Chapter 3: The Papers He Signed
I held his phone against my chest.
“Tell me what you promised them, Martin.”
My husband glanced at the door.
“Helen, give me the phone.”
“Answer me.”
“It was a medical study.
That’s all.”
Our daughter Lily pushed herself upright.
“Then why did they lock me in a room?”
Martin’s mouth tightened.
“You were sick.”
“There were bars on the window.”
Dr.
Shah, the chief surgeon, pressed a button beside the bed.
“Security to Room 614.”
Martin lunged for the phone, but I stepped behind the doctor.
“You told me Lily ran away,” I said.
“You let me search roads and fields for three days.”
“I was trying to protect this family.”
“By signing papers?”
His eyes flicked toward Lily.
She pulled up her sleeve and showed us a faded row of numbers near her elbow.
“A woman wrote that on me before she helped me escape.”
Dr.
Shah leaned closer.
“That resembles a participant code.”
“I wasn’t a participant,” Lily said.
“I kept saying no.”
Martin struck the wall with his palm.
“I owed money.
They offered a private trial, and I thought it was harmless.”
“You handed them our thirteen-year-old child?”
“They said she would be observed for one night!”
Lily stared at him.
“You took an envelope before you left.”
His face emptied.
“How much?” I asked.
“Helen—”
“How much was my daughter worth to you?”
“Two hundred thousand dollars,” Lily whispered.
“I heard them say it.”
Martin closed his eyes.
The security officers entered.
One moved beside Lily while the other blocked the door.
Dr.
Shah held out her hand.
“Mr.
Davis, sit down.”
“You don’t understand who these people are.”
“Then explain.”
Martin sank into the chair.
“Victor Hale runs Meridian Research.
He owns clinics, security companies, half the people who are supposed to stop him.”
“Why is the payment overdue?” I asked.
“They paid me every year to keep Lily quiet and bring her back when she turned eighteen.”
Lily’s hand tightened around the blanket.
“My birthday is next week.”
“You kept taking their money?” I said.
“I used it for this family.”
“We almost lost the house last year.”
Martin looked at the floor.
A knock sounded, and a woman in a gray suit entered carrying a leather folder.
“My name is Celia Ross,” she said.
“I represent Meridian Research.”
Dr.
Shah stepped in front of the bed.
“You are not authorized to be here.”
Celia opened the folder.
“I have an emergency court order transferring Lily Davis into Meridian’s medical custody.”
“She is not leaving,” I said.
Celia placed a document on the tray.
At the bottom were two signatures.
One belonged to Martin.
The other looked exactly like mine.
May you like
Lily read the final line, then looked at me.
“Mom,” she whispered, “this says you gave me to them too.”
