Chapter 8 - MIA'S SECRET
Mia sat in a small rented cottage outside the city when Daniel returned with the latest information.
She had not slept.
The doctor had called twice.
She hadn't answered.
The message from Adrian had been replaying in her mind.
The person who ordered me to monitor Mia was your wife.
She knew what it sounded like.
And she knew Adrian might believe it.
“Tell me everything,” Daniel said.
Mia looked down at the silver key.
“I went to see Dr. Bennett three weeks ago.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I was having strange symptoms. Dizziness. Numbness in my legs. I thought it might be related to the old injury.”
“And?”
“He told me he wanted additional tests.”
“Did he mention the baby?”
“He didn't know I was pregnant then.”
Mia paused.
“Two days later, he called and asked me to come alone. He said he had discovered something unusual in my old medical records.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“What?”
Mia reached into her handbag and removed a sealed envelope.
Inside was a photocopy of a medical report from six years earlier.
The report stated that her spinal injury had been more complicated than she had been told.
There was evidence of nerve damage caused by an earlier medical procedure.
Mia looked at Daniel.
“Someone changed my original surgical notes.”
Daniel read the report.
“Who?”
“Dr. Bennett.”
“Why?”
“He said he was following instructions from the hospital board.”
Mia swallowed.
“He also told me something else.”
“What?”
“He said there might be a treatment that could improve my mobility.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because he asked me not to. He said the treatment was experimental and that the people who funded it wanted to keep it confidential.”
“Who funded it?”
Mia hesitated.
“Eleanor Vale.”
Daniel stood.
“Your mother-in-law?”
Mia nodded.
For years, she had believed Eleanor's generosity was simply part of the family's obligation to her.
The private rehabilitation center.
The specialists.
The expensive equipment.
All of it had been funded through a foundation controlled by Eleanor.
“What was she trying to do?” Daniel asked.
“I don't know.”
Mia opened the report again.
“Dr. Bennett said my original injury might have been treatable. He believed the damage was deliberately worsened.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“Are you saying someone made sure you wouldn't walk again?”
Mia looked away.
“I don't know.”
A car door slammed outside.
Both siblings froze.
Daniel reached for his weapon.
A familiar voice called from the porch.
“Mia?”
Adrian.
Daniel moved toward the window.
“Stay back.”
Mia closed her eyes.
She had spent six years imagining Adrian coming after her.
In those fantasies, he would have apologized, begged, and told her she was the only woman he had ever loved.
But the man standing outside was not the man she had imagined.
He was a dangerous stranger who knew how to find people.
She opened the door.
Adrian stood in the rain.
No bodyguards.
No gun visible.
His eyes moved to her stomach.
“Are you all right?”
Mia didn't answer.
He looked at Daniel.
“May I speak with her?”
“No.”
“Daniel,” Mia said quietly.
Her brother stepped aside, but he stayed close.
Adrian entered.
For several seconds, neither he nor Mia spoke.
Then he placed a folder on the table.
“Your father is alive. He's safe. And I have the documents proving Eleanor hid him.”
Mia looked at the folder.
“Why are you here?”
“Because I owe you the truth.”
“You owed me that before I became pregnant.”
“I know.”
He took a breath.
“I didn't know how to love someone without feeling like I was losing control. You came into my life when I was broken, and I convinced myself that marrying you was the right thing to do.”
Mia's eyes filled.
“You made me feel like I had to earn my place in your life.”
“I know.”
“And when I heard you say you owed me your life, not your love, I realized you had never intended to give me anything else.”
Adrian looked down.
“I didn't know what I felt until you left.”
She shook her head.
“That's not love. That's fear.”
“Maybe it started that way.”
He moved closer.
“But I don't want you back because of the baby. I want you because I finally understand what you were to me before I ever understood what I was to you.”
Mia looked at him.
For the first time, she saw something in his expression she had never seen before.
Not power.
Not control.
Fear.
But she couldn't forgive him yet.
“There's something you need to see,” she said.
She placed the medical report in front of him.
Adrian read it.
His face changed.
Then he reached the last page.
A signature appeared at the bottom.
Eleanor Vale.
But the date was not six years ago.
May you like
It was three weeks earlier.
And beside the signature was an authorization for a medical procedure scheduled for Mia the following morning.
