Chapter 15 - The Doctor Talks

Cole begged for protection.

Monroe promised nothing.

But once the restraints were removed, he talked.

Fast.

Serena had hired him years earlier.

At first, he falsified medical reports.

Then he helped manipulate Project Aster records.

Later, he provided sedatives used on Ethan.

Victor struggled to remain seated.

“You drugged my son.”

Cole looked down.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Serena needed him to appear cognitively impaired.”

Victor’s fists clenched.

Monroe intervened.

“Amelia.”

Cole went pale.

“I wasn’t involved in the brake line.”

“Who was?”

“Julian ordered it.”

“We know.”

Cole shook his head.

“No.”

“You don’t.”

“Julian hired someone to damage the vehicle.”

“But Amelia survived the crash.”

Victor stopped breathing.

Cole continued.

“She was conscious when paramedics reached her.”

“She should have lived.”

Lily whispered.

“What happened?”

Cole looked at Victor.

“Serena met the ambulance at St. Vincent’s.”

“This clinic?”

“Yes.”

“Julian arranged for Amelia to be diverted here under the excuse that the nearest trauma center was full.”

Victor’s face became gray.

Cole continued.

“She had internal bleeding.”

“Treatable.”

“But Serena ordered medication that lowered her blood pressure further.”

Victor stood.

Monroe moved between them.

“You killed her.”

Cole shook his head desperately.

“I didn’t administer it.”

“Who did?”

Cole swallowed.

“Your mother.”

Victor froze.

“My mother?”

Eleanor Hale.

Victor’s mother had died three years earlier.

A respected philanthropist.

The woman who had raised him.

The woman who had held him at Amelia’s funeral.

Cole nodded.

“She was here.”

Victor looked physically ill.

“Why?”

“Because she knew about Project Aster.”

“She believed exposing it would destroy the Hale family.”

Lily felt cold.

Eleanor had chosen the family name over Amelia’s life.

Cole continued.

“Serena told her Amelia was going public.”

“Eleanor panicked.”

“She approved the medication.”

Victor sat down again.

Everything he believed about his family was collapsing.

Then Cole added.

“Serena recorded the entire conversation.”

Monroe leaned forward.

“Where is it?”

Cole looked at the countdown phone.

“That timer isn’t only an upload.”

“What else?”

“At zero, the archive wipes itself from Serena’s private server.”

“Everything.”

May you like

"The vanilla buttercream hit the hardwood floor with a sickening, heavy...

"The vanilla buttercream hit the hardwood floor with a sickening, heavy thud. I didn’t even register the sound of the custom glass...

"The perfect wife was about to commit the unthinkable. Then the front do...

"""""""The perfect wife was about to commit the unthinkable. Then the front door opened.""""The heavy bronze candlestick was raise...

"When my husband shoved me into the freezing pool in front of his entire...

"When my husband shoved me into the freezing pool in front of his entire family, I thought the cold water would be the worst part....

“Including the recording of Eleanor ordering Amelia’s death.”

Forty-seven hours remained.