CHAPTER 7 — THE LAST PIECE OF THE PHOENIX
CHAPTER 7 — THE LAST PIECE OF THE PHOENIX
The door to Natalie's hospital room creaked open.
The corridor remained dark except for the emergency lights glowing faintly along the floor.
Richard stood beside his daughter's bed.
Every instinct told him something was wrong.
A man wearing a maintenance uniform stepped inside.
"You shouldn't be here," Richard said quietly.
The man smiled.
"I'm fixing the electrical system."
Richard noticed the syringe hidden behind his leg.
"No, you're not."
The man lunged.
Richard reacted first.
Years of stress, grief, and regret exploded into raw determination. He tackled the stranger before the syringe could reach Natalie's IV.
The syringe shattered across the floor.
Within seconds Daniel Hayes burst into the room with two hospital security officers.
The attacker fought violently, but he was overwhelmed.
As police handcuffed him, Daniel searched his pockets.
Inside was a burner phone.
One recent message.
Target must not remember October 14.
Another message followed seconds later.
If captured, say nothing. Phoenix protects its own.
The hospital lockdown became a criminal investigation.
Federal agents were called after the attempted murder.
The attacker refused to speak.
But his fingerprints did.
He had once worked for the private ambulance company shown in Rosa's security footage.
Everything was beginning to connect.
The following morning, Natalie finally remembered the paramedic.
His name.
"Michael..."
She closed her eyes.
"Michael Torres."
Daniel immediately searched the old employee database.
There he was.
Former emergency paramedic.
Resigned two weeks after Natalie's disappearance.
Current address unavailable.
Status:
Missing.
Arthur looked at Daniel.
"Find him."
Forty-eight hours later they did.
Michael wasn't dead.
He had been living under another name in a small fishing town in Oregon.
When Richard and Daniel arrived, the former paramedic looked as though he had been waiting for this day for years.
"I knew you'd eventually find me."
Richard didn't waste time.
"Tell me what happened."
Michael lowered his head.
"The accident was real."
Richard listened without interrupting.
"When we reached the cliff, Natalie still had a pulse."
"Then why was she declared dead?"
"Because before we contacted police..."
Michael swallowed hard.
"...another vehicle arrived."
"Linda?"
Michael nodded.
"She offered my supervisor five million dollars."
Richard felt sick.
"To murder my daughter?"
Michael shook his head.
"No."
"To erase her."
Michael revealed everything.
Linda had already learned that Caroline's original will contained a hidden clause.
If Natalie reached twenty-two years old, she would inherit fifty-one percent of Whitman Global.
Control of the entire empire.
Not Richard.
Not Mark.
Natalie.
If Natalie disappeared before that birthday...
The controlling shares would transfer temporarily to Richard's legal spouse.
Linda.
She had planned to convince Richard to transfer permanent control to Mark.
Project Phoenix wasn't created to kill Natalie.
It was created to steal her identity.
To keep her legally dead until the inheritance deadline passed.
"But why didn't you stop them?" Richard asked.
Michael's eyes filled with shame.
"I tried."
He explained that he secretly altered the medical report, making sure Natalie was transferred alive instead of being left to die.
He believed he could report everything later.
Instead, his supervisor disappeared.
Two witnesses died in unrelated "accidents."
Michael fled.
He spent two years hiding.
Waiting for someone powerful enough to expose the truth.
Daniel quietly recorded every word.
"This is enough."
Arthur nodded.
"No."
He looked toward Richard.
"This isn't enough."
"We still need proof linking Linda financially."
Mark walked into the room.
Everyone turned.
He placed a thick folder onto the table.
"I have it."
Bank transfers.
Offshore accounts.
Project Phoenix contracts.
Corporate approvals.
Every document bore Linda Whitman's electronic signature.
Mark looked at Richard with tears in his eyes.
"I didn't know."
Richard embraced the young man.
May you like
"You were manipulated too."
For the first time in years, they stood not as rivals—but as family.
