CHAPTER 2 – The Man Behind the Empire
Victor Voss never raised his voice.
He didn't need to.
Men like him had spent decades learning that true power whispered while everyone else shouted.
He stood beside the window of Claire's recovery room, straightening the cuff of his tailored jacket as though his son hadn't just been arrested.
"I've wanted to meet you properly for years, Evelyn," he said.
"I wish the circumstances were different."
I remained seated beside Claire's bed.
"My daughter is resting."
"So I see."
His eyes drifted briefly to Claire's sleeping face, then to the fetal monitor.
"She's carrying my first grandchild."
"You lost the right to call that child your grandchild the moment your son threatened its mother."
Victor sighed.
"Daniel has always been... impulsive."
I stared at him.
"Is that what you call broken ribs?"
For the first time, his expression hardened.
"I call it unfortunate."
"No," I replied. "You call it acceptable."
Before either of us could speak again, Special Agent Rebecca Ortiz entered the room.
"Mr. Voss."
Victor smiled politely.
"Agent."
"You'll need to come with us."
"I'm not under arrest."
"Not yet."
Victor chuckled.
"I've been investigated more times than you've celebrated birthdays."
Rebecca didn't react.
"That doesn't make you innocent."
"It usually means I'm careful."
He turned toward me one last time.
"You believe today was a victory."
"It was."
"It wasn't."
He leaned slightly closer.
"You stopped my son."
His smile widened.
"You haven't met the rest of my family."
Then he walked away without another word.
Rebecca watched him disappear down the hallway.
"I don't like him."
"Neither do I."
She handed me another folder.
"We've been digging into Victor for years."
"What did you find?"
"Almost nothing."
"That isn't possible."
"Exactly."
Every financial trail ended legally.
Every company passed audits.
Every lawsuit disappeared.
Every witness withdrew.
"He leaves no fingerprints," Rebecca said quietly.
"But people around him keep dying."
Meanwhile...
Daniel sat alone in Interview Room Four.
He had refused water.
Refused food.
Refused to answer questions.
His attorney still hadn't arrived.
That bothered him.
A steel door opened.
Instead of lawyers, an elderly woman entered carrying a small evidence box.
Daniel frowned.
"Who are you?"
She placed the box on the table.
"My name is Dr. Miriam Cole."
Recognition flashed across his face.
"You retired."
"I was forced to retire."
She opened the evidence box.
Inside lay an old surgical logbook.
A pager.
Several handwritten notes.
And a bloodstained hospital identification badge.
Daniel's confidence faded.
"You kept those?"
"For twenty-three years."
"You were supposed to destroy them."
"I almost did."
She looked directly into his eyes.
"Then I met another mother."
Daniel remained silent.
Dr. Cole slid the logbook toward him.
"I remember every woman who entered my operating room."
She opened to one page.
Patient 1847.
Anna Mercer.
Healthy pregnancy.
Routine C-section.
Unexpected cardiac arrest.
Deceased.
Daniel swallowed.
"I was only a resident."
"You were also the last person to adjust the anesthesia pump."
Across the city, reporters crowded outside St. Gabriel Medical Center.
Employees whispered in hallways.
Several senior physicians quietly deleted emails.
Others packed their offices.
The hospital's legal department worked frantically.
But every server had already been seized.
Federal forensic teams copied decades of medical records.
One investigator suddenly raised his hand.
"You need to see this."
Deep inside an encrypted archive sat hundreds of files.
All marked with one identical label.
PROJECT LULLABY
The files required two passwords.
The first belonged to Daniel.
The second...
Belonged to Victor.
Back in Claire's room, she slowly opened her eyes.
For a moment she looked peaceful.
Then memory returned.
She touched her stomach.
"My baby?"
"Healthy."
"Daniel?"
"In custody."
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I kept thinking he'd change."
"You loved him."
"I loved who he pretended to be."
She looked away.
"I almost told you last year."
"What stopped you?"
Claire hesitated.
Then whispered,
"He showed me photographs."
"What photographs?"
"You."
A chill spread through my body.
"He had pictures of your house."
"He knew where you shopped."
"He knew what café you visited every Thursday."
"He said accidents happen to stubborn mothers."
My hands slowly tightened.
So Daniel hadn't only abused Claire.
He had been hunting me.
Rebecca immediately contacted the agents outside.
Within minutes, my phone buzzed.
"Mrs. Hale?"
"Yes."
"We've just confirmed something."
"What?"
"The surveillance team recovered three vehicles parked outside your home over the last six months."
"Who were they?"
"We're still identifying them."
A pause followed.
"But one vehicle belongs to Victor Voss's private security company."
That evening...
Federal investigators finally decrypted the first layer of Project Lullaby.
The room fell silent.
Inside were confidential obstetric records.
Not unusual.
Until analysts noticed every highlighted patient shared one detail.
Each woman possessed life insurance policies worth millions.
Each beneficiary...
Had been recently changed.
To spouses.
Or business partners.
One analyst whispered,
"This isn't healthcare fraud."
Another looked up from the screen.
"It's a murder business."
At exactly 9:17 p.m., the lights inside the forensic lab suddenly went out.
Emergency generators failed.
Computer screens turned black.
Every alarm in the building activated at once.
Then...
One monitor flickered back to life.
A single sentence appeared across every screen in bright white letters.
STOP DIGGING.
OR THE NEXT MOTHER DIES.
The message vanished five seconds later.
No trace.
No sender.
No digital fingerprint.
Rebecca stared at the empty screen.
Then slowly reached for her phone.
"Evelyn..."
May you like
Her voice had lost its calm.
"I don't think Daniel was ever the mastermind."
