Chapter 5 — "He Was Never Supposed to Survive." The Secret Medical File That Could Destroy Billion-Dollar Empires
Marcus Hail did not sleep that night.
The words Daniel had spoken echoed through the silent mansion.
Vanessa has been watching this house.
It wasn't the betrayal that haunted him.
He had accepted betrayal months ago.
It was something far more dangerous.
The missing memories.
Why had Vanessa insisted he skip medical appointments?
Why had she always wanted copies of his laboratory reports?
Why had she seemed strangely calm after his diagnosis?
For the first time in months...
Marcus stopped asking,
"Why did this happen to me?"
Instead, he asked a different question.
"Who wanted this to happen?"
Just after midnight...
Daniel quietly entered Marcus's study carrying an old storage box.
"I found these in the archives."
Marcus looked down.
His personal files.
Insurance documents.
Old passports.
Medical receipts.
Most of them were exactly where they should have been.
Except...
One folder was missing.
Marcus frowned.
"There used to be another file."
Daniel nodded.
"The blue one?"
Marcus looked up.
"You remember it?"
"I remember seeing it several times."
"It disappeared sometime after Miss Monroe moved into the mansion."
Marcus's eyes narrowed.
"No one else knew about that file."
Daniel hesitated.
"There was one other person."
"Who?"
"Your former personal physician."
"Dr. Benjamin Carter."
Marcus immediately reached for his phone.
Daniel quietly stopped him.
"I already tried."
"What happened?"
"He died."
Marcus slowly lowered the phone.
"Died?"
"Officially..."
Daniel placed another document on the desk.
"...a car accident."
Three thousand miles away...
Inside a luxury villa overlooking Lake Geneva...
Vanessa Monroe smiled while reading a confidential report.
A man in a white lab coat stood across from her.
"He has started remembering."
Vanessa closed the folder.
"Not enough."
"What if he remembers everything?"
"He won't."
The scientist looked nervous.
"Are you certain?"
Vanessa walked toward the window.
"You erased enough."
The scientist swallowed.
"Memory doesn't always stay buried."
She slowly turned around.
"Then we bury the people."
The room became silent.
Back in Manhattan...
Marcus could not stop staring at an old photograph Daniel had found inside the storage box.
It showed Marcus standing beside several researchers in white laboratory coats.
Everyone wore identification badges.
Everyone smiled.
Marcus remembered none of them.
He turned the picture over.
Written on the back...
Project Helix
Clinical Volunteer No. 7
Marcus felt his pulse racing.
"I've never seen this."
Daniel looked confused.
"It was in your personal safe."
Marcus whispered,
"Then why can't I remember it?"
The next morning...
Rosa arrived at work expecting to be dismissed.
Instead...
William greeted her with unexpected news.
"Mr. Hail would like breakfast."
Rosa blinked.
"Again?"
"Yes."
"And..."
William smiled faintly.
"He specifically asked if Lily was coming."
Rosa looked down at her daughter.
Lily was happily holding the same stuffed rabbit.
"Mama..."
"Can Mr. Marcus have another drawing today?"
Rosa laughed softly.
"I think he'd like that."
Breakfast felt different.
Marcus looked less like a billionaire.
More like a man trying to remember who he had once been.
Lily climbed into the chair beside him without asking.
"I made you something."
She proudly handed him another picture.
This time...
It wasn't a house.
It wasn't flowers.
It wasn't the sun.
It was a strange building.
A long white building with blue windows.
Marcus stared.
"What's this?"
Lily shrugged.
"I dreamed it."
Rosa smiled apologetically.
"She's always drawing places from her dreams."
Marcus's smile suddenly disappeared.
His breathing became uneven.
The picture...
Looked exactly like the research facility in the photograph labeled Project Helix.
Exactly.
Even the unusual glass bridge connecting two buildings.
Something impossible.
Something Lily had never seen.
The coffee cup slipped from Marcus's hand.
It shattered across the marble floor.
Everyone stood.
"Mr. Hail!"
Marcus ignored them.
He grabbed the drawing with trembling hands.
"Lily..."
"Have you ever been here?"
The little girl innocently shook her head.
"No."
"Then why did you draw it?"
She looked at him with complete sincerity.
"Because..."
"...the nice lady in my dream said you forgot."
Marcus felt the room spinning.
"What lady?"
"The one wearing the white coat."
"What did she say?"
Lily's cheerful smile slowly faded.
Her tiny voice became almost a whisper.
"She said..."
"...tell Mr. Marcus not to go back."
Silence.
Every person in the room felt chills.
Rosa quickly hugged her daughter.
"Sweetheart, what are you talking about?"
Lily looked confused.
"I don't know."
"I just dreamed it."
At that exact moment...
Daniel's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He listened for another few seconds.
Then looked directly at Marcus.
"The Swiss laboratory."
Marcus stood as much as his weakened legs allowed.
"What about it?"
Daniel spoke slowly.
"It burned to the ground."
"When?"
"Thirty minutes ago."
"Were there survivors?"
Daniel's silence gave the answer.
Every scientist connected to Project Helix...
Had died.
Every paper record...
Destroyed.
Every computer...
Reduced to ashes.
Marcus closed his eyes.
Someone was cleaning up the past.
Professionally.
Completely.
But they had made one mistake.
They believed every witness was gone.
They didn't know...
A three-year-old little girl had just drawn the one building that no longer officially existed.
That evening...
Marcus unlocked a small compartment hidden beneath the floor of his private library.
A compartment no one else knew about.
Inside lay a sealed envelope covered in dust.
Across the front, written in his own handwriting years earlier, were twelve chilling words.
"If I ever lose my memory... never trust Vanessa. Open this first."
Marcus stared at the envelope for a long time.
His hands trembled.
Because he had absolutely no memory...
Of writing it.
He slowly broke the seal.
Inside was a flash drive.
One old photograph.
And a handwritten note.
The note contained only a single sentence.
A sentence so horrifying...
Marcus collapsed back into his chair before he could finish reading it.
Because the note began with the words:
May you like
"Marcus... if you're reading this, it means they finally succeeded in poisoning me..."
To Be Continued...
