The Hidden heir’s revenge

Chapter 63 — The Child Adrian Killed

Varek stared at the message on his phone.

ASK ADRIAN WHY HE HAS NEVER TOLD YOU ABOUT THE CHILD HE KILLED.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Victor moved closer, his injured side making him wince.

“Which brother?” he asked again.

Varek locked his phone.

“That’s what I intend to find out.”

Miriam watched him carefully. “What happened?”

“Someone has Adrian.”

Her expression changed. “Richard?”

“I don’t know. But whoever sent this message wants the original birth register.”

Victor frowned. “And they specifically told you not to tell your brother. That means they know something about us.”

“Or they want us to turn against each other,” Varek replied.

He looked at Victor.

“That’s exactly what Richard has been trying to do.”

Victor folded his arms. “Then we’re not giving him what he wants.”

Varek turned to Miriam. “You said you delivered Adrian. You said Jonathan was his father. You also said Richard took him. How much of that can you prove?”

Miriam lowered her eyes.

“I have a few documents.”

“Documents that contradict each other.”

“I know.”

“Then I need the truth, not another story.”

Miriam took a slow breath.

“When Adrian was born, there was another child in the hospital. A little boy. He was brought into the private ward after an emergency.”

Varek’s attention sharpened.

“What boy?”

“I don’t know his original name. He was very weak. The doctors were trying to save him.”

“And what happened?”

Miriam hesitated.

“Adrian was there.”

Victor stepped forward. “How could a newborn be involved in another child’s death?”

“I didn’t say he was a newborn when it happened.”

Varek’s expression hardened.

“Explain.”

Miriam shook her head.

“I wasn’t there when the second incident happened. I only know that years later, a report was prepared stating that Adrian had been responsible for the child’s death.”

“Responsible how?”

“I don’t know.”

Varek stared at her.

“You’re telling me you delivered him, claimed to be his mother, and you don’t know what happened to him?”

“I am telling you what I know.”

Victor gave a bitter laugh.

“That’s becoming a familiar answer.”

Before Miriam could respond, Varek’s phone vibrated.

A new message.

This time, it contained a video.

He opened it.

The screen showed a dimly lit room. A young Adrian stood beside a hospital bed. His shirt was stained with blood, and his hands were shaking.

A small child lay beneath a white sheet.

Then a man’s voice came from behind the camera.

“Look at what you have done.”

The younger Adrian turned around.

“I didn’t touch him!”

“You were the last person in the room.”

“I was trying to help!”

“Then why is he dead?”

The video ended.

Varek replayed it.

Victor watched over his shoulder.

“That looks real.”

“It could be edited,” Varek replied.

“But Adrian was there.”

“Yes. And he said he was trying to help.”

Miriam had gone pale.

“That’s the private medical ward.”

Varek turned toward her.

“You recognize it?”

She nodded slowly.

“That room was beneath the old St. Catherine’s hospital. It was used for children transferred into the private program.”

“Which child was that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Look carefully.”

Varek played the video again.

Miriam stepped closer. Her eyes remained fixed on the screen until the final seconds.

Then she covered her mouth.

“What?” Victor demanded.

Miriam pointed at the corner of the video.

There was a small metal identification tag attached to the bed.

The number was partly visible.

06.

Varek’s stomach tightened.

“Subject Six.”

Miriam nodded.

“That number was not supposed to be used on a child. It was the number assigned to the sixth position in the private transfer system.”

Victor looked at Varek.

“Samuel?”

“Maybe,” Varek answered. “But we don’t know that.”

He immediately called Naomi.

She answered on the second ring.

“Varek?”

“I need you to examine a video. It’s about Adrian.”

“Send it.”

He forwarded the recording.

“Look at the hospital room, the identification tag, everything. I need to know whether it’s genuine.”

Naomi went quiet for a moment.

“Where did you get this?”

“An anonymous sender.”

“Of course.”

“Naomi, someone is accusing Adrian of killing a child.”

“I’ll check it. But don’t accept anything in that recording as proof. A video can show what happened in a room without showing what happened before or after.”

“That’s why I’m calling you.”

“Send me the original file if you have it. Not a screen recording.”

The call ended.

Varek looked at Victor.

“We’re going to find Adrian.”

Victor nodded.

Miriam stepped between them.

“You cannot go to Richard without understanding what he wants.”

“He’s holding my brother.”

“And he wants the original register. If you hand it over, he may gain control of the Black Ledger.”

Varek looked at her coldly.

“Then we won’t hand it over.”

He pulled out his phone and called Naomi again, but this time she didn’t answer.

