Chapter 5 - THE BABY FILE The BABY folder contained medical charts, ultrasound photographs, and audio recordings.
None came from Dr. Bennett’s clinic.
They were produced by a private practice called Mercer Maternal Wellness, a company Luke had never heard of despite his surname appearing on its ownership documents.
Adrian founded it eight months earlier.
The clinic had no public patients.
Its only active file was Elena’s.
One audio recording captured Adrian speaking with a female physician.
“The growth remains appropriate,” the doctor said. “But continued caloric restriction will eventually affect both patients.”
“We need her compliant, not healthy.”
“Your mother wants no permanent injury.”
“My mother wants plausible deniability.”
“And Luke?”
“Luke thinks Elena left him.”
The physician lowered her voice.
“What if the child is born?”
“Then my father’s trust moves control to an infant and triggers the audit.”
“Luke would serve as guardian.”
“Only if he remains eligible.”
“What does that mean?”
Adrian answered calmly.
“We have another plan for him.”
Marco replayed the sentence.
“Adrian wasn’t only targeting Elena.”
Luke looked toward the nighttime skyline beyond the hospital window.
“What plan?”
The next document answered part of it.
A psychiatric evaluation had been prepared under Luke’s name, describing him as violent, unstable, and unfit to control Mercer Industries.
The incidents listed inside never occurred.
The report was scheduled to become public if Elena escaped or contacted police.
Adrian planned to portray Luke as the abuser who drove his pregnant ex-wife into hiding.
Elena’s injuries would support the lie.
The divorce would support the lie.
Luke’s anger after finding her would complete it.
“They wanted you to attack someone,” Marco said.
“Then Adrian could remove me through the board.”
Luke realized how carefully the trap had been built.
If Elena remained hidden, Adrian controlled the company.
If she died, the audit never began.
If she escaped, Luke became the violent former husband.
Every path protected Adrian.
The final ultrasound file included a note:
PATERNITY VERIFIED — L.M.
Luke leaned closer.
“They tested the baby without her consent.”
Dr. Bennett examined the laboratory seal.
“This company does not perform legitimate prenatal testing.”
“Then how was it done?”
“Someone obtained Luke’s genetic sample and carried out an invasive procedure on Elena.”
Luke remembered donating blood during a Mercer charity drive several months earlier. Adrian’s foundation managed the samples.
Elena had endured a procedure while sedated.
The realization made Luke physically ill.
The folder also contained a photograph of Lydia Mercer.
She was alive.
The image had been taken inside the blue room three weeks earlier. She wore medical scrubs and Evelyn’s crest bracelet.
Luke showed it to his mother.
Evelyn stared for a long time.
“My sister disappeared after accusing our father of using the family clinics for illegal research. He had her committed under another name.”
“You knew?”
“I knew she was placed in treatment. Father said she died after leaving the country.”
“She has been working for Adrian.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No. Lydia would destroy Adrian before helping him.”
“Then why is she beside Elena’s bed?”
Evelyn looked toward the photograph.
“Perhaps she was trying to get her out.”
Elena had written that a woman opened the blue-room door on the final night.
Maybe Lydia had not moved her for Adrian.
Maybe she had created the only chance to escape.
Then Marco’s phone rang.
Security had identified the woman who left Elena outside the emergency entrance.
Facial recognition matched Lydia Mercer.
She had saved Elena.
But after placing her beside the hospital doors, Lydia looked directly into the security camera and mouthed three words:
May you like
He knows now.
👉 Lydia was alive and may have rescued Elena, but her final warning suggested Adrian had already discovered the escape.
