Chapter 3 : The Bloodline Trap.

POV: Alexander

"Repeat that."

My voice was so quiet that Dr. Harrison stopped speaking for a moment.

"The name on the emergency medical manifest is yours, Chairman," he finally said. "Alexander Vance. Elena coded the entire shipment under your private insurance registry from before the divorce."

I stopped walking.

"What?"

"If anyone checks the federal shipping logs, it will look like you're the patient receiving terminal gene therapy for bone marrow failure."

My hand tightened around the phone.

"Why would she use my name?"

I pushed through the boardroom doors.

My assistants immediately stepped aside as I strode down the marble corridor.

"Is she trying to commit fraud?"

"No, sir."

Dr. Harrison hesitated.

"I think she's hiding the patient's identity from the global medical registry."

I stopped beside the private elevator.

"Why?"

"If the board discovers that a child carrying Vance DNA has a terminal genetic defect, your company's stock could drop thirty percent overnight."

My stomach turned.

"A child?"

"Yes, Chairman."

The answer came quietly.

"She is using your identity as a shield."

The call ended.

I stood there, staring at the closed elevator doors.

Suddenly, everything clicked.

The medical bracelet.

The lie about allergies.

The restricted medical supplies.

The vault.

Leo.

Elena wasn't trying to steal from me.

She was trying to protect our son.

And she'd been doing it alone for five years.

Five years while I believed she had simply walked away.

The elevator doors opened.

I stepped inside.

My phone buzzed again before the doors could close.

An unlisted number.

One message.

One photograph.

I opened it.

And the world seemed to stop.

Leo was sitting in the back of a black Mercedes.

His little round glasses had slipped down his nose.

His eyes were closed.

He was asleep.

But there was a man sitting beside him.

A gray suit.

Face hidden in shadow.

A small silver vial held inches from Leo's arm.

My blood ran cold.

Then I read the message beneath the photograph.

The boy has excellent bone marrow markers, Alexander. A shame his mother thinks Vance Medical is the only option. Tell her to cancel the merger, or the child doesn't wake up from his nap.

My hand tightened around the phone.

"Mark!"

I stepped out of the elevator.

My head of security came running.

"Trace this number."

"Sir?"

"Now."

I shoved the phone toward him.

"Someone has my son."

Mark's face changed immediately.

"We'll find him."

"They're near the airport sector. Black Mercedes."

His fingers flew across his security tablet.

"Sir..."

"What?"

"We're already tracking Dr. Lin's vehicle."

I looked at him.

"Where is she going?"

Mark swallowed.

"She just changed direction."

"To where?"

"The industrial shipping district."

My jaw tightened.

"The old docks."

I already knew.

She'd received the photograph.

And she was going there alone.

"Get the security team ready."

"Yes, sir."

I headed for the parking garage.

"Sir, should we wait for the team?"

"No."

I threw open the SUV door.

"She thinks she can handle this alone."

I started the engine.

"She's going to get herself killed."

---

POV: Elena

The steering wheel was slick beneath my palms.

I was sweating despite the cold rain beating against the windshield.

Ahead of me stood an old warehouse at Pier 4.

Dark.

Rusting.

Almost abandoned.

My phone was propped against the dashboard.

A distorted voice came through the speaker.

"Park beside the crane, Dr. Lin."

My stomach twisted.

"Come inside alone."

I gripped the steering wheel harder.

"If I see a single Vance security uniform within two blocks, the boy gets the air bubble in his line."

My blood ran cold.

"I'm alone!"

"Ten minutes, Doctor."

The voice became colder.

"The clock is ticking."

The call ended.

I grabbed my leather bag.

My hands were shaking so badly that I dropped my keys onto the floor.

Leo.

I couldn't think about anything else.

His temperature.

His blood.

His bone marrow.

One mistake could cost him his life.

I pushed open the car door.

Cold rain hit my face.

I ran toward the warehouse.

I didn't care about the mud ruining my shoes.

I didn't care about the rain.

I only cared about my son.

I reached the metal side door and shoved it open.

Darkness swallowed me.

The warehouse smelled of diesel, rust, and rotting wood.

