Chapter 5
Hospital security arrived before Daniel opened the door.
Victoria Mercer did not run.
Of course she didn’t.
She waited in the hallway as if everyone else had been summoned to meet her.
When the door finally opened, I smelled roses.
The same perfume from the park.
My stomach dropped.
“That’s her,” I whispered.
Mom grabbed me tighter.
Victoria’s voice softened.
“Hello again, Lily.”
Daniel stepped between us.
“You approached my daughter without permission.”
“I spoke to my granddaughter in a public park.”
“You knew who she was.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
Victoria didn’t answer.
Daniel repeated the question.
“How long have you known about Lily?”
“Since before she was born.”
Daniel made a sound I had never heard from him.
Not anger.
Pain.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“All eight years.”
“Yes.”
“And you let me believe Sarah left me.”
“You did leave.”
“For London because Dad transferred me!”
“You accepted the transfer.”
“Because Sarah stopped answering!”
Victoria’s voice stayed calm.
“You were twenty-seven years old. I assumed you would survive heartbreak.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You told her I didn’t want my baby.”
“I told her what was necessary.”
Mom lunged forward.
Security blocked her.
“You evil woman!”
Victoria sighed.
“Sarah, drama never suited you.”
Mom laughed in disbelief.
“You stalked my child!”
“I monitored her welfare.”
“You photographed her outside school!”
“I received reports.”
“From whom?”
Victoria ignored the question.
Daniel said, “Answer her.”
“You have no idea how much I protected that girl.”
Mom shouted, “From what?”
Victoria finally lost some of her calm.
“From you.”
The hallway became silent.
Mom sounded stunned.
“Me?”
“You were barely making rent.”
“I worked two jobs!”
“You lived in a third-floor apartment without an elevator while raising a blind child.”
“Because your family threatened me before she was even born!”
“I offered you resources.”
“You offered me hush money.”
“I offered you security.”
“You offered me two hundred thousand dollars to erase your son from his daughter’s life.”
Victoria’s heels clicked once against the floor as she shifted.
“I made the wrong decision.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Don’t pretend this is regret.”
“It became regret.”
“When?”
Victoria didn’t answer.
Daniel’s voice sharpened.
“When did you regret it?”
“When Lily lost her sight.”
I stopped breathing.
Mom did too.
Daniel said, “Explain.”
Victoria took a long breath.
“Until then, she was healthy. Sarah was managing.”
“Managing?”
“Yes.”
“She was your granddaughter!”
“And I knew you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You would have abandoned everything.”
“Yes!”
“Exactly.”
Daniel shouted, “She was my child!”
“And Mercer Development was weeks away from collapse.”
He stopped.
Mom asked, “What?”
Victoria continued.
“Your father had concealed enormous debt. Banks were preparing to call loans. Hundreds of employees were at risk.”
Daniel sounded disgusted.
“So you decided my daughter was bad for business?”
“I decided you could not rescue everyone.”
“You didn’t give me the choice.”
“No.”
“At least admit it.”
“I just did.”
He laughed without humor.
“Congratulations.”
Victoria turned toward Mom.
“Then Lily became ill.”
Mom’s voice dropped.
“You knew about that too.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I had someone checking.”
“Who?”
“Private investigators.”
Mom gasped.
“For eight years?”
“Not continuously.”
“That makes it better?”
“No.”
Daniel asked, “Did you access her hospital records?”
“No.”
“Did you pay someone to?”
Victoria paused.
That pause answered him.
“Who?”
“I hired a medical consultant.”
“Name.”
“No.”
“Mother.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to the police.”
Victoria gave a tiny laugh.
“No police officer is going to arrest me for paying experts to determine whether my granddaughter can see again.”
Dr. Patel stepped into the hallway.
“They may have questions about unauthorized access to protected medical records.”
Victoria’s tone cooled.
“And you are?”
“Dr. Priya Patel.”
“Ah.”
Dr. Patel didn’t like that.
“You know me?”
“I know everyone involved in Lily’s treatment.”
Mom shouted, “Stop saying her name!”
Victoria ignored her.
Daniel asked, “What proof did you bring?”
Finally, Victoria’s composure shifted.
“I hoped we could discuss that privately.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“You said Lily deserved to know why Sarah lied.”
Mom said, “There is nothing she can show my daughter without my permission.”
Victoria answered, “Sarah, you might want to hear this too.”
Mom became still.
I could feel tension moving through everyone around me.
Victoria opened a leather folder.
I heard papers slide.
“Eight years ago, after Lily was born, I received a letter.”
Mom whispered, “What letter?”
“From you.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I stopped writing after she was born.”
“This was six weeks afterward.”
“I never wrote you.”
Victoria handed something over.
Daniel unfolded it.
Silence.
“What does it say?” Mom demanded.
Daniel didn’t answer.
“Daniel.”
His voice sounded strange.
“It says Sarah accepts the agreement.”
