flash
The audio file on Marina’s phone was timestamped three minutes ago. Ignacio’s thumb hovered over the screen, trembling so violently he nearly dropped the device into the crib. / Chapter 12 / 20

Chapter 12 - The Knock at Midnight

The door swung open with a dry creek. Standing in the doorway wasn't a federal agent or a hired thug, but a woman wearing a heavy trench coat, her face half-hidden beneath the brim of a black wool hat.

"Ignacio," she said, her voice dropping like lead onto the floorboards. "Put the knife down. If I wanted you dead, you would have bled out before you reached the kitchen."

Ignacio lowered the blade slightly, stepping out into the hallway. "Who are you? How did you get past the security gate?"

The woman pushed back her hat, revealing sharp, tired eyes and a scar cutting across her left jawline. "My name is Elena’s former partner, Commander Vance—not the federal one you met, her older sister, Sarah. Marina and I worked the internal compliance desk together before she got transferred to maternity. You think Dr. Silva acted alone? He was a mid-level puppet. The board members who authorized the trials are still sitting on international advisory boards, and they know about the offshore account."

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She stepped inside, pulling a small silver flash drive from her pocket and tossing it onto the coffee table. "They don't want the money, Ignacio. They want the genetic mapping sequence stored inside your daughter’s cellular tissue. Dr. Silva engineered that pregnancy to harvest fetal stem cells. April isn't just a survivor—she's a patent."

Before Ignacio could process the horrific weight of her words, April let out a sharp, sudden cry from the living room. Not a cry of hunger or fear—a sharp, piercing scream that rattled the windowpanes.

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