Chapter 11 - The Phantom Patient
The conviction of Dr. Vance was supposed to be the end. But six months after the trial, while Mariana and I were slowly rebuilding our lives in California, a certified package arrived at our doorstep. Inside was a worn cassette tape and a single medical file stamped with the seal of a high-security psychiatric facility in Switzerland.
I pressed play on the tape recorder. A raspy, metallic voice filled the quiet living room.
"You cut off the branch, Teresa... but you left the root intact."
I opened the file. It contained blood work matching Mariana’s rare genetic profile, dated just three weeks ago. Beneath the lab results was a photo of a young boy—no older than ten—hooked up to advanced life-support machines.
The medical code at the top of the page belonged to an offshore medical consortium known only as Aether Health, chaired by Julian Vance’s silent partner and founder: Baron Victor Sterling, a billionaire pharmaceutical mogul who had vanished from public view a decade ago.
Mariana walked into the room, her face draining of color as she caught sight of the documents.
"Mrs. Mendoza..." she whispered, her hands beginning to tremble.
"That boy... I saw his photograph once. Rodrigo had it hidden in his desk."
"Who is he, Mariana?"
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"He's Victor Sterling's grandson," Mariana said, tears rising in her eyes.
"Rodrigo told me the boy was the sole reason the syndicate was formed. As long as that child is dying, they will never stop hunting me."
