Chapter 5
Lucas reached the hospital twenty minutes later.
He carried a small digital recorder inside an evidence bag he had bought from a pharmacy because he was afraid to touch it again.
Detective Cole arrived moments afterward.
Jenna had not boarded the flight.
But nobody knew where she was.
Her phone was off.
Her car had been found in an airport parking garage.
The security cameras showed her entering the terminal.
They did not show her leaving.
Cole believed she had changed clothes somewhere inside.
Rachel believed something worse.
Jenna had planned this.
The recorder was taken into an empty consultation room.
Nathan was too weak to attend, so Rachel sat with Cole and Lucas while a hospital security specialist connected the device to a laptop.
There were thirty-seven recordings.
Most were meaningless.
Cleaning staff.
Nathan making calls.
Lucas entering to borrow a file.
Then they reached the night before Nathan collapsed.
A door opened.
Footsteps.
Jenna’s voice.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
A man answered.
Dr. Brent.
“I told you I’m done.”
Rachel’s hands clenched.
Jenna responded.
“You’re done when Victoria says you’re done.”
Cole paused the recording.
“So Victoria is involved.”
Lucas looked sick.
“Play it.”
The recording continued.
Brent said, “I erased the old lab reports. I changed what I could. If anyone audits the server, I’m finished.”
Jenna replied, “Nobody is auditing anything if Nathan signs tomorrow.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
“He will.”
“He already suspects the accounts.”
A third voice suddenly appeared.
Rachel froze.
Margaret.
“You promised nobody would get hurt.”
Lucas stood.
“Mom?”
Rachel stared at the speaker.
Margaret’s voice continued.
“You said you only wanted the company returned to the rightful bloodline.”
Jenna laughed.
“It is the rightful bloodline.”
Margaret responded sharply.
“Nathan is the rightful bloodline.”
Then another woman spoke.
The voice was almost identical to Margaret’s.
But colder.
Victoria.
“My son owns what should have been mine.”
Rachel felt nauseated.
Nathan’s entire life had become a battlefield built before he was old enough to remember it.
On the recording, Margaret said, “He is not your son. Not anymore.”
Victoria answered, “Biology doesn’t disappear because you stole him.”
“I saved him.”
“You bought him.”
Silence filled the recording.
Rachel looked at Lucas.
He had gone pale.
“Bought him?”
Lucas whispered.
“I don’t know.”
Victoria continued.
“Our father paid me. You know that. He gave me money and told me to disappear because you were the respectable daughter and I was the disgrace.”
Margaret’s voice cracked.
“You were seventeen.”
“And you were twenty-one, married, infertile, desperate for a baby.”
Rachel covered her mouth.
Nathan had never told her this part.
Margaret said, “You wanted nothing to do with him.”
“I was terrified.”
“You signed the papers.”
“Because Dad threatened me.”
“And now, thirty-six years later, you suddenly want him?”
“I want what was taken from me.”
“What? Nathan?”
Victoria laughed.
“No. He chose you years ago.”
Rachel’s stomach tightened.
“Then what?” Margaret asked.
“The company.”
The recording crackled.
Victoria continued.
“Dad left Carter Construction to the grandson he believed belonged to you.”
Margaret whispered, “Nathan built that company himself.”
“Using an inheritance that should have come to me.”
“So this is about money.”
“It was always about money to him. Why shouldn’t it be about money to me?”
Rachel looked at Cole.
Three million dollars.
The missing accounts.
The forged logins.
It finally had a shape.
Then Dr. Brent’s voice returned.
“We’re wasting time. What happens tomorrow?”
Jenna answered.
“Nathan meets Margaret at the hospital foundation breakfast.”
Rachel stared at Lucas.
The family had said Nathan met Margaret privately.
He had actually been at St. Matthew’s for a charity event before he collapsed.
Jenna continued.
“Amelia gives him the first dose.”
Margaret snapped, “What dose?”
“Something to scare him.”
“No.”
“Relax. It slows his heart. Makes him dizzy. We tell him stress is killing him. He signs control of the company into a temporary trust.”
