Chapter 7 - THE DOCTOR'S LAST CONFESSION
Dr. Samuel Bennett was waiting in a basement corridor beneath St. Bartholomew's Hospital.
He looked nothing like the confident physician Daniel remembered. His white hair was disheveled, his collar was open, and a deep purple bruise marked the side of his jaw.
When Daniel approached, Bennett immediately checked the corridor behind him.
“You came alone?”
“My security team is outside. They don't know where I am.”
Bennett nodded.
“Good. We don't have much time.”
Daniel didn't offer a greeting.
“You said you delivered two babies.”
“I did.”
“Tell me everything.”
Bennett leaned against the wall.
“Six months ago, Olivia was admitted with severe complications. Another patient arrived shortly afterward. Her name was Rachel Mercer. She was twenty-seven, unmarried, and had been receiving prenatal care through an Ashford-affiliated clinic.”
“Was she connected to Richard?”
“Not personally, as far as I knew. She had enrolled in a research program without understanding the full scope of what she'd signed.”
“What happened to her?”
Bennett closed his eyes.
“She delivered a little girl. There were complications. She suffered massive blood loss.”
“Did she die?”
“Yes.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“And the baby?”
“Healthy. At first.”
Bennett explained that Olivia's daughter had also experienced distress shortly after birth. The hospital had prepared both infants for monitoring in the neonatal unit.
Then Richard Ashford arrived.
He claimed Rachel had authorized the transfer of her daughter to a private medical center. The paperwork appeared valid, and the staff were told that the infant required specialized testing.
But Bennett had never seen Rachel sign the authorization.
He questioned the order.
Two hours later, his access to the case was revoked.
“When I returned to the neonatal unit,” he continued, “the second infant was gone. Grace was still there, but her medical chart had been replaced with a new version.”
Daniel felt sick.
“Replaced with what?”
“A diagnosis that didn't match her examination. The chart suggested a serious neurological condition. It also contained genetic findings that I had never ordered.”
“Why would anyone do that?”
“I don't know what Richard wanted from the research. But I believe he was trying to establish a medical basis for gaining control over Grace's care.”
“Control how?”
Bennett hesitated.
“By making you believe she couldn't safely be raised without his family's supervision.”
Daniel's hands curled into fists.
“So he invented a condition to take my daughter.”
“I can't prove that was his ultimate objective. I can prove that the documentation was changed after the birth.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was threatened. My wife received photographs of our grandchildren outside their school. Someone sent me copies of my financial records and told me I would lose my medical license if I challenged the file.”
Daniel stared at him.
“And now?”
“Now I know what happened to Rachel's daughter.”
He reached into his coat and produced a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph of a woman with dark hair and gentle brown eyes.
She was holding a newborn against her chest.
A hospital wristband encircled her wrist.
Rachel Mercer.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written a name.
Lydia Mercer.
“Who is Lydia?” Daniel asked.
“Rachel's older sister. She worked at the Ashford foundation. She disappeared after Rachel died.”
“Did she take the baby?”
“I don't know. But she was the last person I saw entering the neonatal ward before the transfer.”
Daniel studied the photograph.
“Why would she disappear?”
“Because she discovered that Rachel's records had been altered. She believed someone was trying to conceal the child's identity.”
Bennett handed him a second document.
It was a handwritten note from Olivia.
If I cannot get to Daniel, find Lydia. She has the truth about the other baby.
Daniel's pulse accelerated.
“Where is she?”
Bennett looked toward the stairwell.
“I think she's been living under another name. The last address I found was in a small town outside Oxford.”
“Give it to me.”
Bennett began writing.
Then he stopped.
His face had gone pale.
“Someone's coming.”
Daniel heard footsteps approaching from the far end of the corridor.
Bennett shoved the paper into his hand.
“Listen carefully. Rachel's baby wasn't taken because she was sick. She was taken because of who her father was.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Who was the father?”
Bennett's eyes filled with shame.
“I don't know his identity. Rachel refused to name him in the hospital. But Richard knew. He told me the child could destroy the family if she ever learned the truth.”
The footsteps grew louder.
Daniel grabbed Bennett's arm.
“Doctor, tell me one more thing. Were the babies switched?”
Bennett opened his mouth.
A sharp crash echoed from the stairwell.
Then the lights flickered.
Someone shouted.
Bennett pushed Daniel toward a side door.
“Go!”
Daniel stumbled into the adjoining corridor.
Behind him, he heard a struggle, followed by a heavy impact.
He turned.
Bennett lay on the floor.
A man in a dark jacket stood over him.
Daniel rushed back, but the stranger bolted through an emergency exit.
Bennett was conscious, though barely.
Daniel knelt beside him.
“Stay with me.”
Bennett clutched his sleeve.
“Your daughter,” he gasped. “Don't let Richard take her to the foundation.”
“I'm not going to.”
Bennett struggled to breathe.
“Grace is your daughter. I swear to you. But the second baby—”
He coughed, and a thin line of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“What about her?”
Bennett looked directly at Daniel.
“The second baby is the reason Olivia died.”
His eyes closed.
Medical staff rushed into the corridor.
Daniel was pushed aside as they began emergency treatment.
He stumbled outside and called Marcus.
“Get Emily and the girls somewhere secure. No one gets near them.”
“Understood, sir.”
“And Marcus?”
“Yes?”
“Find Lydia Mercer. Before Richard does.”
An hour later, Marcus sent him an address and a photograph of a modest cottage near Oxford.
Daniel drove there himself.
The cottage stood at the end of a narrow lane, surrounded by bare trees and a low stone wall. A light burned behind the curtains.
He knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again.
Finally, the door opened a few inches.
A woman in her early forties stood behind it.
She had dark hair, tired brown eyes, and a silver crescent bracelet identical to Emily's.
When she saw Daniel, she covered her mouth.
“You have Grace,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“And the little girl in the red dress?”
“Sophie is with her mother.”
Lydia closed her eyes.
“Then the worst has already begun.”
She opened the door wider.
Daniel stepped inside.
On a table lay a photograph of two newborn girls.
One was Grace.
The other wore a blue hospital cap.
Lydia pointed to the second infant.
“That's Rachel's daughter.”
May you like
Daniel leaned closer.
Then Lydia said, “And her name was never supposed to be Sophie.”
