Chapter 5 - THE MAN IN THE HOSPITAL ROOM
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I refused to let Dorian drive me.
He sent two security men after me, but I made it clear that if either of them tried to stop me, I would call every reporter in Boston and explain why the Kincaid estate was suddenly under lockdown.
They let me leave.
The hospital was surrounded by police cruisers when I arrived. A detective met me outside the intensive care unit and asked me to identify myself.
When I said my name, his expression changed.
"You're the daughter?"
I nodded.
He glanced toward Dorian, who had arrived minutes behind me.
"We need to speak with both of you."
"I need to see my father first," I said.
The detective hesitated, then allowed me inside.
An elderly man lay beneath white sheets, an oxygen tube beneath his nose. His face was thinner than in the photograph, and a bandage covered his temple.
But I recognized him.
The scar above his left eyebrow. The crooked little finger on his right hand. The silver ring he had worn for as long as I could remember.
"Dad?"
His eyelids fluttered.
I approached the bed, trembling.
"It's Audra. I'm here."
His eyes opened.
For several seconds, he stared at me as if he were looking at a ghost.
Then his hand moved weakly toward mine.
"My little girl."
I began to cry.
"Where have you been? Why did everyone tell me you were dead?"
He closed his eyes.
"Because I was supposed to be."
I looked toward the doorway.
Dorian stood there, motionless.
My father noticed him.
Fear crossed his face.
"Get him out."
Dorian didn't move.
"Dorian," I whispered.
He stepped into the corridor without protest.
My father clutched my hand.
"Listen carefully. You cannot trust the Kincaid family. Not Dorian. Not his father. Not the people who work for them."
"Why did you disappear?"
"Your father-in-law stole millions from my company. When I discovered it, he threatened to destroy you and your mother."
I felt sick.
"Did Dorian know?"
My father looked toward the door.
"At first, no. Later, I believe he knew enough to become dangerous."
"Why did you leave me?"
"Because someone had already tried to poison your mother. I believed that if everyone thought I was dead, they would leave you alone."
"But Mom died anyway."
His face crumpled.
"I know."
A nurse entered and checked his monitor. She told us he needed rest, but my father refused to release my hand.
"There's something you must find," he whispered. "The original ledger. It contains every payment, every bribe, every name. Without it, the people responsible will walk free."
"Where is it?"
"Your mother hid it."
I remembered the letter.
"Where?"
He squeezed my fingers.
"The place where your childhood ended."
Before I could ask what he meant, the monitor began beeping rapidly.
Nurses rushed into the room.
I was pushed into the hallway as they worked to stabilize him.
Dorian caught my shoulders.
"Audra, look at me."
I shoved him away.
"Don't touch me."
His face tightened, but he let me go.
Through the glass, I watched doctors fight to keep my father alive.
And then I saw something that made my blood freeze.
A man in a hospital uniform stood at the end of the corridor, watching me.
He lifted his phone, took a photograph, and disappeared through a service door.
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Someone knew my father was alive.
And someone was still trying to finish what they had started seventeen years ago.
