Chapter 3

After the shock, my mind went strangely clear. I put the report back exactly as I'd found it, made sure everything looked untouched, and slipped out of the room without a sound.

The second I got back to my own bedroom, all the strength drained from my body. I slid down against the door, my shirt clinging to my back, drenched in cold sweat.

That blue pill I'd managed to hide was my only shot at breaking this open.

I needed someone I could trust with my life. Instantly, Kevin Brooks' face flashed in my mind. He was my childhood buddy, now a pharmacist at a top hospital.

For the next two days, I acted more obedient than ever. I ate on schedule, worked out when I was supposed to, and even started asking Evelyn for childcare tips.

My disguise seemed to work. Even her hawk-eyed stare softened a bit.

Finally, I got my shot. I told Evelyn there was a major bug in a project that needed my remote fix, or the company would lose thousands of dollars.

To make it convincing, I had a former coworker call me from the company line, sounding frantic.

After weighing her grandson's "emotional stability" against the "huge financial loss", Evelyn reluctantly agreed. She gave me two hours, but I had to use her computer in her study.

That was exactly what I wanted.

In the study, I pretended to be frantically typing code, all the while keeping an eye on Evelyn, who was sitting on the sofa nearby, watching me like a hawk.

I quickly opened a messaging app and reached out to Kevin. [Emergency. Can you help me check something?]

I sent him a photo of the pill I'd grabbed earlier. It was oval-shaped, deep blue, with some weird code etched on the side.

Kevin replied almost instantly: [Where did you get this? It's a controlled substance. You won't find it anywhere on the market.]

My heart skipped a beat, my fingers hovering over the keyboard, and I could practically hear my blood pounding in my ears.

I replied: [Don't ask. Check it for me.]

The chat window stayed silent for nearly ten minutes. Every second felt like an eternity. The sound of Evelyn flipping through her magazine hammered in my chest.

Finally, Kevin's message popped up.

Kevin: [Lucas, be straight with me. Did you get yourself into some serious trouble? This drug is called Hemoboost. It's a stem cell mobilizer.]

[Usually, it's given to donors before a bone marrow or stem cell transplant for patients with severe blood diseases. It stimulates the bone marrow to release a large number of stem cells into the bloodstream, so they can be harvested more easily.]

Donor...

Blood disease...

Those two words struck me like twin bolts of lightning, blowing away all the confusion in my head.

I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. My blood froze solid. Suddenly, it all clicked. Victoria had always been vague about her father.

He was sick, living in some fancy overseas clinic, and when we got married, he only sent a video message. I'd never met him.

An insane, but shockingly logical realization slammed into me.

They never wanted a grandchild.

What they really wanted was my baby's cord blood! Or maybe... his bone marrow!

I was nothing but the perfect ingredient they selected to create a genetic match for Victoria's father. Victoria and my unborn child were all part of this nightmare plan!

Fear and rage threatened to suffocate me. I bit down until I tasted iron. I couldn't fall apart here. I needed ironclad evidence, something no one could deny.

My gaze locked onto Evelyn's top-of-the-line computer. It was her command center. There had to be secrets hidden inside. I was a programmer; this was my playground.

I took a deep breath and flashed Evelyn an apologetic smile. "Evelyn, this bug is pretty complicated. I might need to download a special fix tool. What's your computer password?"

Evelyn shot me a wary look, but eventually rattled off a string of numbers. She probably thought I couldn't do anything sneaky with her right there.

As I downloaded some random software as a decoy, my fingers flew across the keyboard. Firewalls, system logs, access restrictions... None of it even slowed me down. I had admin privileges in no time.

I frantically searched her hard drive for keywords: "father", "clinic", "plan", and "blood disease".

Finally, buried deep in a folder locked behind layers of encryption, I found a file named "Genesis Plan".

My fingers hovered over the mouse, trembling uncontrollably. I knew that once I clicked it, my whole life, my marriage, and everything I believed would never be the same again.