Margaret said, “I never agreed to drugging him.”
Victoria replied, “Then leave.”
A chair scraped.
Margaret said, “Nathan will never sign.”
“He will if Rachel’s freedom depends on it.”
Rachel’s entire body went cold.
On the recording, Margaret whispered, “What did you do?”
Jenna answered.
“We made sure the missing money leads to Rachel.”
Lucas looked at Rachel.
She couldn’t speak.
Victoria said, “Tomorrow Nathan gets a choice. Sign the company over, or his wife goes to prison.”
Margaret cursed.
Then footsteps moved rapidly.
A door slammed.
She had left.
Rachel whispered, “So Margaret was telling the truth.”
“Partly,” Cole said.
The recording continued.
Brent sounded nervous.
“What if the dose causes arrhythmia?”
“It won’t,” Jenna said.
“You’re not a doctor.”
“I read the protocol.”
“People react differently.”
Victoria interrupted.
“Then you’ll be there to save him.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
That explained the plan.
Nathan was never supposed to die.
Not initially.
He was supposed to become terrified enough to sign.
But something had gone wrong.
They continued listening.
Brent asked, “And if he refuses after we stabilize him?”
Victoria’s answer chilled the room.
“Then we improvise.”
The file ended.
Lucas slammed his hand against the table.
“That’s enough to arrest all of them.”
“Not necessarily for attempted murder,” Cole said. “But it’s significant.”
“Significant?”
“Evidence needs context.”
“Context? They planned to drug my brother.”
Cole remained calm.
“And I intend to use that.”
Rachel stood.
“We need to talk to Margaret.”
They found her in a family waiting room.
She was alone.
When Rachel placed the recorder on the table, Margaret’s shoulders dropped.
“You heard it.”
“All of it.”
Margaret looked at Lucas.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“When?” Lucas snapped. “After Nathan was buried?”
Margaret flinched.
“I left that meeting. I told myself they were bluffing.”
Rachel’s voice shook.
“You knew they planned to drug him.”
“I thought it would make him dizzy. Nothing more.”
“You didn’t warn him.”
“I tried.”
Nathan’s mother began crying.
“I called him that night. He wouldn’t answer. We had been fighting for weeks.”
“So you came to the hospital breakfast.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I confronted Victoria in the parking garage.”
Rachel froze.
“Victoria was there?”
“Yes.”
“She said if I warned Nathan, she would send documents to the police proving you stole the money.”
Margaret looked at Rachel.
“I knew the documents were false. But they were convincing.”
“So you sacrificed Nathan to protect me?”
“No.”
Margaret’s tears fell harder.
“I thought I could control it.”
Lucas laughed bitterly.
“You’ve been trying to control this family your entire life.”
“Lucas.”
“No. Dad spent his life defending you. Nathan spent his life wondering why you treated him like something fragile. Now I understand.”
Margaret stared at him.
“Understand what?”
“You were afraid Victoria would come back.”
“Yes.”
“And when she did, you hid everything again.”
Margaret lowered her head.
Rachel asked, “When did Victoria contact you?”
“Eight months ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell Nathan?”
“She threatened Ellie.”
The room went silent.
Rachel’s entire body stiffened.
“What?”
Margaret looked at her.
“She sent me photographs.”
Rachel stepped closer.
“Photographs of what?”
“Ellie at preschool. Ellie at the park. Ellie with you at the grocery store.”
Rachel felt sick.
“You had pictures of someone following my daughter and you said nothing?”
“I hired security.”
“Without telling us?”
“Yes.”
“You let my child walk around not knowing someone was watching her?”
Margaret sobbed.
“I thought silence would keep all of you safe.”
Rachel’s anger exploded.
“Silence almost buried your son alive!”
Detective Cole stepped forward.
“Where are those photographs?”
“In my house.”
“We’ll need them.”
Margaret nodded.
Cole’s phone rang.
He stepped away.
Rachel stared at her mother-in-law.
“You told Ellie you never saw her at the hospital.”
“I didn’t.”
