Chapter 2 - The Red Button in My Palm
Vivian moved toward the bed.
She did not touch me.
That almost made it worse.
She stood at the foot of the mattress and studied my face like a banker reviewing a bad loan.
“Are you sure she can’t hear?”
Adrian shrugged.
“The doctors say she’s barely responsive.”
It gave everyone permission to underestimate me.
Vivian lowered her voice.
“The insurance company will look at everything.”
“I know.”
“The terrace.”
“I know.”
“The policy.”
“I know, Mom.”
“Then act like it.”
Adrian turned away.
That told me something.
Vivian was not his helper.
She was his manager.
I had suspected her for months.
Every time I asked about missing funds, she called me paranoid.
Every time I questioned Claire’s access to company accounts, Vivian told Adrian I was trying to control him.
Now she said:
“If the accident doesn’t hold, we have another problem.”
Adrian looked back.
“What problem?”
“The audit copy.”
My heart hit my ribs.
The audit copy.
“I searched her office,” Adrian said.
“You searched badly.”
Vivian pulled a folded paper from her purse.
“She sent something to Marcus Reed.”
Marcus had been my partner for six years.
The best investigator I had ever worked with.
I left our firm when I married Adrian.
Marcus never liked that decision.
Now I understood why.
Vivian said:
“You need to find out what Marcus has before the board meets.”
Adrian leaned over me again.
“Maybe she told him where it is.”
Vivian laughed.
“She’s not talking.”
My thumb pressed the transmitter once.
Not the emergency signal.
The first code.
RECORD CONFIRMED.
Somewhere beyond the room, Marcus now knew both voices were present.
Adrian reached for the water cup on my tray.
A shadow passed under the door.
Hospital security.
Because I had not given the second signal.
Vivian whispered:
“If Marcus has the ledger, Claire needs to leave tonight.”
Adrian looked toward the door.
“Where?”
“Canada first.”
Then Vivian added:
“And if Hannah wakes up, we say the medication confused her.”
My anger went cold.
May you like
That was the moment I understood the hospital was not only a trap for Adrian.
It was the first clean room in months where I finally knew who was standing against me.
