CHAPTER 26 — THE SECOND CAMERA
Gabriel denied the accusation.
“I never gave away a child.”
But the photograph showed him signing hospital papers beside Evelyn and Alexander Thorne.
A forensic expert confirmed the image was authentic.
Gabriel stared at it for several minutes.
“I don’t remember this.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.”
Gabriel touched the scar near his temple.
“Nineteen years ago, after Celeste’s accident, I woke in this hospital with no memory of three days.”
Khloe frowned.
“You were hospitalized?”
“For exhaustion, they said.”
Dr. Reed requested his old medical records.
They showed Gabriel had been given experimental sedatives used in HEIRLINE trials.
Someone had altered his memory.
The security team returned to the original hospital suite.
A second camera was discovered inside the chandelier.
Unlike the hospital system, it transmitted to an independent server.
The footage included sound.
Isabella’s attack played again.
But the missing minute was intact.
After Khloe fell, the door opened.
Celeste entered wearing the veil.
She gave Isabella the syringe.
Isabella stared at it.
“I can’t.”
Celeste whispered, “Then pretend.”
She knelt beside Khloe and quietly injected the drug into the marble floor.
The syringe had never touched Khloe.
Celeste then placed something inside Khloe’s dress pocket.
Security searched the stained maternity gown.
Inside the lining was a microchip.
It contained thousands of HEIRLINE files.
Names.
Birth dates.
Family transfers.
Political dynasties.
Billionaire households.
Judges.
Senators.
Royal families.
Khloe stared at the list.
The program was still active.
One file had been updated only three days earlier.
SUBJECT H-3: PENDING
Khloe placed a hand over her abdomen out of instinct before remembering Hope was already in the NICU.
“H-3 isn’t my child.”
Gabriel opened the file.
May you like
The listed mother was Isabella.
She was pregnant.
