Chapter 7 - THE HOSPITAL RECORD
We reached the hospital twenty minutes later.
Sabrina was locked inside an administrative office.
Her face was bruised.
She held a folder against her chest.
When she saw Mason, she stepped back.
“Don't come closer.”
He stopped.
“I won't hurt you.”
“I know.”
She looked at me.
“He never hurt me either.”
I understood.
She had been investigating him.
Not seducing him.
Not replacing me.
Investigating him.
She handed me the folder.
“These are the original records.”
I opened them.
The medication had been approved.
Not denied.
Approved.
Three days before Daisy died.
My hands began shaking.
“Then why didn't she receive it?”
Sabrina pointed to one page.
“Look at the authorization number.”
I did.
Then I saw the difference.
The hospital's system showed approval.
The pharmacy system showed rejection.
Someone had intercepted the authorization between them.
“Who had access?”
“Three people.”
“The pharmacy administrator.”
“The family office.”
“And?”
Sabrina looked at Mason.
“Your uncle.”
Mason cursed.
“Where is Victor?”
“Gone.”
Then the lights went out.
Someone screamed in the hallway.
Emergency lighting flickered red.
Mason pulled me behind him.
“Stay close.”
Footsteps approached.
Fast.
A door slammed.
Then a man appeared at the end of the corridor.
Victor Ross.
He looked older than the photographs.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
Calm expression.
He smiled.
“Mason.”
Mason stepped forward.
“You killed Daisy.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“You intercepted her medication.”
“I intercepted the authorization.”
“That's the same thing.”
Victor's expression remained cold.
“I needed Elizabeth angry.”
I felt something inside me turn to ice.
“You used my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To activate the trust.”
I stared at him.
“You killed a child for money.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“I never expected her to die.”
The words were somehow worse.
“She was supposed to stabilize.”
“But she didn't.”
Victor shrugged.
“Collateral damage.”
Mason lunged.
Victor's men appeared immediately.
Chaos erupted.
Mason fought one.
Sabrina ran toward the stairwell.
I grabbed the folder.
Someone grabbed me from behind.
I screamed.
Then Callahan struck the man with a metal railing.
“Move!”
We ran.
Victor shouted after us.
“Elizabeth!”
I stopped.
He called my name again.
“You think your father loved you?”
I turned.
Victor smiled.
“He didn't.”
“He knew what I was.”
“He knew what you would become.”
I shook my head.
“You're lying.”
Victor's smile widened.
“Ask Clara why your father really died.”
Then he disappeared.
I looked at Callahan.
“What did he mean?”
Callahan looked away.
“Callahan.”
He didn't answer.
“Tell me.”
Finally, he whispered:
“Your father didn't die naturally.”
The world seemed to stop.
“What?”
“He was poisoned.”
My knees weakened.
“Who?”
“We never proved it.”
I looked at the documents.
Then at Mason.
He was bleeding from his forehead.
He walked toward me.
“Elizabeth.”
I stepped away.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Did Clara?”
“I don't know.”
Everything had become a maze.
Then Sabrina opened another file.
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
She handed me a bank statement.
The recipient was:
VICTOR ROSS TRUST.
But the account holder was listed as:
MASON ROSS.
I stared at my husband.
His face went pale.
“I don't have that account.”
Sabrina shook her head.
“Someone does.”
Then I noticed the date of the first transfer.
It was dated three years before I met Mason.
Before our wedding.
Before Daisy.
Before anyone knew I would ever marry him.
That meant the conspiracy had started long before I entered the Ross family.
And I suddenly understood.
May you like
I had never been the target.
I had been the final piece.
