Chapter 3 - THE SECRET BEDSIDE TAPE“Get back!” Detective Vance shouted, kicking open the ICU door and aiming his firearm directly at Julian’s chest. “Drop the weapon!”
Julian didn't drop the syringe. Instead, he lunged toward Dr. Parker, using her as a human shield as he tried to maneuver into my room. In a flash of pure adrenaline, Dr. Parker jabbed her elbow backward into Julian’s solar plexus. He wheezed, losing his balance for a split second.
Detective Vance tackled Julian to the floor, disarming him and slamming his face into the cold tile. The needle shattered against the ground, spraying a lethal dose of potassium chloride across the floor.
As hospital security and nursing staff rushed to reinforce the room, I sat trembling on the bed, clutching my stomach. Julian was pulled to his feet, laughing maniacally despite the blood dripping from his nose.
“You’re too late, Madison!” Julian sneered, glaring at me with psychotic glee. “You think Daniel wanted Arthur’s money? He doesn't give a damn about the Carter estate! He wanted the contents of Safety Deposit Box 408 at First National Bank. And your mother already gave him the key!”
“What are you talking about? What's in Box 408?!” I screamed, tears finally spilling over my cheeks.
Julian was dragged away by officers, his mocking laughter echoing down the emergency hallway.
Detective Vance turned to me, sweating and disheveled. “Ms. Vance, we need to know what your mother was hiding. Does Safety Deposit Box 408 mean anything to you?”
I racked my brain, trying to remember any detail from my mother’s past. Before marrying Arthur Carter, my mother was a chief accountant at a major defense contracting firm. She had quit abruptly six years ago, right around the time she met Arthur. She always told me she wanted a simpler life, but now, every piece of her past felt like a lie.
“Nurse Sarah,” I turned to the nurse who had followed me from the clinic. “My belongings. Where is the leather purse I brought to the exam room?”
Sarah retrieved my purse from the bedside locker. My hands shook violently as I unzipped the hidden inner lining. I pulled out a small, metallic flash drive that my mother had given me on my twenty-first birthday, telling me to keep it safe and never plug it into a computer unless she disappeared.
“She gave me this,” I said, handing it to Detective Vance. “She said it was her insurance policy.”
Vance immediately pulled out his encrypted laptop and inserted the drive. A single audio file appeared on the screen, labeled: CONFESSION_ARTHUR_CARTER_2022.mp3.
Vance pressed play. The room fell dead silent as a raspy, dying voice echoed from the laptop speakers.
“If you are listening to this, Eleanor... it means Daniel found out. I never meant to involve you in this nightmare. Daniel isn't my biological son. He is the son of Victor Vance... your ex-husband. He was planted in my company twenty years ago to destroy me from the inside...”
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My jaw dropped. The breath was stolen straight from my lungs.
Daniel wasn't my stepbrother. He was my biological half-brother.
