CHAPTER 29 — THE FALSE CHOICE
Khloe refused immediately.
“I will not trade my daughter.”
Dr. Monarch smiled through the video feed.
“I expected that.”
“Release them.”
“You are in no position to make demands.”
Gabriel traced the signal.
It bounced through twelve countries before returning to a location beneath Saint Aurelia Hospital.
Sublevel Four.
The hidden level.
Khloe looked toward Hope’s room.
“She has been under us the entire time.”
A tactical team prepared to enter the sealed elevator shaft.
Marcus volunteered to go.
Gabriel refused.
“You are drugged, compromised, and emotionally unstable.”
Marcus looked at Khloe.
“She is my mother too.”
Khloe understood.
Dr. Monarch was Gabriel’s mother.
That made her Marcus’s grandmother.
The family tree had become a weapon.
Before the team entered, Khloe received another message.
It contained a video recorded inside the NICU.
Someone had filmed Hope only minutes earlier.
The hospital was still compromised.
Below the video were three words:
CHECK HER BLOOD.
Dr. Reed immediately tested Hope’s latest sample.
The results did not match the sample taken at birth.
Khloe’s knees weakened.
“What does that mean?”
Dr. Reed looked toward the incubator.
“The baby in this room is not Hope.”
Khloe rushed through the door.
The infant looked identical.
Same size.
Same premature features.
But the bracelet had been changed.
Someone had switched the babies during the blackout.
Hope was already gone.
A small speaker beneath the incubator activated.
Dr. Monarch’s voice filled the room.
“You thought I was asking permission.”
The hidden elevator doors opened.
May you like
Inside was Hope’s original blanket.
And a trail of fresh blood leading downward.
