Chapter 5 - Family Access
The hospital had a conflict-of-interest policy thick enough to stop a door.
Apparently, nobody had thought to apply it to Evelyn’s brother.
Caleb Morton had been vice president of clinical operations for eighteen months. I had met him twice at Christmas and once at a charity dinner.
He had always treated me like a temporary guest in my own marriage.
Raymond paced once across the room.
“How did this appointment get through without disclosure?”
Denise looked embarrassed. “His file lists no immediate relatives on the board or medical staff.”
“He doesn’t need relatives on the board,” I said. “He has a sister who has donated millions to the maternity wing.”
Grant rubbed both hands over his face.
“My mother funded the renovation last year.”
Raymond stopped.
“How much?”
“Five million.”
That was not enough to buy St. Catherine.
It was apparently enough to buy confidence.
Raymond ordered Caleb’s access suspended and his office sealed for review. Security went to find him.
They returned ten minutes later without him.
“He left the building at 1:42,” the officer said.
“Before Emily called me,” Raymond said.
“Yes, sir.”
He already knew.
Raymond asked the obvious question anyway.
“What did he take?”
“We don’t know yet.”
My phone buzzed on the bedside table.
Unknown number.
Grant reached for it, but I got there first.
A photo filled the screen.
It was me asleep in my own bedroom.
Taken from the doorway.
Under it was a message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED QUIET.
Grant’s face lost every trace of color.
“Who took that?”
I zoomed in.
The photo was dated three weeks earlier.
I remembered that night. Grant had been in Chicago. Evelyn had come by with soup because I was “working too hard.” I fell asleep unusually early.
The memory made my stomach turn.
Priya saw my expression.
“Emily?”
“I was sick that night. Dizzy. I slept fourteen hours.”
Raymond held out his hand for the phone, but another message arrived before I could give it to him.
A PDF attachment.
The filename was simple.
MATERNAL FITNESS EVALUATION - EMILY HART.
I opened it.
The document claimed I had a history of paranoia, emotional instability, and medication refusal.
None of it was true.
At the bottom was a recommendation that, after delivery, temporary custody of my baby be transferred to Grant.
And if Grant was “unable to provide stable care,” the next named guardian was Evelyn Hart.
May you like
Grant read the final page over my shoulder.
Then he whispered, “Emily… this was prepared two months ago.”
