Chapter 4
Maria could not speak.
Emily stared at the ceiling.
Tears slid toward her hair.
“You killed your father?”
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
Maria moved closer.
“Tell me what happened.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“Six months ago, my father called me to his office.”
“Robert?”
“Yes.”
“He sounded afraid?”
“My father was never afraid.”
Emily swallowed.
“That night, he was.”
She described the room.
The locked office door.
The blinds closed.
Robert Cross standing beside his desk with a folder in his hands.
He had told Emily that Cross Medical was being used for something illegal.
Not ordinary theft.
Not falsified invoices.
Human trials.
Secret ones.
Patients enrolled without proper consent.
Experimental medication moved through private clinics under false names.
Medical records altered.
Deaths hidden.
Maria felt sick.
“Your company was experimenting on people?”
“My father said someone inside the company was.”
“Who?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Why?”
“He said he needed proof first.”
Emily wiped her face.
“He told me Daniel had been stealing money.”
Maria nodded slowly.
“Daniel admitted that.”
Emily turned sharply.
“He did?”
“Eight million.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“Oh God.”
“But he said someone continued moving money after your father died.”
Emily looked back at her.
“That’s possible.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel wasn’t the real problem.”
Maria waited.
Emily’s voice lowered.
“My father said Daniel’s theft helped someone hide larger transfers.”
“How large?”
“More than a hundred million.”
Maria went still.
A hundred million dollars.
Now Daniel’s eight million suddenly seemed small.
Still criminal.
But small.
“What happened after your father told you?”
“He handed me a drive.”
“A USB drive?”
Emily nodded.
“He said it contained financial records.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You lost it?”
Emily’s face twisted.
“No.”
She began crying harder.
“I got angry.”
“Why?”
“Because he told me Daniel was involved.”
“You didn’t believe him.”
“I thought he was trying to destroy my marriage.”
“What did you do?”
“I accused him of controlling me.”
Emily’s voice cracked.
“We screamed at each other.”
Maria waited.
“I left.”
“And then?”
“I came back.”
“When?”
“An hour later.”
“Why?”
“To apologize.”
Emily stared at her hands.
“When I walked into his office, he was on the floor.”
Maria’s chest tightened.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He was struggling to breathe.”
Emily’s voice began shaking.
“There was a broken glass beside him.”
“What was in it?”
“Whiskey.”
“Did he drink?”
“Sometimes.”
“What did you do?”
“I called emergency services.”
Emily looked directly at Maria.
“But before I called, he grabbed my wrist.”
“What did he say?”
“‘You gave it to me.’”
Maria frowned.
“What?”
“He said I gave it to him.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
Emily became frustrated.
“Yes!”
Then she stopped.
The anger collapsed.
“I think I’m sure.”
Maria felt dread.
“What do you mean?”
“I lost part of that night.”
Maria said nothing.
Emily continued.
“I remember leaving the office.”
“I remember driving.”
“I remember stopping at a red light.”
“Then nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Almost forty minutes.”
“Where were you?”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s the next thing you remember?”
Emily looked sick.
“I was standing in our kitchen.”
“At home?”
“Yes.”
“And there was a bottle in my hand.”
“What bottle?”
“My father’s heart medication.”
Maria felt cold.
“His medication was at your house?”
“It shouldn’t have been.”
“What did you do?”
“I panicked. I drove back to his office.”
“And found him dying.”
“Yes.”
Emily pressed both hands over her face.
“What if I went back before that? What if I gave him something and don’t remember?”
“Why wouldn’t you remember?”
“I don’t know.”
Maria thought about the tea.
The unconsciousness.
The false death declaration.
“Drugs.”
Emily lowered her hands.
“What?”
“Someone could have drugged you.”
Emily stared.
Maria continued.
“They did it yesterday.”
The room went quiet.
Emily’s lips parted.
“You think they’ve done it before?”
“I think we need to consider it.”
Emily turned toward the window.
“I blamed myself for six months.”
“Who knew about the missing forty minutes?”
“Daniel.”
Maria’s stomach tightened.
“Only Daniel?”
“And my therapist.”
“Who is your therapist?”
Emily looked at her.
“Dr. Claire Warren.”
Maria stood so fast the chair scraped the floor.
Emily flinched.
“Maria?”
“Claire Warren is your therapist?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel told me she was a consultant.”
Emily’s face changed.
“What?”
“He also said you thought they were sleeping together.”
Emily looked away.
“That’s because I found messages.”
“What messages?”
“Daniel deleted most of them.”
“What did they say?”
Emily hesitated.
“One said, ‘She remembers more than we thought.’”
Maria felt every hair rise on her arms.
“When did you see that?”
“Last month.”
“And Daniel explained it?”
