Mother continued.
“Your grandfather believed he was saving children. But the company funding his research wanted patents, military contracts, billions.”
“What company?” I asked.
“Virex Medical.”
The name was familiar. Virex manufactured surgical devices and neurological drugs around the world.
Walter struggled to sit up.
“They buried the trial data,” he gasped. “The treatment healed nerve damage, but it also exposed dangerous defects in Virex’s bestselling medication.”
Mother glared at him.
“You should have stayed silent.”
Grandpa had discovered evidence that Virex’s drug caused irreversible damage.
And I had been living proof that his alternative treatment worked.
“If the truth came out,” Walter continued, “Virex would lose everything.”
Mother smiled bitterly.
“So they offered your father and me enough money to make sure it never did.”
My stomach twisted.
“You sold Grandpa.”
“We saved this family.”
“You murdered him.”
Her eyes flickered.
Not guilt.
Annoyance.
“Your father changed his medication. I merely made sure no one interfered.”
Melanie began to shake.
“You told me those pills were vitamins.”
Mother looked at her without tenderness.
“You were useful then.”
The cruelty of it struck Melanie harder than a blow.
All her life, she had believed she was the chosen daughter.
Now she understood she had only been a tool.
A door slammed behind us.
My father appeared from a service tunnel, blood on his shirt and rage in his eyes.
He had somehow escaped police custody.
Mother turned in surprise.
“Arthur?”
He raised a second gun.
But he did not aim at me.
He aimed at her.
“You were going to leave without me.”
Mother’s face hardened.
“You were arrested.”
“You had passports for yourself and Melanie.”
“Melanie was necessary.”
“And me?”
“You were always replaceable.”
Father fired.
The bullet struck the gun from Mother’s hand.
Chaos exploded.
Beckett’s officers rushed forward. Wyatt dragged me down. Melanie threw herself over Walter.
My parents fought like animals—shouting, clawing, accusing each other of theft, murder, betrayal, and hidden bank accounts.
Within seconds, both were pinned to the ground and handcuffed.
Mother turned her face toward me.
“You think this is over?”
I stood above her, shaking.
“It is for you.”
She smiled through blood on her lip.
“No, Sadie. Virex knows you’re alive.”
Then the police dragged her away.
Walter looked at me from the floor.
“She’s right.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means the company has been waiting twelve years for the last surviving research subject to reappear.”
My heart hammered.
“Last surviving subject?”
Walter’s gaze moved toward Melanie.
And the room went silent.
Melanie whispered the truth before he could.
“You weren’t the only child Grandpa treated.”
