Chapter 8 - the falcon clinic
Finnley tried to explain the crest.
“It belongs to Falcon Ridge, an old rehabilitation property in Vermont.”
“Owned by whom?”
“The Hayes family established it decades ago.”
“So you do know the location.”
“I know the symbol. I did not know Adrian was there.”
Gabriela studied his face.
Finnley had lied so many times that truth no longer looked different on him.
She ordered Meridian security to prepare transport. Police wanted Hayden placed under federal protection, but Senator Margaret Vale’s involvement made Gabriela distrust every agency connected to the investigation.
She refused to surrender her son to strangers.
By dawn, a convoy left Manhattan for Vermont.
Hayden slept in the seat beside Gabriela, wrapped in a blanket. Finnley rode in a separate vehicle under guard.
During the drive, Gabriela examined the photograph again.
Adrian’s face looked thinner. A scar crossed his temple. His left hand rested motionless on the hospital blanket. Yet his eyes were open.
There was another detail.
A reflection showed someone taking the photograph.
A woman wearing a champagne-colored dress.
Gabriela enlarged the image on her tablet.
Celia Ward.
Celia was Kendall’s closest friend and the public-relations consultant who had managed the Hayes family after Adrian’s disappearance. She had repeatedly encouraged Gabriela to stop asking questions.
Now she appeared inside the secret clinic.
Falcon Ridge stood beyond a frozen lake, surrounded by pine forest and twelve-foot fencing. Officially, it had closed ten years earlier.
The security gate opened when Finnley’s face was scanned.
Gabriela looked at him through the windshield of the following vehicle.
He did not appear surprised.
Inside, the buildings were clean and fully powered. Fresh tire tracks crossed the snow.
The clinic was not abandoned.
A medical administrator met them in the lobby. When Gabriela showed Adrian’s photograph, the woman denied ever seeing him.
Gabriela pushed past her.
Security officers searched the patient wings. Most rooms were empty, but evidence showed recent occupation: warm bedding, medication containers, and uneaten food.
In room 314, Gabriela found leather restraints attached to a hospital bed.
The number again.
March fourteenth.
Hayden’s conception date had become a recurring code throughout Adrian’s investigation.
On the wall, someone had scratched a message.
GABRIELA, FOLLOW THE MUSIC.
Hayden entered before she could stop him.
He stared at the words.
“Dad used to say that.”
“What?”
“When we played hide-and-seek. He told me to follow the music.”
Gabriela had no memory of that game.
Hayden walked into the corridor and listened.
At first, she heard only ventilation fans.
Then a faint melody drifted through the walls.
A music box played Adrian’s favorite lullaby.
They followed it to the clinic chapel. The melody grew louder near the altar.
Finnley found a hidden switch beneath the pulpit.
The altar slid aside, revealing stairs leading underground.
At the bottom was a medical laboratory filled with surveillance equipment. Monitors displayed feeds from Bellavere, Gabriela’s apartment, Hayden’s school, and the Vermont property.
Someone had watched them for months.
On a desk lay Adrian’s wedding ring.
Gabriela picked it up with shaking fingers.
A computer activated automatically.
Celia appeared on-screen.
She wore the same champagne-colored dress reflected in the photograph.
“Hello, Gabriela.”
“Where is Adrian?”
“Alive.”
Hayden grabbed his mother’s arm.
Finnley stepped toward the screen.
“What do you want?”
Celia smiled. “The Halcyon archive.”
“Margaret was arrested.”
“Margaret was one member.”
“How many are there?”
“Enough.”
Gabriela held up Adrian’s ring.
“Let me speak to my husband.”
“You will. But first, remove Finnley from the room.”
Finnley refused to leave.
Celia pressed a button.
A second video appeared.
Adrian sat in a wheelchair inside a windowless room. His head tilted weakly to one side. A man in medical scrubs injected something into his IV.
Gabriela moved toward the screen.
“Adrian!”
His eyes opened slightly.
He seemed to hear her voice, though the transmission was one-way.
Celia spoke calmly.
“Finnley authorized the medication that kept him silent.”
Gabriela turned toward the older man.
Finnley looked genuinely horrified.
“That is not true.”
Celia displayed a digital authorization bearing his signature.
Gabriela recognized it.
The signature matched documents Finnley had signed for decades.
“They forged it,” he insisted.
“Like the waiver you wanted me to sign?”
“That was different.”
The screen changed again.
This time, Kendall appeared tied to a chair beside Adrian.
Blood marked her forehead.
Celia stood behind them holding a syringe.
“Bring Hayden to the chapel alone,” she said. “He can open the archive remotely.”
“No.”
“Then choose which Hayes sibling dies first.”
The transmission ended.
Immediately, the clinic doors locked.
An alarm began ringing.
Gas hissed through the ventilation system.
Gabriela covered Hayden’s mouth with her coat and ran toward the stairs.
Behind them, Finnley collapsed.
Before losing consciousness, he reached for Gabriela and whispered one word.
“Celia.”
Then he pressed a small electronic key into her hand.
The key bore the Meridian Holdings logo.
May you like
Gabriela’s private company.
👉 Celia had access not only to the Hayes family’s secrets but also to Gabriela’s own empire—and someone inside Meridian had helped her take control.
