Chapter 5 - The Sister He Thought He Lost
Nathan reached the hospital room and stopped at the doorway.
Sarah was sleeping.
For seven years, he had imagined seeing her again.
Sometimes she apologized.
Sometimes he did.
Sometimes they shouted.
Sometimes he walked away.
Not once had he imagined this.
Her face was bruised.
A bandage covered her temple.
One arm lay wrapped against her chest.
She looked thinner than the sister he remembered.
Older.
Not because seven years had passed.
Because seven years had happened to her.
Nathan stepped inside.
Sarah opened her eyes.
For a moment neither sibling spoke.
Then she whispered:
“You opened the door.”
Nathan’s throat closed.
“Lily said the same thing.”
Sarah smiled weakly.
“She made it?”
“All three did.”
Her eyes filled instantly.
“Owen?”
“Stable.”
“Ethan?”
“Stable.”
“Lily’s feet?”
“Doctors are optimistic.”
Sarah began crying.
Nathan moved toward her but stopped.
He did not know whether he had the right to touch her.
Sarah noticed.
“You can hug me, idiot.”
Nathan crossed the room.
He bent carefully around her injuries and wrapped his arms around the sister he had spent seven years pretending he no longer missed.
Sarah broke.
Not graceful tears.
Not cinematic silence.
She sobbed against his chest.
Nathan held her tighter.
“I’m sorry.”
Sarah shook her head.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“I should have listened to you.”
“I should have come after you.”
“I told you to leave me alone.”
“I was your brother.”
She gripped the back of his shirt.
“I thought you hated me.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“I thought you hated me.”
They stayed that way until Sarah finally pulled back.
Nathan sat beside her.
“I found Box 317.”
Fear immediately entered her face.
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
“The recordings?”
“Yes.”
“Did Marcus get the backup?”
“I don’t know.”
Sarah looked toward the door.
“Lock it.”
Nathan did.
“Sarah, who is Marcus afraid of?”
Her eyes returned to him.
“Do you remember Charles Vale?”
Nathan frowned.
The name took several seconds.
Then recognition came.
“Dad’s business partner?”
Sarah nodded.
Charles Vale had helped their father build Pierce Biomedical before Nathan chose medicine instead of business.
After their father died, Vale had tried to purchase the remaining family shares.
Nathan refused and eventually sold them elsewhere.
“I haven’t seen Vale in years.”
“He never disappeared.”
“What does he have to do with Marcus?”
“Everything.”
Sarah took a breath.
“Marcus didn’t meet me by accident.”
Nathan went still.
“What?”
“I thought we did.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Coffee shop. Spilled drink. Charming apology. He remembered my order the next week.”
Nathan remembered how happy she had sounded.
“He was sent to meet me.”
“By Vale?”
Sarah nodded.
“Why?”
“Dad left something behind.”
Nathan frowned.
“What?”
“Evidence.”
“Of what?”
“Fraud. Bribes. Illegal device testing. I don’t know all of it.”
Nathan stared at her.
“Our father?”
“No.”
Sarah shook her head.
“Vale.”
Nathan leaned back.
“Dad discovered what Vale was doing before the stroke.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Mom told me.”
Nathan felt blindsided again.
“When?”
“Two months before she died.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She tried.”
Nathan looked away.
Of course.
Another missing conversation.
Sarah continued.
“Mom said Dad hid copies of records somewhere at the mountain cabin. Vale believed one of us knew where.”
“And Marcus married you to find them?”
“Eventually.”
“That was seven years?”
“He didn’t know at first whether I knew anything.”
Sarah’s voice became flat.
“He asked innocent questions. Childhood memories. Cabin stories. Dad’s files.”
Nathan’s hands curled.
“When did you realize?”
“After Lily was born.”
“2018.”
She nodded.
“The bracelet.”
Nathan touched his pocket.
“Mom’s bracelet.”
“Dad modified it after he became suspicious of Vale.”
Nathan frowned.
“The key?”
“Opens an old lockbox hidden at the cabin.”
Nathan remembered the tiny key.
“Why does the engraving say 2018?”
“I had it engraved after Lily was born.”
“Why ‘Property of Sarah Carter’?”
Sarah smiled faintly.
“Because Marcus kept taking my jewelry and saying everything in marriage belonged to both of us. I was angry.”
Nathan almost laughed.
That sounded like Sarah.
“I had the jeweler engrave it as a joke.”
“Then Marcus forged the pawn receipt.”
