Chapter 3 - The Broken Doctor
(Approx. 3,500 words)The hunting cabin was damp, smelling of old pine and forgotten winters, but it provided shelter. Adrian spent the remaining hours of the night pacing the floorboards, watching the perimeter through a crack in the wooden shutters while Emma kept Noah warm by a small, smoking fireplace.
By the time the first rays of dawn broke through the canopy of the forest, Adrian had a plan. It was reckless, dangerous, and highly illegal, but he had nothing left to lose.
"Stay here with Noah," Adrian told Emma as the sun began to rise. "There's an old dirt bike in the shed behind the cabin. My father used it for trail riding. It still has gas. I’m going into the city alone."
Emma stood up, holding a waking Noah tightly. "Adrian, it's too dangerous. The police are looking for you. If they catch you, Victoria wins forever."
"They won't catch me," Adrian said, his eyes filled with a terrifyingly calm resolve. "Dr. Harrison’s private clinic opens at 7:00 AM. He always arrives an hour early to review his charts alone. He won't be expecting me. If I don't get his confession today, my mother will have him shipped out of the country by tonight. She doesn't leave loose ends."
Emma looked at him for a long moment, seeing the fierce transformation in him. He was no longer the polished corporate executive in a charcoal suit. His clothes were torn, his face was smudged with dirt, and his eyes burned with the fire of a man seeking justice for the woman he loved.
"Be careful," she whispered. "For Noah's sake. For Celeste's."
Thirty minutes later, Adrian arrived at the back entrance of the Harrison Women’s Health Clinic in downtown. He had abandoned the dirt bike two blocks away, covering his face with a hooded sweatshirt he found in the cabin.
He waited by the heavy steel service door. At exactly 6:05 AM, a silver luxury sedan pulled into the doctor's reserved parking spot. Dr. Robert Harrison, a man in his late late-fifties with thinning gray hair and an air of professional superiority, stepped out, carrying a leather briefcase.
As Harrison swiped his keycard at the door, Adrian lunged forward.
He grabbed the doctor by the collar of his expensive coat, slamming him hard against the steel door. Before Harrison could scream, Adrian shoved his hand over the doctor's mouth and pushed him inside the dim, empty hallway of the clinic, locking the door behind them.
"Mmph! Mmph!" Harrison thrashed, his eyes bulging with terror as he looked into the feral eyes of Adrian Walker.
"Make a sound, and I will ensure you never breathe another breath," Adrian hissed in his ear. He slowly lowered his hand.
Harrison gasped for air, his knees shaking. "Adrian! Are you insane? The news... the TV says you’ve had a breakdown! You kidnapped your son!"
"My mother is very efficient, isn't she?" Adrian smiled bitterly, dragging Harrison by the arm into the doctor’s private office, throwing him into his own plush leather chair. Adrian stood over him, pulling Celeste’s yellowed note from his pocket and slamming it onto the desk.
"Read it," Adrian commanded.
Harrison looked down at the paper. The moment his eyes caught the handwriting, the blood drained from his face, leaving him looking like a corpse. "Where... where did you get this?"
"My wife’s sister," Adrian said, leaning down, pressing his hands on the desk, his face inches from the doctor’s. "The sister my mother tried to erase. The sister who worked as a maid in my house just to expose the truth. I know about the medical records, Robert. I know you changed her blood type in the system. I know you murdered my wife on that operating table."
"No, no! It was a complication!" Harrison stammered, his voice trembling. "An acute hemolytic reaction! It happens!"
"It happens when a doctor intentionally transfuses the wrong blood type!" Adrian shouted, his voice echoing off the walls of the sterile office. "You took an oath! She trusted you! I trusted you! How much did my mother pay you to kill my wife?"
"I had no choice!" Harrison suddenly broken down, burying his face in his hands, weeping unproductively. "You don't understand, Adrian! Victoria... she didn't just offer me money. She had proof that I had been mismanaging the clinic’s funds. She threatened to strip my medical license, send me to prison, and ruin my family! She told me Celeste was going to destroy Walker Enterprises anyway, that she was a radical who wanted to burn everything down!"
Adrian felt a freezing coldness settle over his heart. "So you killed her."
"She told me it would be painless!" Harrison sobbed. "She said it would just look like an unfortunate error! I didn't want to do it, Adrian! I’ve seen Celeste in my nightmares every single night for three years!"
"Good," Adrian said, pulling his smartphone from his pocket. He hadn't turned it on, but he had carried a small, battery-operated digital voice recorder he found in his father's cabin. He lifted it from his pocket, showing the little red recording light to the doctor. "Because the police are going to want to hear all about those nightmares."
Harrison gasped. "You... you recorded me?"
"Every word," Adrian said, pocketing the recorder. "Now, you are going to come with me. We are going to the federal prosecutor's office. Not the local police. The federal authorities. My mother can't buy them as easily."
But before Adrian could pull Harrison out of the chair, the glass window of the office shattered inward.
A hail of bullets ripped through the room. Adrian threw himself to the floor, covering his head as glass and plaster rained down upon him.
Through the chaos, he heard Harrison scream—a short, wet, choking sound.
When the gunfire ceased, Adrian raised his head through the dust. Dr. Harrison was slumped over his desk, his chest riddled with bullet holes, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.
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Through the shattered window, Adrian saw a black SUV speeding away from the curb.
His mother hadn't just been tracking him. She had been tracking the doctor, too. And she had just eliminated the only witness who could put her behind bars.
