Chapter 12 — Sophie’s Mother
Sophie had always believed her mother died in a car accident when she was six.
Her father raised her alone and refused to discuss Brightwell Biotech.
After hearing Thomas Bennett’s recording, Sophie searched through her father’s old belongings.
Inside a locked box, she found a photograph of her mother wearing a Brightwell laboratory coat.
Her name was Dr. Claire Laurent.
She had worked beside Richard Cross.
Sophie confronted her father.
He finally revealed the truth.
Claire was one of the researchers who discovered the dangerous trial results. She intended to testify with Richard.
The night before she could speak to regulators, she died when her car left a mountain road.
The accident had never been investigated properly.
Thomas Bennett paid Sophie’s father to remain silent.
Sophie felt as though the floor had vanished beneath her.
“All these years, you let me believe it was random.”
“I was afraid they would come for you.”
“Thomas knew my mother died because of his company, and he watched me grow up?”
Her father wept.
“He paid for your education anonymously.”
Sophie recoiled.
Thomas’s guilt had followed her life like an invisible hand.
The corrupted recording was sent to forensic technicians.
They recovered the missing section.
Thomas admitted that he had authorized Richard’s confinement but denied ordering Claire’s death.
He believed Charles Mercer had arranged the crash to protect the company.
Thomas had spent years collecting evidence.
Before he could expose Mercer, he suffered a fatal heart attack.
The evidence was hidden inside Brightwell’s original research archive.
Olivia and Sophie entered the sealed archive with federal investigators.
Inside, they found Claire’s notebook.
The final page contained a list of patient names and one handwritten warning:
The drug is not the real secret. The children are.
Attached was a photograph of infants inside a Brightwell-funded clinic.
One baby wore a bracelet marked D. Cross.
Another wore a bracelet marked S. Laurent.
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Daniel and Sophie had both been part of the same illegal medical study as infants.
And neither of them had been told.