“Yes.”
“William confirmed it.”
Sarah’s expression darkened.
“William helped him.”
“But you said William isn’t in charge.”
“He isn’t.”
“Vale?”
“Yes.”
Nathan stood.
“He’s almost seventy.”
“He’s also still very rich, very connected, and terrified Dad kept enough evidence to destroy his reputation.”
Nathan paced.
“And my foundation?”
“Vale has been washing money through vendors attached to it.”
Nathan stopped.
“How do you know?”
“Marcus bragged when he was drunk.”
Nathan looked sick.
“He said you were too busy saving strangers to notice the people robbing you.”
Sarah immediately regretted repeating it.
“Nathan—”
“He was right about one thing.”
“What?”
“I didn’t notice.”
Sarah stared at him.
Nathan looked toward the window.
“I noticed abnormalities in scans other doctors missed. I noticed changes in a patient’s pulse before monitors caught them.”
His voice cracked.
“But I didn’t notice my own sister was asking me for help.”
Sarah reached for his hand.
“You were being lied to too.”
“I had resources.”
“So did I.”
“You were trapped.”
“And you were angry.”
Nathan looked at her.
“That doesn’t excuse me.”
“No.”
Sarah squeezed his hand.
“But neither does punishing yourself help my kids.”
The words stopped him.
Sarah had always known exactly where to cut through his defenses.
“Lily worships you already.”
Nathan blinked.
“She barely knows me.”
“She walked through a blizzard because I told her there was one person left who might save them.”
Nathan looked at her.
“You trusted me that much?”
Sarah’s answer hurt.
“No.”
She swallowed.
“I was desperate that much.”
Nathan accepted it.
He deserved the distinction.
“But Lily trusts you now.”
Sarah continued.
“Don’t make her regret it because you’re busy hating yourself.”
Nathan nodded slowly.
A knock sounded.
Sheriff Reeves entered.
“Sarah.”
“Daniel.”
“I need to ask some questions.”
“I know.”
“First, Marcus.”
Sarah looked away.
“He thought I gave Lily the bracelet.”
“You did.”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“He saw the twins’ crib empty.”
Her breathing changed.
Nathan noticed immediately.
“You can stop.”
“No.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“He hit me with the bottle. I fell. I remember Lily at the laundry door.”
Nathan said nothing.
“I thought Marcus would chase her.”
“But he didn’t?”
“He searched me first.”
“For the bracelet.”
“Yes.”
Sarah looked at Nathan.
“He wasted maybe ten minutes searching the house.”
Those ten minutes may have saved Lily’s life.
“Then?”
“I crawled outside.”
“You were conscious?”
“Barely.”
“Marcus found you?”
Sarah nodded.
“He put me in the truck.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“He said Lily would go to the only place I had ever been stupid enough to believe was safe.”
Nathan looked down.
“Here.”
“He knew.”
Sarah continued.
“We drove toward your house. Then another car appeared.”
“William?”
“No.”
“Vale?”
Sarah shook her head.
“Vale doesn’t do his own dirty work.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Who was driving?”
“I didn’t see clearly.”
“Man or woman?”
“Woman.”
Nathan frowned.
Sarah looked at him.
“You know her.”
“Who?”
Before Sarah could answer, Nathan’s phone rang.
His hospital administrator.
He nearly ignored it.
Then he saw the message preview.
URGENT SECURITY ISSUE.
Nathan answered.
“What happened?”
The administrator sounded breathless.
“Dr. Pierce, someone tried to access the neonatal floor using your credentials.”
Nathan froze.
“What?”
“Your executive override code.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know. Security stopped a woman at the elevator.”
Sarah sat upright despite the pain.
“Nathan.”
He looked at her.
“She’s here.”
Nathan asked the administrator:
“Description?”
“Woman, approximately sixty. Dark coat. Gray hair.”
Sarah whispered the name before the administrator did.
“Margaret Vale.”
Nathan stared.
Charles Vale’s wife.
A woman he had called Aunt Margaret throughout childhood.
The administrator continued.
“She ran before security could detain her.”
Nathan’s blood went cold.
Because Margaret Vale did not know Sarah’s children.
She should not even have known they existed.
Yet she had come directly to the floor where the twins were being treated.
Sarah gripped Nathan’s hand.
“She wasn’t looking for the babies.”
“What?”
Sarah’s eyes filled with fear.
“She was looking for Lily.”
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“Why?”
“Because Lily saw where I hid Dad’s second key.”
