Chapter 7 - Why They Wanted Rosie
Victor nearly crushed the phone in his hand.
“You touch that baby and I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Grant asked. “Roll over me?”
Victor had never heard his nephew speak to him that way.
The cruelty was almost a relief.
At least the mask was gone.
“Why Rosie?” Victor asked.
Grant hung up.
Leah had heard enough.
“He knows about the twitch.”
“How?”
“Simon.”
Victor looked toward Rosie, asleep against Nora.
“Why would that matter?”
Leah thought for a moment.
“Because if your movement is returning, the entire medical narrative collapses. Simon’s treatment becomes evidence.”
Nora shook her head.
“That’s not why.”
Everyone looked at her.
She swallowed.
“My mom used to call Rosie ‘the key.’”
Victor frowned. “To what?”
“I don’t know.”
Sam suddenly spoke from the rug.
“Her bracelet.”
Nora turned.
“What?”
“Mom said don’t lose Rosie’s bracelet.”
They unwrapped the baby’s blanket.
Around Rosie’s wrist was a cheap-looking silver chain with a tiny heart charm.
Victor had seen it twice and dismissed it as costume jewelry.
Marcus’s replacement security chief, Dana Brooks, opened the charm with a pocket tool.
Inside was not a photograph.
It was a microSD card.
Victor stared.
Nora’s eyes filled.
“Mom hid it on the baby.”
They loaded the card into an offline laptop.
Folders appeared.
Blood panels.
Prescription records.
Video clips.
And one file titled IF I DIE.
Elena appeared on-screen in blue hospital scrubs.
She looked exhausted and frightened.
“If you’re watching this, I failed to get Victor Hale away from Simon Cross.”
Victor stopped breathing.
Elena continued.
“Mr. Hale is not permanently paralyzed. His condition is being chemically maintained.”
Leah covered her mouth.
Then Elena said something even worse.
“Simon is not working alone. Grant Hale ordered it.”
Victor’s vision narrowed.
“And if Grant finds out I copied the records, my children will be in danger.”
The video ended with Elena leaning toward the camera.
“There’s one more thing Victor needs to know.”
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The image froze.
File corrupted.