“I believe you now.”
Margaret looked surprised.
“But that means Victoria spoke to my daughter.”
Margaret went pale.
Rachel leaned closer.
“If she ever goes near Ellie again, I don’t care who gave birth to Nathan. I don’t care what happened thirty-six years ago. I will destroy her.”
Margaret nodded.
“I understand.”
Cole returned.
His expression was grim.
“They found Dr. Brent.”
Rachel’s heart jumped.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Bus station.”
Lucas exhaled.
“Good.”
Cole did not look relieved.
“He says he wants immunity.”
“For what?” Rachel asked.
“He claims he can prove who gave Nathan the second dose.”
Rachel froze.
“Second dose?”
Cole nodded.
“The first drug wasn’t enough to explain Nathan’s condition.”
Rachel remembered Dr. Miles saying there were two medications in Nathan’s blood.
“What was the second?”
“A far more dangerous cardiac suppressant.”
“Who gave it to him?”
“Brent says he knows.”
“Who?”
Cole looked toward Margaret.
“He says Margaret did.”
Margaret stood so fast the chair fell backward.
“That is a lie!”
Rachel stared at her.
Cole continued.
“Brent claims you returned to Nathan’s room during the eleven-minute gap.”
“I did not.”
“We have footage of someone who looks like you entering.”
“Victoria.”
“Possibly.”
Margaret’s hands trembled.
“It was Victoria.”
“Can you prove where you were?”
“I was in the chapel.”
Everyone went still.
Rachel frowned.
“What chapel?”
“The hospital chapel.”
“Alone?”
Margaret’s face fell.
“Yes.”
Cole’s expression remained unreadable.
Margaret whispered, “You think it was me.”
“I think someone who looked exactly like you entered Nathan’s room.”
“It was my sister.”
Cole nodded.
“Then we need to find her.”
His phone buzzed again.
He checked the message.
A second later he looked at Rachel.
“What?”
Cole turned the screen toward her.
Airport surveillance.
Jenna walked through a service corridor wearing a maintenance jacket.
Beside her was an older woman.
Silver hair.
Margaret’s face.
Victoria.
The timestamp was twenty minutes earlier.
Rachel stared.
“They’re still at the airport?”
“They were.”
Cole called his team.
While he spoke, Nathan’s doctor rushed into the room.
“Mrs. Carter.”
Rachel turned.
Something in the doctor’s expression terrified her.
“What happened?”
“Nathan’s heart rhythm changed.”
Rachel ran.
She reached his room as nurses surrounded the bed.
Nathan was awake but struggling to breathe.
Rachel grabbed his hand.
“I’m here.”
His eyes found hers.
“Ellie?”
“Safe.”
A nurse injected medication.
Nathan gasped.
Then he whispered, “Jenna.”
Rachel leaned close.
“What about Jenna?”
Nathan forced out the words.
“She knows the code.”
“What code?”
“My safe.”
Rachel frowned.
“What’s in it?”
Nathan’s eyes fluttered.
“Original audit.”
Rachel felt her pulse jump.
“Proof?”
He nodded.
“Everything.”
“Where is the safe?”
“Office wall.”
Rachel looked toward Lucas.
He was standing at the doorway.
Lucas understood immediately.
“I’ll go.”
Nathan suddenly tightened his grip on Rachel.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Not office.”
His breath caught.
“I moved it.”
“Moved what?”
“The audit.”
“Where?”
Nathan looked toward Ellie’s stuffed rabbit sitting on the chair.
Rachel followed his gaze.
A cold realization moved through her.
“No.”
Nathan nodded weakly.
“Inside Ellie’s toy chest.”
Rachel stared.
At their house.
The house that had been empty since the funeral.
Lucas pulled out his phone.
“I’m calling police.”
Too late.
Rachel’s phone lit up.
Her home-security system.
MOTION DETECTED.
PLAYROOM.
Rachel opened the camera.
For one second, the room was empty.
Then a woman stepped into view.
May you like
Jenna.
She walked directly toward Ellie’s toy chest.
