The scream came from Trauma Room Two.
I was already running as emergency lights flickered on, bathing the corridor in pulsing red. Nurses shouted. Someone slammed into me. Victor was right behind me.
When I tore through the curtain, Lily’s bed was empty.
For a frozen second, I thought they’d taken her.
Then I saw the trail of blood leading into the bathroom.
I rushed in and found her crouched on the tile floor, one hand pressed against her shoulder, IV ripped out, blood running down her arm. She’d dragged herself off the bed.
“Dad,” she gasped. “They cut the power because they’re here.”
I dropped beside her. “Who?”
“Not Ryan,” she said.
That stopped me cold.
Victor locked the door. “Talk.”
Lily swallowed, trembling. “Ryan found out six months ago the company he worked for—HelixCore Biotech—was using hospital data to target vulnerable patients for illegal drug trials. They had contacts everywhere—billing departments, clinics, rehab centers. He tried to back out once he saw how deep it went.”
I stared at her. “Then why didn’t he go to the police?”
“He did,” came a voice from the doorway.
Detective Reyes stepped in, gun drawn. “Quietly. Through federal channels. That’s why Denver mattered.”
Lily looked at me. “Denver was where he met their compliance officer. He thought he was exposing fraud. Instead, he found out the company’s chief legal adviser had been protecting it for years.”
“Who?” I asked.
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
She wasn’t looking at Reyes.
She was looking at Victor.
My head turned slowly.
Victor Hayes stood still beside the sink. His face was blank—no concern, no confusion, no denial.
Only calculation.
My voice broke. “Victor?”
Lily pressed herself against the wall. “He was there the night Ryan copied the files. Ryan didn’t know who was feeding patient records at first. I did. I found emails on Victor’s tablet. Contracts. Payments. Names.”
Reyes kept her gun trained on him. “Dr. Hayes, step away from the door.”
Victor smiled—and that smile was more terrifying than anything else that night.
“You should’ve stayed retired, Thomas,” he said.
The words hit like a blade. Everything rearranged in my mind—Victor insisting I see Lily first. Victor controlling the room. Victor handling the scans. Victor knowing exactly what was inside her.
“The implant,” I said. “You put it there.”
“Not personally,” he replied. “But yes. We needed to know where she’d go if she ran.”
Lily began to cry silently. “I thought Ryan set me up. Victor told me Ryan was betraying me. He said if I talked, Ryan would die first.”
“That’s why you said he wasn’t alone,” I whispered.
She nodded. “Ryan got me out of the house tonight. Told me to take the files and come to you. Before I could leave town, someone grabbed me in the parking garage. I never saw his face. When I woke up, Victor was there. He carved those words into my back and told me you’d blame Ryan. He wanted you angry. Distracted.”
Rage flooded through me.
“You son of a—”
Victor moved faster than I expected. He grabbed an oxygen canister and hurled it at Reyes. Her shot went wide. The canister smashed the mirror, glass exploding everywhere.
Victor ran.
Reyes cursed and chased him. I started after them, but Lily grabbed my sleeve.
“Dad—the files.”
She pointed to the bandage taped along her right side, near her ribs.
I tore it away. Beneath it was a thin flash drive sealed in plastic.
“Ryan hid it on me before I left,” she whispered.
Then my phone rang.
Ryan.
I answered on speaker.
