Chapter 2 - THE RECORD THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST
A nurse entered after hearing the noise.
Ethan immediately transformed.
His angry expression disappeared.
His shoulders relaxed.
He became the charming husband everyone at Mercer Medical knew.
“My wife is exhausted.”
He smiled gently.
“This stranger has upset her.”
Luka didn’t respond.
The nurse looked at me instead.
“Mrs. Mercer?”
“My husband left me after I gave birth.”
My voice shook.
“I don’t want him making decisions for me or my daughter.”
Ethan’s smile vanished.
The nurse nodded.
“I’ll notify security.”
For the first time in our four-year marriage, Ethan looked at me as if he no longer recognized me.
Maybe he didn’t.
The woman he married would have apologized.
I didn’t.
When security escorted Ethan and Vanessa out, Ethan turned back.
“Claire, don’t do anything stupid.”
Luka waited until the door closed.
Then he said,
“That sentence means he’s scared.”
I looked at him.
“My father disappeared when I was sixteen.”
“I know.”
“Do you know what happened to him?”
Luka hesitated.
That hesitation hurt worse than a lie.
“I know more than I can tell you tonight.”
I tightened my arms around Emma.
“No.”
I looked directly at him.
“You walked into my hospital room.”
“You signed your name on my daughter’s paperwork.”
“You mentioned my father.”
“You don’t get to decide what I can handle.”
For the first time, something like respect appeared in Luka’s expression.
He reached inside his coat.
Instead of a weapon, he removed a small brass key.
A number had been engraved into it.
17.
“My sister worked in this hospital twelve years ago.”
Luka said.
“She found a group of medical files that were being altered after midnight.”
“Birth records.”
“DNA reports.”
“Adoption documents.”
“Insurance records.”
“She copied seventeen of them.”
I looked at the key.
“M-17?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to your sister?”
His jaw tightened.
“She died before she could testify.”
The monitor beside my bed beeped steadily.
Luka continued.
“Your father was investigating those files.”
“He contacted Sofia three days before she died.”
“After that, he became the only person outside the hospital who knew where the original copies were hidden.”
My throat closed.
“And nine years later he disappeared.”
Luka nodded.
Before I could speak, another nurse entered.
This one was older.
Her badge read GRACE HOLLOWAY.
She locked the door behind her.
Then she crossed the room and placed a small flash drive in my hand.
“I’ve been waiting nine years to give you this.”
I stared at her.
Grace looked toward Luka.
“They found out the baby’s blood sample triggered the archive.”
Luka’s expression hardened.
“What archive?”
Grace swallowed.
“The sealed Mercer database.”
Then she looked at me.
“Claire, somebody deleted your daughter’s newborn screening results twenty-two minutes after they were entered.”
My blood went cold.
“Who?”
Grace looked toward the hallway.
May you like
“Your husband used his executive access card.”
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