Chapter 8 - ROSALIE DISAPPEARED AGAIN
Hospital security showed a man wearing an orderly’s uniform pushing Rosalie toward the loading dock.
His face remained hidden beneath a surgical mask.
A black sedan waited outside.
The vehicle belonged to the Vale Foundation.
Sebastian’s digital authorization had released it from the company garage.
Again, someone used his identity.
Theodore struck the wall with the side of his fist.
“They keep using you.”
Sebastian looked at the blood on Theodore’s knuckles.
“Because I gave them every system.”
“Every password.”
“Every reason to believe people would obey my name.”
He called the board.
He froze all family credentials.
Then he transferred temporary operational authority to an outside legal firm.
The decision removed his own access.
For the first time, Sebastian chose to lose control before someone could weaponize it.
Detective Ellis traced the sedan toward Vale Haven.
The abandoned facility sat near the Connecticut–New York border.
Police reached the gates before dawn.
The building appeared empty.
Inside, emergency lights glowed along the basement corridor.
Rosalie was strapped to a hospital bed inside the old treatment room.
Mercer stood beside her.
A syringe rested in his hand.
Theodore saw them through the narrow window.
He reached for the door.
Sebastian caught his shoulder.
“We wait for Ellis.”
“He is going to inject her.”
“The room may be trapped.”
“I waited at the coffin.”
“Never again.”
Theodore struck the window with the rubber mallet.
The reinforced glass cracked but did not break.
Mercer turned.
Rosalie opened her eyes.
She saw Theodore.
Mercer placed the needle against her arm.
Theodore struck again.
A white line crossed the glass.
Sebastian grabbed a fire extinguisher and hit the same point.
The window collapsed inward.
An alarm began screaming.
Mercer injected the fluid.
Rosalie twisted her arm.
The needle tore free before the entire dose entered.
Police breached the main door.
Mercer ran toward a rear passage.
Theodore climbed through the broken window and released Rosalie’s restraints.
She was conscious.
Her breathing slowed.
“What did he give you?”
“I don’t know.”
Sebastian found the vial on the floor.
It carried a concentrated V-17 label.
Theodore grabbed the emergency reversal kit from the wall.
Mercer had kept antidotes near every treatment room.
Rosalie pointed weakly.
“Blue syringe.”
Theodore injected it through her clothing.
Her pulse began rising.
Police captured Mercer near the basement generator.
He carried Rosalie’s microdrive in his shoe.
The files were intact.
Mercer looked at Theodore through the hallway glass.
“You think saving her changes what your family is?”
Theodore stood beside Rosalie’s bed.
May you like
“No.”
“It lets her decide what it becomes next.”
