Kevin moved in front of Annie.
“You lied to my sons.”
Hannah’s hand shook.
“They remembered too much.”
“You told them they killed their mother.”
“I needed them to stop talking.”
“You punished children for surviving.”
Her eyes filled.
“My father said he would bring her back.”
“Who?”
“My mother.”
Samuel’s wife had disappeared twenty years earlier.
He told Hannah she was receiving treatment overseas.
Vale used that promise to control her.
Kevin understood.
Samuel turned grief into a leash.
Hannah aimed toward Nolan.
“Give me the server.”
“The files are already uploading,” Nolan said.
She looked at the laptop.
Seventy-two percent.
Hannah’s face collapsed.
“My father will kill me.”
Annie stepped around Kevin.
“Then help us stop him.”
Hannah looked at her.
“You don’t know what he can do.”
“He killed my sister.”
The upload reached one hundred percent.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Nolan had alerted federal agents before arriving.
Hannah lowered the pistol.
Then a shot came from the roof across the street.
The bullet struck her shoulder.
Samuel’s men were killing their own witness.
Kevin dragged her behind the van.
Annie pressed both hands against the wound.
Hannah looked at her.
“He has the boys.”
Kevin’s blood turned cold.
“What?”
May you like
Hannah gasped.
“He sent people to the mansion before we came here.”
