Chapter 6 - The Midnight Extraction
The extraction was a blur of adrenaline and calculated risk. Rosemary didn't go home; she knew Derek would check there first. She drove to a safe house—a cabin she owned in the mountains, a place the family hadn't visited in years.
While Hazel slept, exhausted from the terror, Rosemary sat by the fire, her laptop open. She was uploading the contents of the blue box, the forged psychiatric reports, and the logs from the hospital to a secure, public-facing legal server. She sent the access links to the local news stations and three prominent defense attorneys known for their aggressive pursuit of corporate and domestic corruption.
She was effectively burning the bridge behind them. If she wanted to win, she had to force the public to look at the truth.
The phone rang at 3:00 a.m. It was her lawyer, Marcus, a man who lived for the fight.
"Rosemary, I've seen the files," he said, his voice grave. "If this is true, you’ve just handed us the keys to the kingdom. But you’ve also put a target on your back. Derek isn't just going to let this go. He’s already calling in favors with the Commissioner."
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"Let him," Rosemary replied, her eyes fixed on the fire. "He thinks he’s the hunter. He has no idea what happens when a mother is pushed to the edge."
By dawn, the news was breaking. The "ideal family" facade was fracturing, and the headlines were already calling for an investigation into the hospital’s patient records. The silent war had turned into a public inferno.
