Chapter 4 - THE DOCTOR'S SECRET
Victor found Dr. Voss's abandoned clinic before sunrise.
Dust covered the windows.
The sign still read VOSS FAMILY PSYCHIATRY.
Gabriel unlocked the side door.
Inside, filing cabinets stood open.
Most folders were gone.
One remained.
ETHAN BLACKWOOD.
Victor opened it.
The psychological report was detailed.
Too detailed.
It described a child the doctor had never met.
It listed behaviors Ethan had never displayed.
Victor turned the page.
A photograph showed Ethan sleeping in his nursery.
Lily recognized the blanket.
“That photograph was taken before Serena hurt him.”
Victor looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“I was the one who changed that blanket.”
Gabriel checked the metadata.
The photograph had been taken from inside the house.
Someone had access to the nursery.
Victor closed the file.
“Find everyone who entered the east wing.”
They reviewed security logs.
One name appeared repeatedly.
A private maintenance company.
The company had no real employees.
Its listed address was an empty office.
Its payments came from the Montigue Family Office.
Victor understood.
Serena had built a fake support network.
Fake doctors.
Fake maintenance workers.
Fake witnesses.
All designed to create one story.
Lily was unstable.
Victor was absent.
Ethan needed a guardian.
Serena would be that guardian.
Gabriel said quietly, “If she succeeded, the court could freeze the trust.”
Victor nodded.
“And Serena would control it.”
They found Voss in a storage room behind the clinic.
He had been hiding.
Victor approached.
“You told us Richard was involved.”
“He is.”
“Who is Thomas Montigue?”
Voss swallowed.
“The man behind Guardian.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“Tell me everything.”
Voss explained the system.
Thomas identified wealthy families with young heirs.
He found vulnerable parents.
He recruited doctors.
He hired investigators.
Then he created a crisis.
A child was labeled unstable.
A parent was labeled dangerous.
A nanny became suspicious.
A spouse became manipulative.
Then a trusted outsider was offered as the solution.
The final step was always the same.
Guardianship.
Control of the trust.
Control of the child.
Control of the money.
Victor stared.
“How many families?”
“Twenty-three.”
“And Serena?”
“She wanted to prove herself.”
“By hurting my son?”
Voss looked down.
“She wanted you desperate enough to marry her.”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“So the assault was part of the wedding plan.”
“Yes.”
Lily's face went pale.
Voss looked at her.
“She intended to blame you.”
Lily whispered, “I knew it.”
Victor turned.
“You knew what?”
“She told me nobody would believe a nanny.”
Victor's eyes hardened.
Voss continued.
“Thomas wanted you married before the trust became fully protected.”
“When?”
“Before Ethan turned two.”
Victor looked at the calendar.
Seven months.
They had seven months before the next trust clause activated.
That was why Serena had moved now.
Victor's phone rang.
Margaret.
He answered.
“Mom?”
“Come home.”
“What did you find?”
“The original accident report.”
“Tell me.”
“Elena wasn't driving.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“And Dad?”
“He was.”
“Then why did everyone say Elena died?”
Margaret's voice broke.
“Because she didn't.”
Victor went completely still.
Lily stared at him.
“What?”
Margaret continued.
“Elena survived.”
Victor couldn't breathe.
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Mom.”
“She was taken from the hospital.”
“By whom?”
Margaret whispered:
“Richard.”
Victor's hand tightened around the phone.
Then another voice spoke from behind him.
“Not Richard.”
Victor turned.
Dr. Voss looked terrified.
“Thomas took her.”
Victor stared.
“Why?”
“Because she discovered the real purpose of Guardian.”
“What was it?”
Voss swallowed.
“To replace heirs.”
Victor's face hardened.
“Replace them with who?”
Voss whispered:
“Children the organization could control.”
Silence.
Lily looked at Ethan's photograph.
The plan was not simply to steal money.
It was to decide who inherited the future.
Victor's phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A video.
Elena appeared on screen.
Alive.
Older.
Pale.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Victor, if you see this, don't trust anyone who tells you the war is over.”
The video ended.
Victor looked at Lily.
“We're finding her.”
Lily nodded.
“And we're bringing her home.”
Dr. Voss finally agreed to testify publicly.
Before the hearing, he met Victor in a quiet office.
“I need you to understand something,” he said.
“What?”
“I wasn't the first doctor.”
Victor frowned.
“There were others?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“Seven.”
Gabriel looked up.
“Where are they?”
“Some are afraid. Some were paid. One disappeared.”
Victor's face hardened.
“Find them.”
Voss nodded.
He handed over a folder.
Inside were names of wealthy families who had been targeted.
One name made Lily stop.
Elena Blackwood.
She looked at Victor.
“What does this mean?”
Voss answered.
“Elena was not only a witness.”
Victor stared.
“She was investigating Guardian.”
“Why?”
“Because she discovered money being moved through Ethan's trust.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“Before she died?”
“Yes.”
Lily whispered, “So Serena didn't start this.”
“No,” Voss said.
“She inherited it.”
Victor stood.
“From whom?”
Voss looked toward the door.
“Thomas Montigue.”
The name changed everything.
Thomas was Serena's father.
Officially dead.
But Voss insisted he was alive.
Victor called Gabriel.
“Trace every company connected to Montigue.”
“Already doing it.”
“Find Thomas.”
A few hours later, they found a corporate registration.
MONTROSE STRATEGIC HOLDINGS.
The listed owner was a man named Thomas Montrose.
Same birth date.
Same old business records.
Same photograph.
Victor stared.
“It's him.”
Lily looked at the screen.
“What does he want?”
Victor answered:
“Everything.”
That night, a message arrived.
YOU HAVE FOUND THE NAME.
A second message followed.
NOW FIND THE BODY.
Victor looked at Elena.
She whispered:
“He means your father.”
Victor felt cold.
The war was reaching deeper into the past than he had imagined.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
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Elena kissed Ethan goodnight. Victor watched her leave the nursery and smiled through tears. He had lost fourteen months, but he would not lose another day pretending that love could wait.
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