CHAPTER 27 — ISABELLA DISAPPEARS
Police searched for Isabella across three states.
Her abandoned vehicle was found near a private airfield.
Blood stained the passenger seat.
No body was discovered.
A flight had departed shortly before authorities arrived.
Its destination had been erased.
Khloe studied Isabella’s HEIRLINE file.
According to the medical notes, she was nine weeks pregnant.
The father’s identity was encrypted.
Marcus sat across from Khloe.
“It cannot be mine.”
“You were sleeping with her.”
“I know.”
Khloe watched the shame cross his face.
“Did she tell you?”
“No.”
The encryption was eventually broken.
The father was not Marcus.
The file listed only a subject number.
M-7
Gabriel searched the database.
M-7’s identity had been sealed by Dr. Monarch.
Khloe found another note.
PAIRING AUTHORIZED TO RESTORE ORIGINAL BLOODLINE.
Isabella’s pregnancy had been planned.
Someone was trying to produce a child combining two specific family lines.
Dr. Reed entered with urgent news.
“We analyzed the medication used on Gabriel years ago.”
“And?”
“The same formula was found in trace amounts in Marcus’s blood.”
Marcus stood.
“I haven’t taken anything.”
“Not knowingly,” she replied.
The drug could cause memory gaps, emotional instability, and increased suggestibility.
Marcus remembered months of unexplained headaches.
Missing hours.
Conversations he could not fully recall.
Khloe looked at him.
“Someone may have been controlling you.”
Marcus shook his head.
“That doesn’t excuse what I did.”
“No,” Khloe said. “It doesn’t.”
His phone, returned after forensic analysis, began ringing.
The number belonged to Isabella.
Marcus answered.
For several seconds, only breathing could be heard.
Then Isabella whispered, “Marcus, they lied about the baby.”
“Where are you?”
“Find M-7.”
“Who is he?”
Isabella began crying.
May you like
“He isn’t a man.”
The call disconnected.
