Chapter 11 - Elise
Elise’s infection was caught early.
That sentence became the only one I cared about.
Antibiotics started immediately.
Doctors monitored her continuously.
I sat beside her incubator with one hand resting through the access port.
“Mommy is here.”
Her fingers were smaller than the tip of mine.
“Mommy is right here.”
Noah remained stable.
Elise did not worsen.
Still, I spent that night terrified.
Grant learned about the infection through the hospital’s parental notification process.
For once, he arrived without a lawyer.
Without Vanessa.
Without a camera.
He stood outside the NICU.
“Can I see her?”
The supervising nurse checked the order.
Then looked at me.
I nodded.
He washed his hands.
Put on the required gown.
Entered.
For fifteen minutes, Grant said nothing.
He stared at Elise.
Then Noah.
His face changed in a way I had not seen before.
Maybe reality finally reached him.
“They’re so small.”
I looked at him.
“They were this small when you called them burdens.”
He closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“No.”
My voice stayed quiet.
“You know now.”
He did not defend himself.
That was new.
He sat beside the incubator.
“Is she going to be okay?”
“They’re hopeful.”
He nodded.
Then he whispered:
“I’m sorry.”
I hated how much I had once wanted those words.
Now they felt late.
Not meaningless.
Late.
“You don’t apologize to me for this.”
He looked confused.
“One day, if they want to hear it, you apologize to them.”
His eyes filled.
Then he told me something I had not expected.
“Vanessa’s baby may not be mine.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“She told me yesterday.”
I did not know why he thought that information belonged beside our daughter’s incubator.
Perhaps because everything in his life was collapsing and he no longer knew where to put the pieces.
“I’m sorry you’re dealing with that.”
My answer surprised him.
Not cruel.
Not comforting.
Simply true.
He looked at me for a long time.
“You really don’t care anymore.”
I looked at Elise.
“I care about many things.”
He understood.
He was no longer one of the central ones.
Before leaving, Grant asked if he could return the next day.
“If the hospital allows it.”
“And you?”
“I won’t stop safe visits.”
He nodded.
That should have been the first step toward accountability.
Then Rachel called.
The independent investigation had found something inside Crestline’s purchasing records.
Grant had been steering contracts.
Not only manipulating a sale.
One supplier had received unusually favorable treatment.
The supplier’s ownership was hidden behind two holding companies.
The ultimate beneficiary was Vanessa’s brother.
And Beacon Crest Health had purchased millions in products from that supplier.
Grandfather’s hospitals had unknowingly been feeding Grant’s private scheme.
May you like
Now the hospital network itself had become part of the investigation.
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