Chapter 5 - We Found the Facility Where Grace Had Been Hidden—But the Girl Inside Was Almost Four Years Old and Terrified of the Name She Was GivenThe facility was located outside Chicago.
Meridian Medical Center.
Officially, it specialized in pediatric liver disorders.
Unofficially, it was a prison.
We arrived after midnight.
Adrian's security team surrounded the building.
I went inside with Margaret.
The halls were spotless.
Too spotless.
Children's drawings hung on the walls.
But every door had a security lock.
Every patient had a barcode instead of a name.
I felt sick.
We found the pediatric wing.
Room 314.
A little girl sat beside the window.
Dark hair.
Brown eyes.
A tiny crescent-shaped mark behind her ear.
My knees nearly collapsed.
“Grace.”
The girl looked at me.
She didn't recognize me.
She backed away.
“Who are you?”
I covered my mouth.
Adrian stood behind me.
He whispered:
“My daughter.”
Grace looked at him.
Then at Margaret.
Margaret cried.
“She knows me.”
Grace whispered:
“They told me my mommy was dead.”
I knelt.
“I’m Hannah.”
She stared.
“Are you the lady in the picture?”
My heart stopped.
“What picture?”
Grace pointed at the wall.
There was a photograph of me.
With Elena.
Taken before Grace was born.
I stepped closer.
“Who told you about me?”
“Dr. Richard.”
Adrian's expression turned murderous.
“Where is he?”
Grace pointed toward the observation room.
Richard Mercer watched us through the glass.
He smiled.
Then he disappeared.
We searched.
The facility began locking down.
Adrian shouted orders.
Guards fought their way through.
Grace clung to me.
“Don't leave me.”
“I won't.”
For the first time, I held my daughter.
Not a memory.
Not a grave.
My actual child.
She was alive.
She was warm.
She was terrified.
And she called me by my name.
“Hannah.”
I cried.
Grace touched my face.
“Why are you crying?”
“Because I thought you were gone.”
She frowned.
“I've been here.”
That sentence destroyed me.
Adrian found us.
He knelt before her.
“I'm your father.”
Grace stared at him.
“You are?”
“Yes.”
She looked at me.
“Is he nice?”
Despite everything, I laughed.
“Sometimes.”
Adrian smiled.
Then security called.
“Sir!”
Richard had escaped.
But he left a message.
May you like
A single file.
ELENA RUSSO — FINAL RECORDING.
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