Chapter 7 - Eleanor's Plan
Rebecca obtained the hospital visitor records before midnight.
Eleanor Caldwell had met twice with a former administrative employee named Denise Harper.
The first meeting occurred six weeks earlier.
The second happened tonight.
Denise had recently been terminated for attempting to access confidential patient files.
Mine included.
Dad stared at the report.
“Call hospital security.”
Already done.
Denise had left twenty minutes before Eleanor arrived.
But investigators found something disturbing in the audit system.
Someone had searched my patient profile.
Prenatal records.
Emergency contacts.
Insurance information.
Expected delivery date.
I felt physically sick.
Dominic sat across the room with his elbows on his knees.
“I didn't know this.”
Dad's voice was cold.
“You seem to know very little about the people you spent your entire life defending.”
Dominic looked at me.
“I swear.”
I turned away.
Rebecca continued.
“There is more.”
She displayed copies of legal search requests performed from Gerald Pike's office.
Whitaker family trust.
Spousal inheritance rights.
Marital property after childbirth.
Contesting separate-property trusts.
My heart hammered.
It was not one ugly joke.
It was a strategy.
Eleanor had discovered enough about me to suspect my family's wealth.
Then she began investigating.
Chloe's wedding had provided access to the hotel.
The ring accusation had provided distraction.
And my copied executive credential gave them the door.
Dad stood at the windows overlooking Manhattan.
“What did they take from the archive?”
Malcolm answered.
“One file.”
“Vivienne's trust amendment.”
Rebecca went still.
That document contained the exact terms of what happened after my child's birth.
Dominic whispered.
“I told Mom you had a trust.”
I turned slowly.
He looked ashamed.
“When?”
“Last Christmas.”
I remembered Christmas.
Eleanor had given me a twenty-dollar scarf and Chloe a diamond bracelet.
Dominic had told me to ignore it.
“How did you know?”
He swallowed.
“I saw correspondence from your attorney.”
“So you read my private legal mail.”
“I was curious.”
“And then you told your mother.”
“I didn't know what it was worth.”
I laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You didn't need to.”
“Your mother clearly decided to find out.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Dad looked at me.
I answered.
Eleanor's voice came through immediately.
“Vivienne.”
Behind her, I could hear traffic.
“You need to come alone.”
“Where?”
She gave an address.
Then she lowered her voice.
May you like
“If you want the original trust amendment back before the press hears what's inside it, you will do exactly what I say.”
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