Chapter 4 - Unholy Alliances
As soon as Vance left the room, the overwhelming weight of the betrayal settled over us. I felt sick to my stomach. My own father was using his immense wealth to shield a attempted murderer, using my daughter's tragic prognosis as a bargaining chip.
“We can’t sign that,” Kevin said, pacing the small room. “It’s blood money, Chloe. If we sign that, she wins. She gets away with trying to kill our daughter.”
“But what if he bankrupts us, Kevin?” I cried, the tears flowing freely now. “You heard the doctor. Rosalie might never walk. She might need surgeries, specialized wheelchairs, round-the-clock nursing. Our insurance won’t cover half of that. If we fight them and lose, Rosalie suffers twice.”
Before Kevin could answer, my phone buzzed on the bedside table. It was an unknown number.
I answered it automatically, expecting another hostile relative.
“Chloe?” a voice whispered. It was shaky, terrified, and instantly recognizable.
It was Sarah. My younger sister. The golden child for whom the fatal gender reveal party had been thrown.
“Sarah?” I said, my voice hardening. “If you’re calling to tell me how I ruined your party—”
“No!” she interrupted, a sob breaking through her words. “Chloe, please, just listen to me. I’m at Mom and Dad’s house right now. I’m hiding in the guest bathroom. They think I’m packing for the airport to go to Switzerland with Mom.”
I went rigid. “Why are you calling me?”
“Because they’re lying to you,” Sarah gasped, her voice trembling violently. “Dad and Vance... they’re setting you up. I found Dad’s legal notepad on his desk. He’s not setting up an irrevocable trust for Rosalie. It’s a conditional trust. The paperwork Vance has says that if you ever speak to the press or the police, the trust is voided, and you have to repay every cent with interest. And there’s a clause in there... Chloe, if Rosalie passes away or is placed in a permanent state facility, the money reverts entirely back to Dad’s corporation.”
My heart stopped. “What?”
“They don’t want to help Rosalie,” Sarah wept. “They’re just trying to buy time until the statute of limitations on the assault charges runs out, or until they can prove that the ventilator malfunction was an 'accident' caused by the hospital staff. Dad already paid off one of the night-shift security guards to alter the visitor log. They’re erasing the evidence that Mom was even there!”
The depth of the depravity made my stomach turn. They weren’t just trying to protect Eleanor; they were actively planning to destroy us if we stepped out of line.
“Why are you telling me this, Sarah?” I asked, stunned by her sudden change of heart. “You’ve spent your whole life taking her side.”
“Because I’m pregnant with a little girl, Chloe,” Sarah sobbed out, the raw terror evident in her voice. “And yesterday, when Mom came back from the hospital before the police could track her down, she wasn’t sorry. She looked at my party decorations, smiled, and said, 'Well, now that the defective one is out of the way, we can focus on a baby that actually matters.' I looked at her, Chloe, and I realized... if my baby isn't perfect, she’d do the exact same thing to me. She’s a monster, and Dad is her fixer. I can’t be complicit anymore.”
A surge of fierce determination replaced my despair. “Sarah, can you get into Dad’s safe? Where he keeps the real corporate ledgers and the original security footage from the house cameras that night?”
“I don’t know the code,” she whispered.
May you like
“It’s your birthday,” I said immediately. “Or her birthday. Try those. If you can get the files, we can stop them.”
“I’ll try,” Sarah said. “But you have to hurry. Vance is coming back to the hospital in two hours to force you to sign.”
