Chapter 16 - The Second Sofia
The answer was hidden in employment records.
Sofia Maren.
A clinical research coordinator.
Thirty-four.
Worked at Bellmore for five years.
No relation to Sofia Varric.
Same first name.
A coincidence that had just confused the most important detail in Ava’s death.
Marcus Dane contacted them again through Helen.
He agreed to surrender.
They met at a highway police station surrounded by cameras and officers.
Marcus looked exhausted.
Late forties.
Hands shaking.
He stared at Liana and immediately began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
She said nothing.
“I should have stopped it.”
“Yes.”
He looked down.
“I told myself I was only following protocols.”
“There was no protocol.”
“I know.”
“Not one I agreed to.”
“I know.”
Liana sat across from him.
“Tell me what happened.”
Marcus breathed.
“Ava was admitted with fever and irritability.”
“Because you had already dosed her?”
“No.”
He shook his head quickly.
“The first micro-dose happened two days before admission.”
“Who gave it?”
“Sofia Maren.”
“Where?”
“Your pediatric clinic.”
Liana remembered.
A routine checkup.
A nurse had taken Ava into another room for weight and measurements.
“Why?”
“The trial required outpatient exposure.”
Liana closed her eyes.
They had used a normal appointment to inject her child.
Marcus continued.
“Then Ava reacted.”
“Pain?”
“Yes.”
“Fever?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“We were instructed not to.”
“By Vale?”
“Yes.”
“And Calder?”
“Yes.”
“What happened in the hospital?”
“Vale wanted to see whether the reaction could be reversed.”
“Another dose.”
Marcus nodded.
“Sofia Maren prepared it.”
“Who injected Ava?”
Marcus’s face crumpled.
“I did.”
Liana stared.
“So Emily told the truth.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you call me?”
“Because she didn’t tell you what happened afterward.”
Liana’s heart pounded.
“What?”
Marcus looked toward Helen.
Then back at Liana.
“Ava didn’t die from the injection.”
Silence.
Liana leaned forward.
“What are you saying?”
“She stabilized.”
Liana couldn’t breathe.
“For six hours.”
Marcus continued.
“Her fever dropped.”
“Her heart rate improved.”
“Then what?”
His eyes filled.
“Vale panicked.”
“Why?”
“Because Ava’s response proved something.”
“What?”
“That the revised compound worked.”
Naomi leaned closer.
“That would be good.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Not for Calder.”
“Why?”
“He had investors waiting on a different formulation.”
Naomi’s face darkened.
“He needed the original trial to fail.”
Marcus nodded.
Liana stared.
“Then how did Ava die?”
Marcus looked at her.
“Someone changed her IV.”
Liana’s body went numb.
“With what?”
“Potassium.”
Naomi whispered.
“Oh God.”
A large enough dose could stop a heart.
Liana stared.
“Who?”
Marcus shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“I left at 1:40 a.m.”
“When did she die?”
“2:17.”
Liana remembered the clock.
She would never forget.
2:17 a.m.
“Who was in the unit?”
“Vale.”
“Sofia Maren.”
“Two nurses.”
“And…”
Marcus stopped.
“Who?”
“A visitor.”
“Who?”
“He signed in under a false name.”
“What did he look like?”
Marcus turned toward Matteo.
“Like him.”
Everyone froze.
Matteo’s face hardened.
“Who?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Older.”
“Same eyes.”
Matteo and Gabriel exchanged a look.
Gabriel whispered.
“Our father was dead.”
“Yes.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Not your father.”
Matteo’s face changed.
“Damian?”
“No.”
Marcus continued.
“Another Varric.”
Silence.
“There is no other Varric.”
Matteo said.
Gabriel looked away.
Matteo noticed.
“What?”
Gabriel remained silent.
“Gabriel.”
His brother closed his eyes.
“There was.”
Liana felt the room shift.
“Who?”
Matteo demanded.
Gabriel spoke slowly.
“Father had another son.”
Matteo stared.
“What?”
“Older than me.”
“No.”
“His name was Lorenzo.”
“I have never heard that name.”
“Because Vittorio erased him.”
“Why?”
Gabriel looked ashamed.
“Lorenzo was born before Father married our mother.”
Matteo laughed in disbelief.
“And you knew?”
“I found out while investigating Bellmore.”
“Where is he?”
“I thought dead.”
Liana almost laughed bitterly.
“Your family has a problem with dead people staying dead.”
Nobody smiled.
Gabriel continued.
“Lorenzo worked for Calder.”
Matteo’s face tightened.
“In what role?”
“Security.”
Marcus interrupted.
“The man at Ava’s hospital wore a Calder badge.”
There it was.
Helen immediately searched old records.
Lorenzo Varric.
Age fifty-eight.
Former military contractor.
Listed dead seven years ago in South America.
No body recovered.
Again.
Matteo stared at the photograph.
The resemblance was undeniable.
Older.
Harder.
But Varric.
“What did he want with Ava?”
Liana asked.
Marcus shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Matteo looked at Gabriel.
“What did Lorenzo do for Calder?”
“Cleanup.”
The word chilled everyone.
Helen’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She listened.
“Lock the hospital floor.”
Matteo stood.
“What happened?”
Helen lowered the phone.
“Nico’s security detail reported a man trying to enter the pediatric wing.”
“Description?”
Helen looked at the photograph of Lorenzo.
“Matches him.”
Matteo ran.
By the time they reached Mercy Children’s, the suspect was gone.
But he had left something on Nico’s door.
A photograph.
Ava.
Alive.
Taken inside Bellmore hours before her death.
Liana stared.
On the back was written:
YOUR DAUGHTER WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT.
SHE WAS A MESSAGE.
Underneath:
ASK MATTEO WHAT HIS FATHER DID TO LORENZO’S CHILD.
Liana looked at Matteo.
He looked genuinely confused.
“I don’t know.”
Gabriel did.
His face had gone white.
“Lorenzo had a daughter.”
Matteo turned.
“What happened?”
Gabriel swallowed.
“She was the first child Vittorio ever gave to Calder.”
Silence.
“How old?”
Liana whispered.
“Six months.”
Gabriel said.
“She died.”
And suddenly Ava’s murder looked less like research.
It looked like revenge.
A cycle that had begun decades earlier inside the Varric family.
Lorenzo had lost a daughter.
Liana had lost a daughter.
May you like
And somewhere between those two graves, someone had decided another innocent child should pay.
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