Chapter 15 - THE LOWEST POINT
My father was alive.
And Vale had him.
In the video, Michael looked exhausted.
There was bruising near his temple.
But his voice remained steady.
“Elena, do not exchange Sofia for me.”
I covered my mouth.
“I made my choices.”
He continued.
“You did not.”
He explained that he had spent thirteen years collecting evidence against Meridian.
Bank transfers.
Medical files.
Names.
Judges.
Doctors.
Politicians.
Business owners.
People who had used private medicine to manipulate marriages, inheritances, fertility, and family bloodlines.
The evidence was stored inside a digital archive.
Only two people could open it.
Michael.
And me.
My biometric profile had been embedded as the second authorization key when I was a child.
Vale needed me alive.
Now he needed Sofia too.
The video ended with one final warning.
“Do not trust the DNA envelope until you see the raw sequencing data.”
The screen went black.
I stared at Luka.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Vale may have lied about Sofia.”
A horrible thought struck me.
“About you being her father?”
“Yes.”
I did not know whether I felt relief or disappointment.
That frightened me.
Before I could examine the feeling, my phone rang.
Federal detention center.
Daniel.
I answered.
His voice was weak.
“Elena, don’t hang up.”
“What happened?”
“They moved Vanessa.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t my problem.”
“It is.”
He lowered his voice.
“Vale still has people inside the government.”
My stomach tightened.
Daniel continued.
“They offered me immunity if I testified.”
“And?”
“I said yes.”
“Good.”
“They knew before my lawyer did.”
Silence.
Then Daniel whispered.
“Elena, somebody inside the investigation is feeding Vale information.”
The call suddenly cut out.
I tried calling back.
Nothing.
Ten minutes later, the news reported an incident at the detention facility.
One detainee had been seriously assaulted.
Daniel Reed.
I sat on the floor beside Sofia’s bassinet and finally broke.
Everything had become too much.
My marriage.
My father.
My mother.
Luka.
The violation that created my daughter.
The possibility that every person helping me would be hurt.
“I can’t do this.”
Luka knelt several feet away.
“Yes, you can.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
He looked at Sofia.
“But Michael did.”
I wiped my face.
“Why?”
“Because he built the entire backup plan around you.”
Luka slid Michael’s old letter across the floor.
I read the final line again.
Do not open the final DNA envelope unless Luka is beside you.
This time I noticed something.
One word had been underlined twice.
OPEN.
Not trust.
Not believe.
Open.
I held the paper toward the light.
Hidden indentation marks appeared beneath the sentence.
A second message had been written on a missing sheet above it.
I rubbed pencil across the page.
May you like
Words emerged.
THE ENVELOPE IS A KEY.
