My Daughter Screamed, “Daddy, Don’t Drink It!”—Then the Tea Started Foaming on the Floor

"You've had three unexplained episodes in four months," Dr. Priya Shah said. "Nausea. Dizziness. memory gaps. One collapse."

"All after drinks Nora gave me."

"You didn't tell anyone that before."

"I didn't know there was a pattern."

Priya slid a page toward him.

"Your older blood samples were stored. We reran them after Detective Chen called. They contain traces of a toxic compound that should not be in your system."

Ethan's jaw tightened.

"Could it cause confusion?"

"Yes. Weakness, disorientation, nausea. With repeated exposure, worse."

"Could it kill me?"

Priya did not answer immediately.

That was answer enough.

"So someone poisons him slowly," she said, "then creates medical records saying he's unstable. Convenient."

"Some of these notes are medically strange. They describe symptoms Ethan never reported to me."

"Dr. Vale wrote them," Ethan said.

Maya's expression sharpened. "Then we find out who paid Vale."

His phone buzzed.

A live stream from the Mercer Systems board meeting had started.

Grant appeared on screen in a charcoal suit, grave and composed.

"My brother is dealing with a serious health crisis," he told the directors. "For the protection of this company, I move that his executive authority be suspended immediately."

It was too clean.

The illness, the conservatorship, the board meeting - it was a timeline.

Maya opened her laptop.

"Don't join yet. Let him talk."

Grant continued.

Then another slide appeared.

It contained excerpts from Ethan's private medical records.

Records Grant should never have possessed.

But the final slide was worse.

A signed document appeared on screen.

It transferred temporary voting control of Ethan's company shares to Grant in the event Ethan became medically incapacitated.

The signature at the bottom looked perfect.