Chapter 3 - THE CHILD THEY HID
For a moment, every sound disappeared.
The footsteps in the hallway.
The guards speaking into radios.
My mother’s sharp breathing.
All of it vanished beneath one word.
Pregnant.
I knelt beside Clara.
“How far along?”
“Eleven weeks.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Pain crossed her face.
“I tried.”
She looked toward Sienna.
“Your sister said you didn’t want personal distractions during the acquisition.”
I turned slowly.
Sienna’s eyes widened.
“That isn’t what I said.”
“You told me Julian had ordered all calls filtered,” Clara continued.
“You said he would contact me when he had time.”
“I was protecting him.”
“From his wife?”
Helena stepped forward.
“Clara became emotional after discovering the pregnancy.”
Clara flinched.
“She was unstable,” Helena continued.
“We did our best to manage her.”
Tessa stood.
“Stop talking about her as if she isn’t in the room.”
The paramedics arrived with a stretcher.
They examined Clara and placed protective coverings over her hands.
I stayed beside her.
When they asked about dizziness, Clara admitted she had fainted twice that week.
“Why didn’t you see a doctor?” I asked.
“I had an appointment.”
“What happened?”
“Your mother canceled the car.”
Helena did not deny it.
“She had household responsibilities.”
Something inside me became dangerously still.
“You prevented my pregnant wife from receiving medical care?”
“She could have taken a taxi.”
“You froze her accounts,” Clara whispered.
I looked at her.
“What accounts?”
Clara’s eyes moved toward Helena.
“Three days after you left, my cards stopped working.”
Helena crossed her arms.
“Joint assets require responsible supervision.”
“They were not yours to supervise.”
I had created a personal account for Clara years ago.
It was funded entirely with money I transferred to her.
No family member had authority over it.
If her access had been removed, someone had forged my approval.
The paramedics placed Clara on the stretcher.
As they rolled her toward the door, she looked at the crowded ballroom.
The guests avoided her eyes.
Some had eaten food she prepared.
Others had watched Helena order her back to the kitchen.
Not one had intervened.
I walked beside the stretcher.
Marcus followed.
“Keep everyone separated,” I told him.
“Collect every phone and laptop belonging to Helena, Damian, and Sienna.”
Sienna rushed toward me.
“You can’t take my phone.”
“You used it to impersonate me.”
“I was trying to keep the acquisition from collapsing.”
“You told my wife I didn’t want to hear about my own child.”
Tears appeared in her eyes.
“You were finally getting everything you worked for.”
“Clara is the reason I survived long enough to build any of it.”
I climbed into the ambulance.
Before the doors closed, Marcus leaned toward me.
“There is another problem.”
“What?”
“The security footage shows Damian entering Mrs. Vale’s bedroom several times while she was asleep.”
My blood turned cold.
“Did he touch her?”
“Not on the footage we have reviewed.”
“Then why was he there?”
Marcus handed me a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a prescription bottle bearing Clara’s name.
May you like
The medication was not prescribed to her.
It was a powerful sedative.
