Chapter 5
Chapter 5: The Man Behind the Fund
The hospital was calling.
Grace stared at the screen for two rings before answering.
“Bennett.”
A woman’s voice came through, breathless and frightened.
“Grace, where are you?”
Grace recognized the voice immediately.
“Nurse Patel?”
“Yes. You need to come back.”
“What happened?”
There was a pause.
“Dr. Hale is gone.”
Grace looked at Dominic.
He had heard her.
“What do you mean, gone?”
“He left the hospital fifteen minutes ago. His office was opened after he left. Someone went through his files.”
“Who?”
“We don't know.”
Grace’s pulse accelerated.
“Where is Leo?”
“Nurse Alvarez is with him.”
“Is he safe?”
“Yes.”
“Lock his room.”
“I already did.”
Grace ended the call.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
The secure room beneath Grand Central suddenly felt too small.
Matteo was already reaching for his phone.
“I'm calling the hospital security chief.”
Dominic looked at Grace.
“You're not going back alone.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
“You're still a patient,” Matteo said.
Dominic ignored him.
Grace gathered the documents from the table and placed them inside the folder.
“We have three problems,” she said. “Elena is missing. Someone used my identity to move the trust money. And now the doctor treating Dominic has disappeared after the transaction was exposed.”
Matteo nodded.
“Four problems.”
Grace looked at him.
“The accident.”
She understood.
The brake line.
Someone had attempted to kill Dominic.
And if Dr. Hale was involved with the trust, then the hospital might not simply be a place where the conspiracy had touched them.
It might be where the conspiracy had begun.
Dominic slowly stood from the wheelchair.
Grace frowned.
“You shouldn't be walking.”
“I've been walking.”
“You were told not to.”
“I was told not to walk quickly.”
“That is not what Dr. Hale meant.”
“Fortunately, Dr. Hale isn't here.”
The attempt at humor failed.
Grace helped him steady himself.
For the first time, she noticed how pale he had become.
“Sit.”
“I can—”
“Sit, Dominic.”
He did.
Matteo looked at Grace.
“You have his medical training.”
“No. I have his medical chart.”
“Close enough for him.”
Dominic gave Matteo an annoyed look.
Grace ignored both of them.
“Can you get us back to the hospital without being seen?”
Matteo's expression hardened.
“Not without changing vehicles.”
“Then do it.”
He nodded.
Within ten minutes, they were moving through the underground corridor.
Grace carried the folder.
Dominic carried the recorder.
Neither trusted the other to carry both.
The city above them continued as if nothing had changed.
People were boarding trains.
Taxi drivers were honking.
Children were being taken to school.
And somewhere inside that ordinary morning, a man who had once seemed untouchable was sitting injured in a hospital transport vehicle while his newly discovered niece held evidence that could destroy two powerful families.
Grace watched Dominic across from her.
“You knew Dr. Hale for how long?”
“Seven years.”
“Trusted him?”
“Yes.”
“Completely?”
Dominic looked down.
“I don't know what completely means anymore.”
She appreciated the answer.
The hospital entrance was crowded.
Matteo had arranged for them to enter through the service wing.
Grace stepped out first.
A security officer recognized her.
“Ms. Bennett.”
“Where is Dr. Hale's office?”
“Locked.”
“Who has access?”
The officer hesitated.
“Medical administration. Security. Dr. Hale.”
“Anyone else?”
“His assistant.”
“Where is she?”
“Gone.”
Grace looked at Dominic.
“Another person gone.”
Matteo's phone vibrated.
He read the message.
“Her car was found two blocks away.”
Grace's stomach tightened.
“Was she inside?”
“No.”
They reached the corridor outside Dr. Hale's office.
Two security officers were standing guard.
The door was closed.
Grace noticed the lock immediately.
“There are scratches.”
The security officer nodded.
“Someone forced it.”
“After he left?”
“We believe so.”
Dominic looked at the door.
“Open it.”
The officer hesitated.
Grace stepped forward.
“I'm the nurse assigned to Mr. Moretti's case.”
The officer looked at Dominic.
Dominic nodded.
The door opened.
The office had been searched.
Drawers were open.
Papers covered the floor.
A computer monitor had been smashed.
But Grace noticed something strange.
The medical charts were untouched.
So were the prescription files.
The only thing missing appeared to be a small black notebook.
“What was there?” she asked.
The officer pointed toward a space on the desk.
“Dr. Hale kept a personal log there.”
“About patients?”
“Mostly administrative matters.”
Matteo walked to the desk.
“Not anymore.”
Grace looked down.
There was a faint mark in the dust.
Something rectangular had been sitting beneath the notebook.
She recognized the shape.
A hospital access card.
“Someone took his identification badge,” she said.
The officer looked alarmed.
“His badge was reported missing yesterday.”
Grace turned sharply.
“Yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Why wasn't that included in the security report?”
The officer swallowed.
“It was.”
“No,” Grace said. “It wasn't.”
Dominic looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because I read the report after your accident.”
She opened the folder.
“The report says his badge was used at 2:17 a.m. on the morning you were brought in.”
Dominic went still.
“I wasn't here at 2:17.”
“No.”
Grace pointed to the report.
“Neither was Dr. Hale.”
Matteo leaned closer.
“Who was?”
Grace read the access log.
Her expression changed.
“Someone entered the pediatric records room.”