A single yellow light burned in the middle of the massive room.

And beneath it sat a woman.

Tied to a metal chair.

My breath caught.

"Vivian?"

She lifted her head.

Her white designer dress was torn at the shoulder.

Her hair was damp and disheveled.

Black tape hung from the corner of her mouth.

She looked terrified.

"Elena!"

Her scream echoed through the warehouse.

"Thank God!"

I ran toward her.

"Where is Leo?"

"They took him!"

Her eyes widened.

"They took the boy into the back rooms."

My heart slammed against my ribs.

"Who?"

"I don't know!"

She started sobbing.

"A man in a gray suit. He said your son's blood was worth billions on the black market."

I scanned the darkness.

"Where did they take him?"

"The back."

I reached into my bag.

My fingers closed around the small medical scalpel I kept for laboratory samples.

I cut through the ropes around her wrists.

"Get up."

Vivian stared at me.

"We need to find Leo."

The ropes fell away.

But Vivian didn't move.

Instead, her hand shot forward.

Her fingers locked around my forearm.

I frowned.

"What are you—"

A sharp sting pierced the side of my neck.

I gasped.

The scalpel fell from my hand.

My fingers flew to my neck.

Plastic.

A syringe.

Empty.

I looked at Vivian.

She slowly stood.

The trembling stopped.

The tears disappeared.

And the terrified expression on her face vanished.

A cold smile replaced it.

"You always were too soft, Elena."

My stomach dropped.

Vivian smoothed the torn fabric of her dress.

"You cooked his meals. You cleaned his house."

She stepped closer.

"And you actually believed he loved you."

My vision began to blur.

"Then you disappeared for five years."

Her smile widened.

"And now you come back with a child, expecting to take everything from me?"

"You..."

My knees weakened.

"You sent the photograph."

Vivian laughed softly.

"Of course I did."

I tried to stay upright.

"Where is Leo?"

"Safe."

Her eyes glittered.

"For now."

My heart pounded.

"What did you do to him?"

"He is in the next room."

She leaned closer.

"In a very cold freezer box."

My blood turned to ice.

"No."

"He has the perfect blood profile for the medical technology I'm developing."

I tried to reach for her.

My arms felt impossibly heavy.

"Alexander will think European buyers kidnapped him."

She crouched beside me.

"And by the time he finds out the truth, you'll be dead."

My body hit the concrete.

My cheek pressed against the cold, dirty floor.

I could barely see.

"Vivian..."

She stood over me.

"Goodbye, Elena."

Then a roar shook the warehouse.

"VIVIAN!"

The metal doors exploded open.

Headlights from an obsidian SUV flooded the warehouse.

And through the blinding light, I heard the sound of running footsteps.

---

POV: Alexander

I didn't wait for the SUV to stop.

I jumped out with my gun drawn.

My eyes immediately found Elena.

She was lying motionless on the concrete.

My heart stopped.

"Elena!"

Vivian dropped to her knees.

"Alex!"

She immediately began sobbing.

"Oh my God! Help me!"

I ignored her.

I ran to Elena and dropped beside her.

Her skin was freezing.

Her eyes were half-closed.

I pulled her upper body into my arms.

"Elena."

Nothing.

I cupped her face.

"Look at me."

Her eyelids fluttered.

"Stay with me."

Her lips moved.

"What did she give you?"

Her fingers weakly grabbed my suit.

"Leo..."

My entire body went rigid.

"The back room."

Her voice was barely audible.

"The freezer."

She swallowed.

"Save our baby."

Then her body went limp.

For one second, I couldn't breathe.

Then rage took over.

I looked at Vivian.

She was crawling toward me.

"Alex, she's lying!"

I slowly stood.

"She tried to trap you again."

Vivian reached for my trousers.

"She used that baby to get your money five years ago!"

I looked down at her hand.

"Touch me, Vivian..."

My voice was empty.

"...and I will forget your father ever existed."

Mark and four security guards rushed into the warehouse.

"Secure her."

"Yes, sir."

"Do not let her move."

I lifted Elena into my arms.

"Get the medical team."

I turned toward the back corridor.

"Find my son."

