Chapter 8 - The Cord Blood Secret
We drove blindly up the Pacific Coast Highway, the rain lashing against the windshield. Olivia was trembling, clutching the steering wheel, while Leo mercifully slept through the chaos, lulled by the vibration of the engine.
Once we were miles away and out of the jammer’s range, my cell phone finally pinged. It was a frantic text from my father’s lawyer, Marcus: “Preston made bail through a shell corporation holding company. The judge was bribed. They are boarding a private jet at a private airstrip in Van Nuys in one hour. If they leave US airspace, we can never touch them.”
“Why is he doing this?” Olivia cried, tears streaming down her face. “His reputation is destroyed! His company is gone! Why risk a federal manhunt just to get Leo?”
I opened the glovebox and pulled out the flash drive of stolen medical files we had kept as backup evidence. I plugged it into my phone, my eyes scanning the heavily redacted documents from Victoria’s private doctors in Switzerland.
Then, I found it. The final piece of the puzzle that made my stomach churn.
“It’s not about custody, Liv,” I whispered, horrified. “Victoria has a rare, terminal genetic blood disease. The specific holistic poison she was giving you… it was designed to alter Leo’s fetal development. They needed a perfect, genetically manipulated donor. They didn't just want an heir. They needed Leo’s bone marrow and cord blood to save Victoria’s life.”
Olivia slammed on the brakes, pulling the SUV over to the side of the coastal cliff. The realization washed over her. Preston wasn't fighting for his child. He was coming to harvest his own son to save his monstrous mother.
A cold, lethal fury settled in Olivia’s eyes. She shifted the car back into drive.
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“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Van Nuys,” she said, her voice turning to pure steel. “We are ending this tonight.”
