Chapter 7 - Debts of the Dead
A woman stepped into the circle of moonlight filtering through the cracked ceiling. She wore a stained army field jacket, heavy combat boots, and carried a worn medical kit. Her face was weathered, but her sharp, gray eyes were unmistakable.
""Dr. Elena Vance,"" Mark breathed, keeping the gun level. ""Victoria’s sister.""
""Half-sister,"" Elena corrected, raising her empty hands. ""And the only one in that godforsaken family who chose to heal people instead of buying them.""
""How did you find me?""
""Julian put out a five-million-dollar bounty on your head twenty minutes ago on private contractor boards,"" Elena said, kneeling beside Lily without waiting for permission. ""He said you kidnapped your daughter and shot him. But I know my sister. When I saw the alert on the darknet, I checked the hospital radio channels. They reported a child's blood trail near the storm drain. I knew you'd head for the old pumping station—you designed the overhaul fifteen years ago.""
Mark slowly lowered the gun, watching Elena open her kit with clinical speed. She pulled out a bottle of antiseptic, sterile gauze, and pre-filled syringes of broad-spectrum antibiotics.
""The wound is badly infected,"" Elena muttered, cleaning the torn flesh around Lily’s ankle. Lily whimpered in her sleep, flinching as the antiseptic stung. ""A few more hours in that dirty water and she would have lost the foot to sepsis.""
""Why are you helping us?"" Mark asked, his voice shaking. ""You're a Vance.""
""My father killed my mother to inherit her pharmaceutical trust,"" Elena said coldly, her hands never wavering as she injected the antibiotic into Lily’s thigh. ""Victoria helped him hide the evidence when she was only nineteen. They are parasites, Mark. I've spent seven years gathering proof to bury them, but their money bought every judge in the state.""
She looked up at Mark, her eyes burning with fierce determination. ""You have the only thing that can destroy them completely.""
""I don't have anything,"" Mark said bitterly. ""They stole my firm today. They drained my accounts.""
""They don't care about your money, Mark,"" Elena said quietly. ""They wanted Sarah’s patents.""
Mark froze. ""What?""
""Sarah’s biotech research before she died,"" Elena revealed. ""The artificial blood-clotting agent. She didn't leave it to your company. She locked the decryption keys inside a trust fund that can only be unlocked by two physical keys: your biometric signature, and Lily’s.""
Elena pointed to the broken steel cuff resting on the floor. ""Victoria didn't chain Lily to punish her. She chained her to keep her immobile while they took blood samples to spoof the biotech vault.""
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Mark felt the blood drain from his face. ""The vault at the downtown trust...""
""They are emptying it tonight,"" Elena said. ""Once they have the formulas, they don't need either of you alive.""
