Chapter 6 - THE MAN BEHIND THE GLASS
The next twenty minutes felt like a lifetime.
Doctors surrounded Grace.
Machines beeped.
Nurses shouted numbers.
I stood behind the glass, unable to touch my own daughter.
“Come on, baby.”
My voice shook.
“Come on.”
Her tiny chest barely moved.
“Please.”
A nurse placed a hand on my shoulder.
“She's fighting.”
“She shouldn't have to.”
“No.”
The nurse's eyes filled with tears.
“But she's not giving up.”
I stared at Grace.
Neither would I.
Three floors below, Adrian entered the hospital's security center.
He didn't walk.
He stormed.
Two of his security officers followed.
“Lock every entrance,” he ordered.
“Already done.”
“Elevators?”
“Disabled.”
“Parking garage?”
“Sealed.”
“Cameras?”
“Someone looped the feeds.”
Adrian stopped.
“Someone?”
“Yes.”
“From inside?”
The technician nodded.
Adrian stared at the security monitors.
Every screen showed the same hallway.
Empty.
Perfectly empty.
Too perfect.
“Go back thirty minutes.”
The technician did.
The footage rewound.
Then Adrian saw him.
A man in hospital scrubs.
Walking into the NICU corridor.
Carrying a maintenance case.
Adrian leaned closer.
“Freeze.”
The image stopped.
“Zoom.”
The face became clearer.
Adrian recognized him.
“That's impossible.”
The technician looked at him.
“Who is he?”
Adrian didn't answer.
He pulled out his phone.
“Find me a photograph of Thomas Mercer.”
Seconds later, the image appeared.
The man on the screen was Thomas Mercer.
Ethan's older brother.
A man officially declared dead nine years ago.
Adrian's voice dropped.
“Call the police.”
Upstairs, Grace stabilized.
The doctor came out.
“She made it through.”
I nearly collapsed.
“She's okay?”
“For now.”
“For now?”
“She remains critically ill.”
I nodded.
“I understand.”
The doctor looked at me.
“Mrs. Mercer, there's something else.”
“What?”
“The attack wasn't random.”
My stomach tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“Someone specifically targeted Grace.”
“Why?”
The doctor hesitated.
“Her ventilator settings were changed remotely.”
I closed my eyes.
“Who would do that?”
“We're investigating.”
I looked toward Adrian.
He wasn't there.
“Where is Mr. Blackwood?”
“He went downstairs.”
I felt something was wrong.
An hour later, Adrian returned.
His face was colder than before.
“What happened?”
He closed the door.
“We found the person who accessed the system.”
“Who?”
“Thomas Mercer.”
My heart stopped.
“Ethan's brother?”
“Yes.”
“But he's dead.”
“Apparently not.”
I stared at him.
“Why would Ethan's brother want my daughter dead?”
Adrian's silence told me the answer would be bad.
“He wasn't trying to kill her.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“He was testing something.”
“What?”
“Your father's technology.”
I felt sick.
“What does that mean?”
“Your children are not simply premature triplets.”
I stared at him.
“What are you saying?”
“Someone believes their bodies can activate a medical technology your father designed.”
I laughed nervously.
“That sounds insane.”
“I wish it were.”
He placed a folder on my bed.
Inside were documents.
Old medical reports.
My father's company.
Mercer Holdings.
And a photograph.
A laboratory.
Three incubators.
Three babies.
My hands started shaking.
“When was this?”
“Twenty-nine years ago.”
I looked at him.
“I was twenty-nine years ago.”
“Yes.”
I stared at the photograph.
One of the babies was circled.
Underneath was a handwritten note:
Subject Three survived.
My heart stopped.
“That's not possible.”
Adrian sat beside me.
“Claire.”
“I wasn't born in a laboratory.”
“I know.”
“That's not me.”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Adrian pointed to another document.
My mother's name.
My father's name.
And a hospital.
“Your mother gave birth to you at this facility.”
I couldn't breathe.
“My parents lied to me.”
“Your father tried to protect you.”
“From what?”
“Mercer Holdings.”
That evening, Ethan came to my room.
This time he looked exhausted.
“Claire.”
“Leave.”
“I need to explain.”
“You had five years.”
“I didn't know how.”
“You didn't know how to tell me you were using me?”
His face changed.
“I never used you.”
“Then tell me about Project Three.”
Silence.
“Tell me.”
He looked at Adrian.
“You shouldn't be here.”
Adrian crossed his arms.
“I'm staying.”
Ethan sighed.
“My father started Project Three.”
“Why?”
“He was trying to create a neonatal system capable of stabilizing premature infants without conventional ventilation.”
I stared.
“That sounds like my father's research.”
“It was.”
“Did my father work with your family?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he disappear?”
Ethan's expression darkened.
“He tried to shut the project down.”
“Why?”
“Because the system wasn't only medical.”
“What else was it?”
Ethan looked at me.
“It could monitor biological responses.”
“So?”
“It could predict how a child's body would respond to certain treatments.”
I frowned.
“That isn't impossible.”
“No.”
His voice lowered.
“But the project became something else.”
“What?”
“Genetic selection.”
My stomach dropped.
“You're saying…”
“They were trying to identify children whose biology could make the technology work.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“My father believed triplets provided the perfect testing model.”
I stared at him.
“Triplets.”
“Yes.”
My three babies.
“No.”
Ethan's eyes filled with something like regret.
“I didn't know they were triplets when I married you.”
“Then when did you know?”
He didn't answer.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
My heart shattered.
“You knew?”
“I discovered your father's records.”
“And you stayed married to me?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
I laughed.
“By throwing me out?”
His face fell.
“I thought if I separated from you, they'd leave you alone.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
“Your father is dead.”
Ethan looked at Adrian.
“Not all of him.”
I stared.
“What does that mean?”
Before Ethan could answer, the hospital lights flickered.
Then every screen in my room turned on.
A man's face appeared.
Older.
Gray hair.
Cold eyes.
Ethan went completely still.
“No.”
The man on the screen smiled.
“Hello, son.”
Ethan whispered:
“Father.”
I looked at Adrian.
He was already reaching for his phone.
The man's eyes shifted toward the camera.
Then he smiled.
“Hello, Claire.”
My blood turned to ice.
He knew my name.
Then he said:
“Congratulations.”
His smile widened.
“Project Three is finally complete.”
May you like
The screen went black.
And somewhere down the hall, every NICU alarm began screaming at once.