The warehouse grew colder with every step.

The air smelled of industrial refrigeration.

Then Mark kicked open a heavy steel door marked Storage 3.

I looked inside.

And my heart nearly stopped again.

Leo was sitting on top of a silver medical crate.

He wasn't tied up.

He was simply freezing.

His little body was shaking violently.

His face had turned blue.

A heavy padlock secured the electrical line of a commercial cooling unit beside him.

"Mom?"

Leo's eyes found Elena in my arms.

Tears filled them immediately.

"Mom!"

I dropped to one knee.

"I have her."

My voice cracked.

"Come here."

Leo hesitated.

Then he scrambled toward me.

I pulled him against my chest and wrapped my wool coat around him.

For the first time in five years, I held my son.

And I was terrified that I was already too late.

"Mark!"

"Sir?"

"Get the car heater on maximum."

I tightened my arms around Elena and Leo.

"We're going to the Premium Vault medical wing."

I looked down at my son.

"Call Dr. Harrison."

My voice hardened.

"Tell him the Vance heir is coming in."

---

POV: Elena

The smell of lavender woke me.

My eyes opened.

For a moment, I didn't know where I was.

Then I remembered.

"Leo!"

I bolted upright.

"He is safe."

Alexander's voice came from the darkness.

I froze.

He sat in a leather armchair across the room.

His suit jacket was gone.

His white shirt was open at the collar and stained with dirt and dried blood.

He looked exhausted.

Dangerously calm.

"Where is my son?"

"In the adjoining room."

I threw the duvet aside.

"He is sleeping under a thermal blanket."

I looked down.

Someone had changed my clothes.

My emerald blazer was gone.

I was wearing a soft gray shirt.

It smelled like Alexander.

Panic surged through me.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing."

He stood.

"Leo is safe."

I stared at him.

"Take me to him."

"He's sleeping."

"I want to see him."

"You will."

He reached into his pocket.

Then dropped something onto the mattress between us.

A small silver keycard.

I stared at it.

My breath caught.

The master encryption key.

The Premium Medical Vault.

"You have your access," Alexander said.

I looked up.

His eyes were fixed on mine.

"Dr. Harrison ran Leo's blood work while you were unconscious."

My fingers closed around the keycard.

"What did he find?"

"I know about his condition."

My heart stopped.

Alexander's voice lowered.

"Hypoplastic anemia."

I looked away.

He knew.

After five years of hiding Leo from him, he finally knew.

"I can get him the treatment," he said.

My eyes burned.

"Then let us leave."

I reached for the keycard.

"We have the merger contract. I'll take the data and go back to Europe."

His hand came down over mine.

I froze.

"You aren't going anywhere."

I looked at him.

"Vivian is in federal custody."

My eyes widened.

"What?"

"The board thinks she left the country on an emergency trip."

He leaned closer.

"But she's not the biggest problem."

"What problem?"

Alexander reached into his pocket.

He pulled out a printed DNA sequencing report.

My stomach dropped.

"No."

"Dr. Harrison ran the cross-match."

He placed the paper in front of me.

"Your markers match Leo's."

I stared at him.

"I told you he was mine."

"That's not the problem."

His voice changed.

I looked up.

Alexander's face had gone completely pale.

"The paternal markers don't match me."

I stopped breathing.

"What?"

He stared at the report.

"Leo is not biologically mine."

My mind went blank.

"No."

"I checked the database twice."

He looked directly into my eyes.

"The Vance markers match."

My blood ran cold.

"But not mine."

He stepped closer.

"Elena..."

His voice dropped to a whisper.

"The DNA database says Leo's biological father is Nathaniel Vance."

My heart stopped.

Nathaniel Vance.

Alexander's dead grandfather.

The man who had been dead for years.

I stared at Alexander.

He stared back at me.

Neither of us spoke.

Because if the DNA report was real...

Then the child I had spent five years protecting was connected to the Vance family in a way neither of us had ever imagined.

And suddenly, I understood why Vivian had wanted Leo's blood.

She hadn't been trying to steal an ordinary child.

She had been trying to steal something worth billions.

Something hidden in the Vance bloodline.