Chapter 13: The Trap in Geneva
Damien Cross had negotiated billion-dollar deals with men who would have happily watched him bleed.
But nothing had prepared him for the photograph on his phone.
Rose was asleep in her hospital bassinet, one tiny fist curled beside her cheek. The picture had been taken less than ten minutes earlier, from inside a restricted medical ward.
Someone had been close enough to touch his daughter.
And Victoria Sterling wanted him to bring all three girls to Geneva.
“Marcus!”” Damien shouted.
His assistant rushed into the conference room.
“What happened?””
Damien showed him the photograph.
Marcus's expression hardened.
“I'll lock down the hospital.””
“Do it. Nobody enters or leaves the pediatric floor without identification. Get the hospital's security team to preserve every camera recording from the last forty-eight hours.””
“Understood.””
“And contact federal law enforcement. Tell them we have evidence of possible child abduction, medical experimentation, and a threat against three minors.””
Marcus hesitated.
“Victoria specifically said not to involve the police.””
Damien looked at him coldly.
“Victoria doesn't get to dictate how I protect my children.””
He turned toward the window.
For seven years, his father had controlled his life through carefully constructed lies. Richard had convinced him that Elena was a traitor, that Jonathan was dead, and that the Cross family had nothing to hide.
Damien would not repeat the same mistake by allowing another powerful family to dictate what happened next.
His phone rang.
Stefan Keller.
Damien answered immediately.
“Tell me you have something useful.””
“I have the original laboratory records,” Keller replied.
“But I also have a warning. Charles Sterling knows you've discovered the research program.””
“How?””
“Because he contacted me an hour ago. He offered me five million dollars to disappear permanently.””
Damien's jaw tightened.
“And you refused?””
“I accepted the meeting. I needed to know what he wanted.””
“You accepted a meeting with the man who supposedly ordered Elena's death?””
“I have spent seven years hiding from men like Charles Sterling. I know how they operate.””
Damien lowered his voice.
“What does he want?””
“To destroy the original research files and eliminate anyone who can testify about the children.””
Damien glanced at the hospital room.
“Send me the files.””
“I will. But there is something you need to understand. The compound Victoria has been administering may have masked the symptoms of the children's condition.
It was never approved as a treatment, and I cannot predict what stopping it will do. Lily needs specialist care immediately.””
“She has the best specialists available.””
“Good. Don't let anyone persuade you to move her for the sake of an experiment. The children are not research subjects.””
For the first time, Damien heard something resembling remorse in Keller's voice.
“Why did you agree to work with Richard?”” he asked.
Keller was silent.
“Answer me.””
“Because I believed I could develop a treatment for Caroline Cross. Richard promised informed consent, independent oversight, and access to the necessary medical records. Instead, he began taking biological samples from children without permission.””
“And you stayed.””
“Yes.””
The admission was quiet but devastating.
“I told myself I was staying to prevent worse harm. Eventually, I realized I was helping him continue it.””
“Then you'll testify.””
“If I live long enough.””
The call ended.
Damien immediately forwarded the research files to Dr. Reed and the authorities.
Then he walked into Lily's room.
She was awake, watching cartoons on a tablet. Rose slept beside her, and a nurse sat nearby.
“Daddy?””
Damien smiled despite the knot in his chest.
“Hey, sweetheart.””
“Are we going somewhere?””
“No. Why?””
Lily turned the tablet toward him.
A cartoon family was boarding an airplane.
“Because I heard the nurse say someone wanted to take us to another hospital.””
Damien sat beside her.
“Nobody is taking you anywhere without my permission. Your doctors are here, and they're going to take care of you.””
Lily studied his face.
“Are you scared?””
He hadn't expected the question.
“A little.””
“Mommy used to be scared too.””
Damien brushed a strand of hair away from her forehead.
“Your mother was very brave.””
“She said brave people still get scared. They just don't let the scary thing make their decisions.””
For a moment, he couldn't speak.