Mom stepped forward.
“What agreement?”
“The confidentiality agreement.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It says she agrees never to identify me as Lily’s father in exchange for financial assistance.”
“I never signed anything.”
Daniel whispered, “There’s a signature.”
“It isn’t mine.”
Victoria said, “The money was transferred.”
Mom laughed.
“No, it wasn’t.”
“To an account in your name.”
“What account?”
Victoria read numbers.
Mom became silent.
Then said, “I’ve never heard of that bank.”
Daniel asked, “How much?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
“The exact amount you offered her.”
“Yes.”
Mom sounded sick.
“She forged my signature.”
Victoria snapped, “I did not.”
“Then who did?”
“I assumed Sarah reconsidered.”
“You knew she hadn’t!”
“I received signed paperwork.”
“You had been threatening her for months!”
“I never threatened her.”
Mom shouted, “You came into my apartment and told me your lawyers would take my baby!”
Victoria finally raised her voice.
“I told you Daniel would seek custody if you tried to use the child against him!”
“I never tried to use her!”
“Enough!”
Daniel’s shout echoed through the corridor.
Then he turned toward Victoria.
“Show me the transfer.”
She handed him another document.
Daniel read.
“This account was opened two days before the transfer.”
“Yes.”
“And closed three months later.”
“Yes.”
“Where did the money go?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never checked?”
“I had no reason.”
“You always have a reason.”
Silence.
Daniel’s voice became colder.
“Who handled this for you?”
“My attorney.”
“Which attorney?”
Victoria hesitated.
Daniel repeated, “Which attorney?”
“Charles Whitmore.”
Mom made a choking sound.
Daniel turned.
“You know him?”
Mom whispered, “Yes.”
“How?”
“He was my lawyer.”
Everything stopped.
Daniel asked, “What?”
“When Lily got sick, I needed help fighting an insurance denial.”
“And you hired Charles Whitmore?”
“He approached me.”
Victoria sounded genuinely surprised for the first time.
“He approached you?”
“Yes.”
“He said he worked with a nonprofit that helped families with complicated medical cases.”
Daniel asked, “Did you pay him?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“He said his services were funded by donors.”
Victoria whispered, “Charles.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“What did you do?”
“I did nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
“I am not.”
“You told him about Sarah.”
“Eight years ago, yes.”
“And then he became her lawyer four years later?”
“I didn’t know.”
Mom backed away.
“Oh my God.”
I reached for her.
She grabbed my hand.
“Mom?”
“I’m here.”
Daniel asked, “What did Whitmore do for you?”
Mom was breathing quickly.
“He appealed insurance decisions.”
“What else?”
“He helped me create a special-needs trust.”
Daniel swore.
“Did he control it?”
“No. I do.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Did you sign anything giving him authority?”
“Some medical release forms.”
Dr. Patel stepped closer.
“Was Mr. Whitmore authorized to access Lily’s medical records?”
Mom’s answer came instantly.
“No.”
Daniel said, “Maybe he used an old release.”
Dr. Patel shook her head.
“That would not explain stolen staff credentials.”
Victoria quietly said, “Charles has always been resourceful.”
Daniel turned on her.
“Stop admiring the man.”
“I’m not.”
“You trusted him.”
“For thirty years.”
“And somehow he knew about Lily before I did.”
Victoria went silent.
Daniel asked, “Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Call him.”
“He won’t answer.”
“How do you know?”
“I already tried.”
“When?”
“This morning.”
Mom asked, “Why?”
Victoria’s voice changed.
Because for the first time, she sounded afraid.
“Because yesterday I discovered money missing from one of our family trusts.”
Daniel stopped.
“How much?”
“Eleven million dollars.”
“What does that have to do with Lily?”
“I didn’t know until today.”
“What happened today?”
Victoria opened another paper.
“An investigator traced several transfers.”
Daniel asked, “To where?”
“Shell companies.”
“Owned by?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“And Lily?”
Victoria answered more slowly.
“One of those companies has been paying for Dr. Warren’s private research.”
My heart pounded.
The surgeon.
The treatment.
Daniel asked, “Charles has been funding optic nerve research with stolen money?”
“Possibly.”
Mom said, “Why?”
Victoria didn’t answer.
Dr. Patel did.
“Because a successful treatment would be worth billions.”
The hallway went silent.
Daniel asked, “Are you saying someone is using my daughter as a test case?”
Dr. Patel shook her head.
“I’m saying I don’t know.”
Mom pulled me against her.
“No one is experimenting on Lily.”
“Nobody is suggesting that,” Dr. Patel said.
Then her phone buzzed.
She checked it.
Her breath caught.
“What now?” Daniel asked.
Dr. Patel looked at Mom.
“Dr. Warren just landed in Boston.”
“Why?”
“He requested emergency privileges at this hospital.”
Daniel asked, “For whom?”
May you like
Dr. Patel slowly looked toward me.
“For Lily.”
