The air outside Brookhaven hospital was sharp with early spring chill, the moon pale behind drifting clouds. Amanda moved silently through the dimly lit parking lot, her coat pulled tight around her, heart pounding with every step. The building loomed above her—white stone and glass, sterile and cold—like a fortress hiding far darker things within.
She glanced over her shoulder, scanning the shadows for any sign of following eyes. Nothing but the whisper of wind in the trees.
A figure emerged from the side entrance—a woman with nervous eyes and a nurse's scrubs partially concealed beneath a long coat.
"Amanda" the woman said quietly, voice barely above a whisper.
Amanda nodded. "I need your help. I have some documents, but I need inside access. Records, files... anything that's been hidden."
The woman hesitated, then glanced over her shoulder before slipping a small keycard into Amanda's hand.
"I'm Sarah. I left because things weren't right here. They're watching us—everything. But I know a back way into the archives. Follow me."
They moved swiftly through a maze of corridors—past glimmering nurses' stations and locked doors—until they reached a narrow stairwell. The soft hum of fluorescent lights buzzed overhead.
Inside the archives room, Sarah led Amanda to a row of filing cabinets. "This is where they hide the real files," she whispered. "Not the ones management wants you to see."
Amanda pulled out the photos from her bag and spread them across the metal table. "We need to find more evidence of the sedation therapy. The unauthorized removals. The security logs."
Sarah nodded. "And there's something else... reports on other patients, similar cases. People who 'disappeared.' I've kept copies."
Amanda's breath caught. "This goes deeper than we thought."
Suddenly, footsteps echoed in the hall outside. Sarah's eyes widened. "We have to hide. Now."
They slipped behind the cabinets just as two men in dark suits entered the room, voices low but sharp.
"We've got word Ms. Wynn is snooping," one said. "Security's been briefed. Find her before she leaks anything."
Amanda's heart hammered as the men scanned the room.
-
Back at the Connor estate, the atmosphere was thick with tension.
Mildred Connor sat rigidly in her ornate sitting room, hands clenched around a porcelain teacup. Gregory paced the floor, his face a mask of controlled fury.
"She's digging too deep," Gregory growled. "If Amanda exposes the sedation... the family reputation will be destroyed."
Mildred's eyes were cold. "Then we stop her. Discredit her. Silence her if we must."
A sharp knock interrupted them. Their chief of security entered, holding a tablet. "Sir, we intercepted communications. Amanda is meeting with an insider at Brookhaven tonight."
Gregory's jaw tightened. "Mobilize every asset. Find out what she has. And make sure William stays in line. His memories could ruin everything."