Snatched a Billionaire to Be My Husband – Episode 45
The woman beside Lydia looked enough like Cora to make denial difficult, but a photograph could not establish kinship or captivity. Lydia’s posture appeared rigid, while the younger woman stared directly into the camera without visible fear. The threat might have been sent by Mercer, Mara, or someone using both names.
Cora forwarded the image to investigators and refused the demand. She had not claimed control of the Vale assets, so there was nothing meaningful to withdraw. The emergency lawsuit depended on portraying her as a rival; responding as one would strengthen the fiction.
Byron’s security team identified the room through a faded hospital logo reflected in a cabinet. It belonged to St. Agnes Maternity Center, abandoned after Vale Women’s Health acquired its records. Lydia had worked there during Evelyn’s pregnancy.
Police entered the building and found fresh medical supplies but no people. A camera still contained footage from the previous night. Lydia treated a cut on her forehead while the young woman paced freely and argued with a man off-screen. When Mercer stepped into view, she slapped him.
The footage captured her saying, “You promised Cora would come willingly.” Mercer replied that fear worked faster than family sentiment. Mara was not his helpless prisoner; she had helped create the bait and objected only when he threatened Lydia.
Investigators traced their vehicle toward the port. Vale International controlled dozens of warehouses there, most now under independent supervision. One remained outside the transition because Adrian had classified it as personal family property.
Adrian denied authorizing access. He admitted meeting Mara two months earlier after Mercer introduced her as Roland’s hidden daughter. Adrian paid for the DNA test and encouraged her lawsuit, believing another heir could neutralize Cora’s voting shares. He claimed he never approved kidnapping or falsified medical records.
“You financed a stranger because she was useful against me,” Cora said. Adrian argued that he protected his family’s inheritance. Roland, listening from the board office, removed him from every remaining advisory role. Adrian accepted the punishment with bitter silence.
Cora joined police at the port command center while remaining away from the warehouse. The baby’s safety mattered more than appearing at the scene. Byron stayed with her; Carter guided the tactical team through old shipping plans.
Mara called from inside. She said Lydia needed medication and offered to release her if Cora publicly acknowledged Mara as Roland’s daughter. Cora asked why recognition from her mattered. “Because he listens to you,” Mara said, and resentment cracked through her composure.
Cora replied that Roland’s attention did not belong to her and could not compensate for twenty-seven years of abandonment. If Mara wanted truth, Cora would support independent testing and access to records. If she wanted a performance, she had chosen the wrong sister.
Roland heard the exchange from another line and began to speak, but Cora muted him. His desire to recognize or reject Mara could not be allowed to direct a hostage negotiation. For once, a Vale patriarch’s emotions would wait while the women affected by his family’s secrets defined the terms.
Mara asked whether Cora would still help if testing proved they were unrelated. Cora answered that captivity did not become acceptable merely because blood failed to connect them. The response unsettled Mara more visibly than any promise of inheritance; she had been taught that assistance always required a claim.
The word sister silenced Mara. Cora used the pause to ask whether anyone had ever given her a choice in this plan. Mara said Miriam’s associates raised her under changing names, always promising that one day the Vale family would need her. Mercer found her after Miriam’s arrest and claimed Cora had stolen that future.
Lydia seized the distraction and triggered a fire alarm. Sprinklers activated, unlocking safety doors throughout the warehouse. Police entered from the east while Carter directed Lydia and Mara toward a loading exit through the building’s intercom.
Mercer cut the power and fled across the upper catwalk. Mara could have followed him. Instead, she helped Lydia down the stairs, losing the only route that might have kept her free. Officers took her into custody without resistance.
Byron spotted movement on a port camera and warned the tactical team that Mercer had changed jackets with a dockworker. The warning came seconds before Mercer reached an unsecured boat. Carter intercepted him at the pier, but Mercer fired and struck Carter in the shoulder.
Carter stayed upright long enough to knock the gun into the water. Officers surrounded Mercer and ended the chase. At the hospital, Carter complained that Cora’s family mysteries had become hazardous to his promotion prospects. His joke reassured her more than the doctor’s report that the bullet missed major vessels.
Lydia confirmed that Mara was patient M-27. She had substituted Mara’s blood for Cora’s after Mercer threatened to expose every hidden child in the maternity archive. Lydia believed a false hereditary warning would bring Cora to the clinic, where Mercer planned to exchange her for the access seal.
An independent laboratory completed Mara’s DNA test that night. She was related to Cora, but Roland was not her father. The paternal match pointed instead to Roland’s late brother Marcus, making Mara Cora’s cousin—and the daughter of the man who had ordered Evelyn’s child taken.