Chapter 16

Sebastian’s POV

By morning, the unease had sharpened into purpose. I needed answers. The CCTV footage from the hospital had been ready since the previous night.

Raymond waited outside, engine humming softly, I barely acknowledged him, my focus was going to the hospital and the screen that would reveal the truth.

Dr. Rowan met me at the entrance to his office.

“Sir,” he said, “Thank you for coming on such short notice. We’ve secured the footage as requested. I believe you’ll want to see everything from start to finish.”

I didn’t respond immediately. 

He gestured towards the screen in the corner of the office. “We have compiled the entire sequence from the cryopreservation room, time stamps, access logs, and movement sensors. Everything is documented.”

Dr. Rowan nodded to the technician.

“Play it from 02:17 a.m.”

The footage rolled.

The cryopreservation room appeared on the screen.

Then the door opened.

The nurse stepped inside.

Her ID badge swung against her chest as she scanned the room. She paused, glanced once at the camera then moved.

“She had clearance?” I asked.

“Yes,” Dr. Rowan said. “It has been revoked after this.”

The nurse approached the storage unit marked Sebastian Hale Biogenetic Archive.

She hesitated, then she unlocked it.

She removed the tray carefully, like she had practiced this moment. One vial. Then another. She inspected the labels, turning them towards the light.

There was no mistake.

Those were mine.

“She knew exactly what she was taking,” Dr. Rowan said quietly.

The footage switched angles.

The nurse slipped the vials into a padded medical pouch and zipped it. She checked the lock again before sliding the tray back into place.

“What happened to them?” I asked.

Dr. Rowan didn’t look away from the screen. “Keep watching.” He said.

The next timestamp appeared.

02:41 a.m.

The same nurse returned.

This time she wasn’t alone.

Seline followed her into the room.

They spoke briefly. No audio, but I didn’t need it. Seline gestured toward the pouch. The nurse handed it over.

Seline handed her an envelope. 

The final clip played.

This time it was Seline alone at the  disposal room.

She removed the vials one by one, unscrewed the caps, and emptied their contents into the medical waste container designed for biological destruction.

No emotion.

Just then the screen went blank.

There was silence in the room.

“The nurse removed the vials,” Dr. Rowan said. “Seline ensured they were destroyed.”

I leaned back slowly.

“So she didn’t just interfere,” I said. “She planned it.”

“Yes.”

“Bring the nurse to me.”

I didn’t raise my voice. The words just landed like a command. 

Dr. Rowan nodded once. “She’s in a secured room on the lower floor. Hospital security.”

“Good,” I said. “I don’t want lawyers yet. I want the truth.”

We moved through the corridor in silence. 

The door to the security room was already open when we arrived.

The nurse sat alone at the metal table. No coat. No badge. She looked up when I entered, and whatever hope she’d been holding onto evaporated.

I didn’t sit.

“You know who I am,” I said.

She nodded quickly. “Yes… Mr. Sebastian.”

“Then we won’t waste time.” I said.  “You removed my sperm vials from cryostorage at 02:17 a.m. You handed them to Seline at  02:41. You assisted in the destruction of genetic material that did not belong to you.”

“That’s not a question,” I continued. “That’s a fact. What I want to know now is the motive behind it.”

There was silence.

“I didn’t plan to,” she said finally. “I swear. She came to me first. Weeks before. She knew my name. My shifts. Things she shouldn’t have known.”

“She said you’d never notice that you’d already moved on. That you didn’t really want children anymore. She said the vials were… unnecessary.”

“And you believed her?” I asked.

“No,” the nurse whispered. “But she offered money. More than I make in a year.”

I leaned my  hands against the table, just enough to make her flinch.

“You didn’t just take them,” I said quietly. “You accessed restricted files. You altered logs. You bypassed safeguards designed to protect patients.”

The nurse nodded, tears spilling. “She told me how. She said she had people who would clean it up.”

“You did this for money, and for yourself.” I said. “Without thinking about the consequences. Without thinking about what it would cost me.”

Her lips trembled. She didn’t look up. Her hands were clenched in her lap like she could squeeze herself out of what she had done.

“This is impossible to believe,” I continued, “You didn’t just misplace the vials, it wasn't even a mistake, it was intentional and you thought money would erase that?”

There was silence.

“I trusted this hospital,” I said. “I trusted the system. And you broke both.”

Her shoulders shook, but she still didn’t speak. No excuses. No confession beyond what the footage had already shown. 

Just cowardice dressed as regret.

I turned away from her before I did something irreversible, because I felt like pushing her against the wall.

I felt rage. My head ached.

I looked at Dr. Rowan, who had been standing quietly near the door.

“Proceed with the case,” I said. “Immediately.”

He nodded once. “Yes, sir.”

Then he hesitated. “I need to be transparent with you. This could escalate.”

I turned back slowly.

“In what way?”

“Your wife is involved,” he said carefully. 

“Once the  law enforcement steps in… it could get messy, public and complicated.”

My wife.

The word tasted bitter.

For a moment, no one spoke. The nurse stared at the floor. Dr. Rowan watched me closely, as if trying to measure how much damage one man could take before he break down.

Then he added, “There is… another option.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Let me hear it.”

“Let’s handle the nurse internally and legally,” he said. “Termination. Charges. Full cooperation with the authorities. And… you handle your wife privately.”

I laughed.

It wasn’t humor. It was disbelief edged with rage.

“So you’re asking me to separate convenience from justice,” I said. “To protect the hospital’s image while I clean up the mess at home?”

Dr. Rowan didn’t deny it.

I stepped forward.

“Treat the case according to the law,” I said. “Every part of it. Every person involved. No exceptions.”

He swallowed. “Understood.”

“I don’t care how messy it gets,” I added. “She crossed a line. And so did you, by even suggesting this.”

The nurse let out a quiet sob.

I didn’t look at her again.

I walked out.

Anger burned through me, hot and unforgiving.

Seline had planned to destroy me and she succeeded. 

By the time I reached the lobby,my thoughts were racing. And then I saw Zara being wheeled inside through the sliding doors, her body slumped slightly, exhaustion written into every line of her face. Her hands rested loosely in her lap. A nurse pushed the wheelchair gently.

Lily walked beside her.

Zara didn’t see me.

Her head was turned away.

Lily did see me.

Her eyes widened slightly. She slowly stared at me. 

Our eyes met.

She opened her mouth, maybe to say my name. Maybe to ask something. Maybe to stop me.

But I didn’t.

I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for conversation.

Not with her, not with anyone.

If I spoke, the anger would spill. If I stopped, I might forget about the rage I felt.

So I looked away.

The doors slid closed between us.

And just like that, she was gone again.

I walked out of the hospital and got into the car without a word.

Raymond was surprised. 

As the vehicle pulled away, my reflection stared back at me in the tinted glass. Furious.

Seline had started a war.

And she had no idea what it would cost her.