A message arrived instead.

I FOUND SOMETHING. CALL ME.

Varek immediately called.

Naomi answered, her voice tense.

“The video has been altered.”

“How?”

“The footage is genuine, but someone removed part of the recording. The original file appears to have been taken from a hospital security archive. There are gaps.”

“What does the complete footage show?”

“I haven’t recovered everything yet. But I found a second camera angle.”

“Show me.”

A picture appeared on his screen.

It showed the same room from a different angle.

Adrian was standing beside the bed, but this time another person was visible near the door.

A woman.

Her face was turned away from the camera.

Varek zoomed in.

“Who is that?”

Naomi replied, “I’m still checking.”

Miriam moved closer to the phone.

Then she gasped.

Varek looked at her.

“You know her?”

Miriam shook her head, but her eyes were filled with fear.

“That’s impossible.”

“Who is she?”

“Grace.”

Victor stepped forward.

“Grace Cross?”

Miriam nodded.

“But she wasn’t supposed to be there.”

Varek looked back at the picture.

Grace was standing in the doorway, holding a small object in her hand.

A key.

Naomi continued.

“There is something else. The child on the bed was not declared dead that night.”

Varek went still.

“What?”

“The hospital record says the child was transferred at 2:17 a.m. The death report was created three days later.”

“Who signed it?”

Naomi paused.

“Adrian.”

Victor shook his head.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“There’s more,” Naomi said. “The transfer record was signed by another person. The name is difficult to read, but the signature matches one on the original Black Ledger documents.”

“Whose signature?”

Naomi sent another photograph.

Varek stared at it.

The signature belonged to Richard Thorne.

For a moment, the room seemed to grow colder.

“Richard signed the transfer,” Varek said.

“Yes. But someone else signed the death report using Adrian’s name.”

“Can you identify the person?”

“I’m working on it.”

Varek ended the call and looked at Miriam.

“Did you know the child was transferred?”

She shook her head.

“No.”

“Did you know Adrian signed the death report?”

“No.”

“Then why did you recognize the room?”

Miriam swallowed.

“Because I worked there. I was part of the team that moved children between the private ward and the nursery.”

“Which children?”

“Children who had been removed from their original families.”

Varek stepped closer.

“How many?”

“Six.”

Victor’s expression changed.

“Six children.”

Miriam nodded.

“Six original files. Six assigned identities. But the children were not all the same age, and some of the names were changed more than once.”

Varek thought about the photographs, the necklaces, the conflicting DNA results and the missing records.

Six children.

Six positions.

And one child who had supposedly died.

His phone vibrated again.

This time, it was a voice message.

The sender was unknown.

Varek played it.

Richard’s voice filled the room.

“You are asking the wrong questions, Varek. You want to know whether Adrian killed that child. Ask yourself why he was the only one who remembered the child’s face.”

There was a short pause.

Then Richard continued.

“Bring the original register to the old nursery beneath the estate. Come alone. If you involve your brother, Adrian dies.”

The message ended.

Victor looked at him.

“He’s threatening Adrian to get you there.”

“Yes.”

“Then we go together.”

Varek shook his head.

“He specifically said not to bring you.”

“Since when do we obey Richard?”

“We don’t. But if he knows you’re coming, he may use you against me.”

Victor’s jaw tightened.

“I’m not letting you walk into another trap alone.”

Varek looked at him for a long moment.

Then his phone rang.

Naomi.

He answered immediately.

“Tell me you found something.”

“I recovered another section of the hospital footage.”

“What does it show?”

“The child was alive when he left the room. Grace carried him out.”

Varek looked at Miriam.

“Then why was a death report created?”

“I don’t know,” Naomi replied. “But there’s something else. I checked the transfer number against the old register.”

“And?”

“The child’s number was six, but the name attached to the file was not Samuel.”

Varek’s fingers tightened around the phone.

“What name?”

Naomi took a breath.

“Daniel.”

The room fell silent.

Varek looked at Victor.

Then at Miriam.

“Which Daniel?”

Naomi’s voice dropped.

“The original Daniel. The child Richard claims your brother’s son was named after.”

Varek couldn’t speak.

Naomi continued.

“And Varek, I found a photograph attached to the transfer file.”

“Send it.”

The image arrived.

It showed a little boy standing beside a hospital bed. He was alive, wearing a white shirt with a small number six stitched onto the chest.

Beside him stood a younger Adrian.

But Adrian wasn’t looking at the boy.

He was looking directly at the camera.

And behind them, partially hidden by the door, stood another child.

A boy with Varek’s face.