Chapter 5 - THE LOCKED FILE
Victoria ran.
Julian caught the elevator door before it closed.
“Get out.”
She hit the button repeatedly.
“Julian, please.”
“Get. Out.”
The doors reopened.
She stepped into the hall.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
Senator Vale said, “This conversation ends now.”
Julian turned on him.
“You covered up the birth of my daughter.”
Vale’s face hardened.
“I protected my daughter.”
“From what?”
“From scandal. From humiliation. From you.”
Julian almost hit him.
Instead, he stepped back.
“Where is Claire’s child?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Bad choice.”
Julian called his head of security.
“Marcus, lock down the building. Nobody leaves without my approval.”
Victoria stared.
“You can’t imprison me.”
“I’m not imprisoning anyone. You’re free to walk out.”
“Then why lock down the building?”
“So I know where you go.”
Vale gave a humorless smile.
“You think money makes you untouchable.”
“No. I think cameras make people honest.”
Julian turned to Elena.
“You worked today?”
She nodded.
“All day.”
“Did anyone come here?”
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
Victoria’s head snapped toward her.
“Who?”
“A man from the hospital.”
“What man?”
“He said he was delivering documents for Mrs. Sterling.”
Julian stared at Victoria.
“What documents?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena pointed toward Victoria’s office.
“He carried a black envelope.”
Julian moved immediately.
Victoria blocked him.
“You are not going through my private things.”
He looked at her.
“You stopped having private things the second I learned you hid my child.”
He walked past.
Victoria followed.
“Julian!”
He entered her office.
Clean desk.
White roses.
Locked drawer.
He tried it.
“Key.”
“No.”
He picked up a bronze sculpture.
Victoria’s eyes widened.
“Don’t you dare.”
Julian smashed the drawer.
Wood splintered.
Inside lay a black envelope.
Elena whispered, “That’s it.”
Julian opened it.
Hospital letterhead.
Patient: Claire Bennett.
Status: Deceased.
A second sheet.
Neonatal record.
Female infant.
Born at 11:46 p.m.
Weight: six pounds, two ounces.
Father: Julian Sterling.
Julian stopped breathing.
Then he saw a handwritten note clipped behind the page.
Infant transferred under emergency protective authorization.
New patient ID: E.C.-1117.
He looked at Elena.
Her initials.
E.C.
November seventeenth.
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
Julian flipped to the next page.
A grainy newborn photograph was stapled to the corner.
A tiny baby girl.
Around her wrist was a hospital band.
The mother’s name was clearly visible.
CLAIRE BENNETT.
Elena sank into a chair.
Victoria whispered, “I never saw that file.”
Julian stared at her.
“You expect me to believe you?”
“I swear.”
Before he could answer, Marcus called.
Julian put the phone on speaker.
“Sir, we found something.”
“What?”
“The courier who delivered the envelope.”
“What about him?”
“He’s dead.”
Silence.
Marcus continued.
“Police found him forty minutes ago.”
Julian’s eyes moved to Senator Vale.
“Cause?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Looks like someone pushed him in front of a train.”
May you like
Then Elena screamed.
A red laser dot had appeared in the center of her chest.
