Chapter 9 - The Baby in Bed Nine Was Part of a Larger Pattern, and We Discovered Five More Abandoned Infants With the Same Genetic MarkerThe investigation expanded.
Pine Valley wasn't the only hospital.
Five other infants had been abandoned over eighteen months.
All premature.
All with unusual medical complications.
All with no fathers listed.
All connected to Northstar.
The babies weren't being abandoned.
They were being placed.
People were watching them.
Tracking their development.
Some were being adopted.
Some disappeared.
The goal was genetic research.
Victor Hale wasn't trying to hurt Sebastian.
He was trying to control a network of children.
Luca had been the most important.
Because he was the first known child of a Moretti.
And because he survived.
Sebastian shut down every legitimate business linked to Northstar.
He funded independent investigations.
He gave the evidence to federal prosecutors.
The public finally learned the truth.
The infants were protected.
Families came forward.
Some parents had been told their babies died.
Others had been told they were too unstable for adoption.
All lies.
We reunited children with families.
Lucas became an advocate.
He wanted to expose the people who had stolen his childhood.
But first, he needed something simpler.
A relationship with his father.
He asked Sebastian:
“Can we do something normal?”
“What?”
“Watch a movie.”
Sebastian looked confused.
“Which kind?”
“Something stupid.”
I laughed.
They watched a terrible action movie.
Lucas laughed.
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Sebastian pretended not to.
It was the first completely normal night they'd ever had.
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