Chapter 6 - THE IV LINE Dr. Bennett ordered every medication in Elena’s room replaced.
The sealed IV bags were brought directly from the pharmacy under police escort. Nurses used temporary identification codes and documented each handoff on paper rather than through the hospital network.
For several hours, Elena remained stable.
Then her blood pressure dropped.
The heart monitor accelerated.
Dr. Bennett checked the IV line and found a second injection port beneath the blanket. Someone had connected it after the last safety inspection.
“Stop the infusion.”
Nurses clamped the line.
Laboratory testing found a concentrated sedative inside the tubing.
The dose had not yet fully entered Elena’s bloodstream.
Luke looked toward the security doors.
“Who came in?”
The access log listed Dr. Bennett.
She had been in another wing at the recorded time.
Someone copied her badge.
Security footage showed a masked woman entering with a medication tray. Her face remained hidden, but a burn scar crossed her left palm.
Lydia.
Evelyn shook her head when shown the image.
“She rescued Elena. Why would she return to poison her?”
Marco enlarged the footage.
The scar looked slightly raised and unnaturally glossy.
“Prosthetic,” he said.
The intruder had copied Lydia’s identifying feature.
The same person could have impersonated Evelyn inside the blue room.
Family resemblance, shared jewelry, masks, and copied scars created confusion around which Mercer woman did what.
Detective Mara searched the hospital’s service corridor.
A discarded wig and prosthetic scar lay inside a trash container. The intruder had changed appearance before leaving.
No fingerprints survived.
But a coffee receipt inside the same container carried a partial name:
C. MERCER
Adrian’s wife, Celeste.
Marco checked her passport records again.
Celeste had not left the United States. Adrian created the foreign travel history through a private aviation company.
She had been living under an assumed name in a Mercer-owned condominium.
Police entered the property.
It was empty.
Inside they found medical scrubs, copies of Evelyn’s bracelet, prosthetic scars, hospital floor plans, and hundreds of photographs of Elena.
One wall displayed possible disguises.
Evelyn.
Lydia.
Dr. Bennett.
A nurse.
Even Nora—no, Nora belongs previous story. Avoid. Even Marco.
Celeste had created physical identities the same way Adrian created digital ones.
She made every witness uncertain about whom they had seen.
A voice recorder contained her latest instructions.
Adrian said:
“Elena cannot reach twenty weeks with a valid medical record.”
Celeste asked, “Do you want the pregnancy ended?”
“I want the audit prevented.”
“And Elena?”
“If she lives, she blames Luke. If she dies, Luke looks guilty.”
Celeste sounded disturbed.
“You promised nobody would be killed.”
Adrian laughed.
“You married into the wrong family for promises.”
The recording gave prosecutors evidence of conspiracy, but Celeste remained missing.
Then Elena opened her eyes and looked at Luke.
“I remember the woman at the hospital.”
“Was it Celeste?”
Elena shook her head.
“She wore Celeste’s face.”
“What does that mean?”
“She removed it in the elevator.”
Luke stared.
Elena described a silicone disguise beneath the surgical mask. When it came loose, she saw the real woman for only a second.
She was not a Mercer.
She was someone Elena knew from before the marriage.
“Who?”
Elena whispered the name.
“Rachel Price.”
Marco went still.
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Rachel Price was the Mercer family attorney who had delivered Elena’s divorce papers.
👉 The lawyer who formalized Luke and Elena’s separation had also been wearing the family’s faces inside the hospital.
