Chapter 4 - The Snake in the Garden“Clara, please,” I choked out, tears finally breaking past my resolve and streaming down my face. “I was wrong. God forgive me, I was so horribly wrong. Someone poisoned you... someone gave you synthetic labor drugs.”
Clara turned her eyes back toward the window, refusing to look at me. “You didn't ask if I was okay, Ethan. You looked at blood and accused me of betraying you. You trusted your mother’s whispers over three years of my devotion.”
Her words hit me harder than a bullet. She was right. I had allowed my mother’s subtle gaslighting to build a fortress of suspicion around my heart, waiting for a single trigger to validate my worst fears.
“I will fix this,” I swore, standing up, my jaw set like iron. “I will find whoever did this to you and our daughter, and I will tear their world apart.”
“I don't care about your war, Ethan,” Clara whispered, a tear slipping down her temple. “I just want my baby to live.”
I stepped out of the hospital room and walked straight to the executive parking structure where Dominic was waiting inside a blacked-out SUV. Four heavy security detail cars sat idling behind him.
I climbed into the rear seat.
“Report,” I ordered, my voice terrifyingly calm.
Dominic handed me a tablet. “We ran the security footage from the penthouse lobby. At 8:15 PM—two hours before you landed—a woman wearing a nurse's uniform entered using a service key card. She carried a delivery box of fresh lilies sent to the apartment.”
“Who issued the key card?”
Dominic swallowed hard before answering. “The card was assigned to your mother’s personal assistant, Victoria.”
A heavy, suffocating silence filled the vehicle.
“We pulled the private bank records, boss,” Dominic continued reluctantly. “Victoria received a wire transfer of two hundred thousand dollars yesterday morning from an offshore account owned by Julian Rossi. Your mother arranged a meeting with Rossi three weeks ago to draft a merger agreement for your estate’s real estate holdings—an agreement that required you to have no legal heirs.”
My mother hadn't just tried to drive a wedge between Clara and me. She had conspired with our mortal enemies to terminate my child and frame my wife, ensuring that the control of the family fortune remained entirely in her hands.
“Where is my mother now?” I asked quietly.
“She’s at the family estate in Lake Forest, boss,” Dominic replied. “Preparing for a dinner with Julian Rossi.”
May you like
I locked my eyes onto the rear-view mirror.
“Drive to Lake Forest,” I commanded. “And bring the entire enforcement team.”
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