Elena had been teaching their daughter how to survive long before Damien knew she existed.
He kissed Lily's forehead.
“Your mother was right.””
As he stood, Lily caught his sleeve.
“Daddy?””
“Yes?””
“If you find the bad people, don't let them take Rose.””
Damien knelt beside her.
“I won't.””
This time, he made the promise with a plan behind it.
By midnight, the authorities had identified the person who photographed Rose.
A hospital contractor had entered the pediatric ward using a stolen access card. Security footage showed him leaving through a service entrance and getting into a car registered to a Sterling Holdings subsidiary.
The contractor was arrested at his apartment.
He refused to identify who had hired him.
But his phone contained a message from Charles Sterling.
*The girls must be moved before Cross reaches Geneva.*
The discovery changed everything.
Charles wasn't simply trying to protect his reputation. He wanted the children under his control.
Damien arranged for Lily and Rose to remain under hospital protection while Grace and Nora were moved to a secure residence.
He also called Jonathan, who had been discharged from the hospital that afternoon.
“Can you travel?”” Damien asked.
Jonathan's voice was rough.
“Where?””
“Geneva.””
“Why?””
“Because Charles Sterling is trying to finish what Richard started.””
Jonathan went quiet.
Then he said, “I'll be there.””
“There's something else. I need to know what happened after the first procedure.””
Jonathan exhaled slowly.
“Richard told me Caroline's condition had improved. He said the biological material from the triplets had worked. But when I questioned him about the children, he threatened to expose my marriage to Elena and have me arrested for fraud.””
“Did you believe him?””
“I believed he was capable of anything.””
“And you walked away.””
Jonathan's silence was answer enough.
Damien's voice hardened.
“You could have saved them.””
“Yes,” Jonathan whispered.
“I could have.””
For a moment, Damien wanted to tell him that his regret meant nothing.
Instead, he said, “Then help me save them now.””
The following morning, Damien received a secure message from Dr. Keller.
It contained a scanned page from the original research file.
Three patient identifiers were listed.
C-17.
C-18.
C-19.
Beside each identifier was a handwritten note.
The triplets must remain together for longitudinal observation.
Beneath that was a second note, written in Richard's distinctive hand.
If one child deteriorates, proceed with the contingency plan.
Damien stared at the words.
“What contingency plan?”” he muttered.
A new message arrived.
*I found the original consent documents. There were none. Richard forged Elena's signature after the birth.*
Then another.
*But there's a separate file with Charles Sterling's signature. He approved the program's funding and authorized the transfer of the third infant.*
Damien forwarded everything to the investigators.
At 10:30 a.m., the authorities confirmed that Charles Sterling had booked a private flight to Geneva.
His destination was a medical research facility outside the city, registered under a company that had been dormant for six years.
Damien stared at the flight manifest.
Victoria's message remained on his phone.
*Bring all three girls to Geneva. Come without the police.*
He typed a reply.
*I'll come. But the children stay where they are.*
Victoria answered almost immediately.
*Then you will never learn what Elena discovered before she died.*
Damien's fingers hovered over the screen.
He had spent seven years mourning a woman he believed had abandoned him. He would not let Victoria use Elena's memory to manipulate him again.
He typed one final message.
*Tell me what she discovered.*
The reply arrived with an attachment.
A photograph.
Elena stood outside a courthouse, holding Lily as a newborn. Beside her was a man Damien had never seen before.
The man wore a medical badge.
His face was unmistakable.
Dr. Stefan Keller.
On the back of the photograph, Elena had written:
*Keller knows why Richard chose our children. Ask him what the triplets inherited from their father.*
Damien stared at the words.
Their father.
Him.
Before he could call Keller, another message appeared.
*You have twelve hours, Damien. After that, Charles will destroy the last evidence.*
Damien looked through the glass wall at his daughters.
Then he called the lead investigator.
“Book me the next flight to Geneva.””
May you like
He paused.
“And make sure Charles Sterling doesn't know we're coming.””