“He said they were discussing my treatment.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I wanted to.”
Maria started pacing.
Claire treated Emily.
Claire had access to psychiatric medication.
Claire’s father signed the death certificate.
Daniel carried the tea.
Robert had warned Emily about Daniel.
The pieces were connecting.
But perhaps too perfectly.
Maria stopped.
“Why did you say the coffin was meant for Daniel?”
Emily’s eyes darkened.
“Because of the order.”
“What order?”
“The night before I was declared dead, I found an invoice in Daniel’s office.”
“For the coffin?”
“Yes.”
“His name was on it?”
“Yes.”
“Why would Daniel order his own coffin?”
“He didn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“He looked terrified when I showed him.”
Maria remembered his story.
The threatening message.
Maybe that part had been true.
“Then who ordered it?”
“I called the funeral company.”
“And?”
“They said the order came through my mother’s private office.”
Maria stared.
“Evelyn ordered Daniel’s coffin?”
“That’s what I thought.”
“But you don’t now?”
Emily shook her head.
“My mother doesn’t do anything without a reason.”
“That isn’t reassuring.”
“She loved my father.”
“And she hates Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe she thought he killed Robert.”
“She probably still does.”
Maria sat down again.
“Why didn’t your mother attend your funeral?”
Emily’s face became uncertain.
“I don’t know.”
“She called you yesterday.”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Emily became very still.
“I forgot.”
“What?”
“The call.”
“You said she called at eleven fourteen.”
“She did.”
“What did you talk about?”
Emily closed her eyes.
Her forehead tightened.
“I can hear her voice.”
“What did she say?”
Emily breathed slowly.
Then her eyes opened.
“Don’t drink anything Daniel gives you.”
Maria’s heart slammed.
“She warned you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before the tea.”
“Then why did you drink it?”
“I didn’t.”
Maria stared.
Emily was breathing faster now.
“I remember.”
“What?”
“I poured the tea into the sink.”
“Then how were you drugged?”
Emily’s expression changed.
“The water.”
“What water?”
“There was a glass beside the bed.”
“Who brought it?”
Emily whispered, “Claire.”
Maria closed her eyes.
Claire.
Again.
“She was in the house?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Therapy appointment.”
“At home?”
“Sometimes.”
“What happened?”
“After Daniel left the room, Claire arrived.”
“Did you tell her about your mother’s warning?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She laughed.”
Emily’s breathing became sharp.
“She told me my mother was paranoid.”
“What happened next?”
“She gave me my medication.”
“What medication?”
“Something for anxiety.”
“Did you take it?”
“Yes.”
“With the water.”
Maria pressed the call button beside the bed.
Emily grabbed her wrist.
“No.”
“We need police.”
“No.”
“Emily—”
“No police yet.”
“Someone tried to kill you.”
“And someone had access to my medical records, my death certificate and the hospital system.”
“That doesn’t mean police are involved.”
“No.”
“But it means I don’t know who is.”
A knock sounded.
Both women turned.
Daniel entered.
Maria immediately stood.
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
Daniel ignored her.
He looked at Emily.
“I need to tell you something.”
Emily’s face hardened.
“Get out.”
“Please.”
“No.”
“It’s about Claire.”
Emily stopped.
Daniel closed the door.
“She’s gone.”
Maria stared.
“What does that mean?”
“I went to her apartment.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Because she called me.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“What did she say?”
“She was crying.”
“And?”
“She told me she had proof.”
“Proof of what?”
Daniel looked at Emily.
“That your father was murdered.”
Emily’s breath caught.
“Where is she?”
“When I arrived, her apartment was empty.”
“Maybe she ran.”
Daniel shook his head.
“There was blood on the floor.”
Emily covered her mouth.
Maria asked, “Did you call police?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“They’re there now.”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
“She sent me something before disappearing.”
He opened an audio file.
“Listen.”
A woman’s trembling voice filled the room.
Claire.
“Daniel, if you get this, don’t call my father. Don’t trust him. I found the original files from Emily’s treatment. The memory gaps weren’t trauma. Someone was drugging her. For months.”
Emily started crying silently.
Claire’s recording continued.
“I helped without understanding what I was doing. I adjusted doses because I was told Emily was unstable. I believed it. I was wrong.”
A pause.
Then Claire whispered something.
“My father works for Evelyn.”
Emily’s face went blank.
The recording continued.
“But Evelyn isn’t the one giving the orders.”
Static.
Heavy breathing.
Then Claire said, “Robert Cross is alive.”
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Emily looked at Daniel.
“That’s impossible.”
“I know.”
“My father died in my arms.”
Daniel slowly shook his head.
“You watched a man die.”
Emily’s breathing stopped.
May you like
Daniel continued.
“But according to Claire, that man wasn’t your father.”