“Using Hale's badge?”
“Yes.”
“Can we trace the camera?”
“The camera system was offline for maintenance.”
Dominic stared at the security officer.
“Convenient.”
The officer looked frightened.
Grace turned toward the hallway.
“Leo.”
She started walking.
Dominic followed.
They reached the pediatric wing.
Nurse Alvarez stood outside Leo's room.
She looked relieved when she saw Grace.
“Thank God.”
“What happened?”
“Someone tried to access his chart.”
Grace stopped.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“Who?”
“A man wearing hospital scrubs.”
“Did you see his face?”
“No. He had a surgical mask.”
Dominic's expression darkened.
“Where did he go?”
“Security chased him toward the east stairwell.”
Matteo immediately spoke into his phone.
“Lock the east wing.”
Grace entered Leo's room.
Leo was sitting on the bed with a coloring book.
He looked up.
“Aunt Gracie.”
She crossed the room.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone come in?”
“No.”
He looked at Nurse Alvarez.
“She wouldn't let him.”
Grace turned.
“Who?”
Leo pointed toward the door.
“The doctor.”
“What doctor?”
“The one who said he needed to check my arm.”
Grace's heart stopped.
“What did he look like?”
Leo shrugged.
“Like a doctor.”
“Did he say his name?”
“He said Dr. Hale.”
Dominic and Grace exchanged a look.
“Was he Dr. Hale?”
Leo frowned.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“He didn't smell like him.”
Grace almost smiled despite the fear.
“Like what?”
“Dr. Hale smells like coffee.”
Dominic said quietly, “Good observation.”
Leo looked at him.
“Mr. D, you smell like medicine.”
“I've been in a hospital.”
“You smell bad.”
Matteo coughed to hide a laugh.
Grace knelt beside Leo.
“Did the man say anything else?”
“He asked where the silver thing was.”
Grace froze.
“The medal?”
Leo nodded.
“I told him you had it.”
“Did he touch you?”
“No.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“No.”
Grace closed her eyes briefly.
The medal was still inside her bag.
She had not brought it into the room.
Someone had known it was missing.
Someone knew Leo was awake.
And someone knew Grace had it.
The conspiracy had moved faster than they had.
Dominic sat beside Leo.
“Did the man know your name?”
“Yes.”
“What did he call you?”
“Leo Bennett.”
Grace looked at Dominic.
Not Leo Moretti.
Leo Bennett.
The name Elena had protected.
The name the world still knew.
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“He was testing the records.”
Grace understood.
The man wasn't looking for Leo.
He was checking whether the hospital had changed the child's identity.
Someone wanted to know whether Dominic's son had officially become part of the Moretti family.
“Matteo,” Grace said.
“Yes?”
“Find every person who accessed Leo's chart since Dominic arrived.”
“Already doing it.”
“Include deleted records.”
Matteo nodded.
Grace looked at Dominic.
“We need to leave.”
He nodded.
“But not through the normal exit.”
They waited until nightfall.
The hospital was quieter.
Leo slept in a private room under Vanessa's supervision.
Grace sat beside him.
Vanessa was in the chair near the window.
Neither had spoken much.
Finally, Vanessa said, “My father is missing.”
Grace looked up.
“Carlo?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two hours ago.”
Grace felt a chill.
“Did he contact you?”
“No.”
“Where was he?”
“He left his house with one suitcase.”
Grace stared at her.
“Do you think he ran?”
“I don't know.”
“Would he?”
Vanessa looked toward Leo.
“My father doesn't run from problems.”
“Then where is he?”
Vanessa's eyes filled with something close to grief.
“Maybe he finally realized the problem was him.”
Before Grace could answer, Dominic entered.
He looked tired.
His injuries were clearly hurting him, but he refused to acknowledge it.
“Leo?”
“Asleep.”
Dominic nodded.
Then he looked at Vanessa.
“Your father called Matteo.”
Vanessa stood.
“What did he say?”
“He said one sentence.”
“What?”
Dominic looked at Grace.
Then back at Vanessa.
“He said, ‘Don't open the fourth folder.’”
Grace's blood went cold.
“The fourth folder?”
Dominic nodded.
“There are only three in the box.”
Grace looked at the folder she had carried from Grand Central.
Three folders.
A photograph.
A recorder.
Thomas's letter.
No fourth folder.
Unless someone had taken it.
Or unless there had never been one.
She remembered the steel box.
The empty space beneath the recorder.
A narrow rectangle in the dust.
Something had been removed.
“Carlo knows where it is,” Grace said.
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why warn us?”
“Because my father is afraid of what happens when the fourth folder is found.”
Dominic looked toward the sleeping child.
“What is inside?”
Vanessa's voice dropped.
“My father's records.”
“Records of what?”
She hesitated.
“Every person he helped disappear.”
Silence filled the room.
Grace looked at Dominic.
“Then Elena may be one of them.”
“No,” Vanessa whispered.
Grace turned.
Vanessa's eyes were wet.
“Elena wasn't the first.”
“Who was?”
Vanessa looked at her.
“Your mother.”
Grace felt the floor tilt beneath her.
Evelyn Bennett had died decades ago.
But suddenly, for the first time, Grace wondered whether the story of her mother's death was another lie.
May you like
And if it was—
then someone had been lying about her family for far longer than Grace had ever imagined.
