Chapter 7 - DANIEL’S STORY
They met Daniel at a roadside diner just before dawn.
Elena recognized him immediately.
Older.
Thinner.
A scar ran from his left eyebrow into his hairline.
He looked at Elena like he was seeing a ghost.
“You really don’t remember?”
“Remember what?”
Daniel sat back.
“Jesus.”
Marcus slid the fake hospital records across the table.
“Did she give you these?”
Daniel didn’t touch them.
“She gave them to everyone.”
Elena’s mouth went dry.
“Explain.”
Daniel looked around the diner.
“Seven years ago, I was working for Asterion Labs.”
Marcus stiffened.
The Hale family pharmaceutical company.
Daniel continued.
“I was a research assistant. Victoria was on the board. Your father wanted to shut down a prenatal compound after animal studies showed neurological side effects.”
Elena stared.
“The vitamins.”
Daniel nodded.
“Different version. Same family of compounds.”
“So why was I involved?”
“Because you found my files.”
Fragments returned.
A laptop.
A fight.
Daniel telling her not to ask questions.
She closed her eyes.
“I remember you being scared.”
“I was terrified.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Victoria found out you knew.”
“What did she do?”
“She started feeding you tiny doses.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Marcus swore under his breath.
Daniel looked at her.
“You started hearing things. Seeing me places I wasn’t. You thought I was following you.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“That hospital record…”
“Fake.”
“The restraining order?”
“Fake.”
“Why don’t I remember?”
“You had a breakdown. A real one.”
Daniel’s voice softened.
“Not because you were sick. Because they made you sick.”
Elena looked away.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“Not hard enough.”
“I was twenty-three and scared out of my mind.”
“You left me.”
“Yes.”
The simple answer hurt more than an excuse.
Daniel nodded toward Marcus.
“And after I quit Asterion, Victoria paid me to disappear.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“Why contact us now?”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
“Because she contacted me yesterday.”
He played a voicemail.
Victoria’s voice filled the booth.
“Daniel, Elena is becoming unstable again. If anyone asks, I expect you to remember what happened correctly.”
Elena felt cold.
Daniel stopped the recording.
“She wants to build a pattern.”
Marcus whispered, “So when Elena breaks…”
“No one questions why.”
Elena looked at Daniel.
“What does she want now?”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“I think she wants you committed before the baby is born.”
“Why?”
Daniel pulled a document from his jacket.
A draft emergency guardianship petition.
Victoria Hale petitioning for temporary medical control over Elena and, after delivery, guardianship of the infant.
Marcus stared at the signature line.
“My mother is trying to take our child.”
Then Elena’s phone buzzed.
One new message.
A photograph.
Their nursery.
Taken seconds ago.
On the crib sat a note.
May you like
COME HOME BEFORE SOMEONE GETS HURT.
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