Chapter 19 - THE BLOOD ACCOUNT
Doctor Adrian Cole had operated on Victor after the hospital shooting.
He had access to Victor’s blood.
He had access to Sophie’s medical records.
He had also signed the report declaring Eleanor’s poisoned guard medically stable before the escape.
Detective Ruiz ordered the hospital locked down.
Ethan received the alert while sitting beside Sophie.
He lifted the child and moved toward the secure stairwell.
The hallway doors locked before he reached them.
Doctor Cole stepped from Victor’s room.
A syringe rested in his hand.
Ethan placed Sophie behind him.
“Stay away from her.”
Cole smiled.
“Samuel spent forty years searching for the blood account.”
“He never understood that the account requires samples from three generations.”
“Victor.”
“Ethan.”
“And Sophie.”
“You already have my father’s blood.”
“And yours.”
Ethan remembered the blood test performed after the greenhouse injury.
“You arranged my treatment.”
“I arrange many things.”
“Are you Samuel’s partner?”
“Samuel was my partner.”
“Was?”
“He believed revenge mattered more than ownership.”
Cole moved closer.
“I prefer ownership.”
Sophie began crying.
Ethan picked up a metal chair.
Cole held up the syringe.
“This can put you to sleep without causing permanent damage.”
“Touch my daughter and I will kill you.”
Victor appeared behind Cole.
He leaned against an intravenous stand.
“You should have checked whether I was still sedated.”
Cole turned.
Victor struck him with the stand.
The syringe flew across the floor.
Ethan tackled Cole.
They crashed into the wall.
Sophie ran toward Victor.
Victor pulled her inside his room and locked the door.
Cole struck Ethan’s injured shoulder.
Ethan lost his grip.
Cole reached for a surgical blade.
Claire and Detective Ruiz entered through the opposite stairwell.
“Drop it!”
Cole seized Ethan around the neck.
The blade pressed against his throat.
Claire stopped.
Cole looked at her.
“Bring me Sophie.”
“No.”
“Then he dies.”
Ethan met Claire’s eyes.
Do not do it.
She understood without words.
Claire held up a small medical cooler.
“You need three blood samples.”
Cole stared at it.
“I brought Sophie’s sample from the airport clinic.”
Ruiz looked at Claire in surprise.
Claire stepped forward.
“Release Ethan and take it.”
Cole pushed Ethan away.
He reached for the cooler.
Claire threw it toward the window.
Cole lunged after it.
The cooler smashed through the glass and fell six floors into a construction container.
Ruiz tackled Cole.
Ethan pinned his arms.
Hospital security entered.
Cole was arrested.
The cooler had contained only water.
Evelyn survived the airport shooting.
She testified that Cole had financed Samuel’s operation for years.
He planned to unlock the account and disappear with assets worth more than four billion dollars.
Federal specialists located the encrypted account.
Ethan refused to claim the money privately.
The stolen patents and certificates were returned to the Mercer heirs.
The remaining funds were placed into the victim restitution program.
Samuel accepted a plea agreement that required him to expose every surviving member of the network.
Eleanor refused all agreements.
Her trial began six months later.
Claire testified for three days.
Nathan testified after her.
Victor admitted his own role in sending Nathan to the clinic and hiding the company’s original crimes.
Eleanor watched them without emotion.
Only when Ethan carried Sophie into the courtroom did her expression crack.
The child pointed toward her.
“Bad lady.”
A quiet laugh moved through the gallery.
Eleanor lowered her eyes.
The jury found her guilty on every major charge.
She received life in prison without the possibility of release.
Outside the courthouse, Claire stood beside Ethan.
The nightmare that began eighteen months earlier was finally over.
Then Victor approached them.
He carried an old wooden box.
“I found this inside Amelia’s belongings.”
He handed it to Nathan.
Inside was a letter written by their mother.
The first line read, “To my three sons.”
Ethan looked at Nathan.
“We only know about two.”
Victor stared at the letter.
His face became pale.
May you like
At the bottom, Amelia had written the name of her youngest child.
Lucas.
