Chapter 9 - THE DOCTOR
My therapist’s name was Dr. Helen Cross.
Adrian recommended her two years ago.
I trusted her.
That trust ended when Daniel Reed showed me the invoices.
Vale Dominion paid her consulting company.
Not once.
Every month.
“Why?”
I asked.
No one needed to answer.
Investigators obtained a warrant.
Dr. Cross had kept two sets of notes.
The ones I saw described anxiety.
Stress.
Marital conflict.
The private ones described “possible self-harm tendencies.”
I had never harmed myself.
Another entry claimed I admitted creating bruises to “gain sympathy.”
I had never said that.
The records were designed for court.
My stomach turned.
My mother read one page and stopped.
“I’m going to destroy her.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Legally.”
She smiled without humor.
“Of course.”
Dr. Cross was arrested for falsifying medical documentation and conspiracy-related charges.
She cooperated immediately.
Adrian had paid her.
Margaret introduced them.
The plan was simple.
If I signed the financial agreements willingly, the records would never matter.
If I refused, Adrian would petition for temporary control of my trust on the grounds that I was mentally unstable.
The bruises could be blamed on self-harm.
My father looked physically ill.
“I saw some of them.”
I looked at him.
“You believed I fell.”
“I wanted to believe you.”
That hurt.
“But I asked if you were okay.”
“You asked once.”
He lowered his eyes.
“I should have asked until you answered honestly.”
Yes.
He should have.
So should many people.
Serena provided more evidence.
Text messages from Adrian.
Make sure Claire drinks tonight.
I need her emotional in front of witnesses.
Another.
If she cries, let her.
Everyone needs to see how unstable she is.
My birthday party had been another setup.
He expected the bruises to show.
He expected me to react badly.
He expected guests to remember a distressed wife.
Instead, my father smashed a cake into his face.
And my mother walked through the door.
Their plan died in less than sixty seconds.
Then Dr. Cross gave investigators one last piece.
Adrian was not waiting for a future guardianship petition.
He had already filed one.
Sealed.
The hearing had been scheduled for three days after my birthday.
Adrian intended to have me declared temporarily incompetent before I even knew the case existed.
He had prepared everything.
Except a living mother.
May you like
A furious father.
And a security camera that had recorded years of things he thought no one would ever see.
