Chapter 4 - A Promise Made in the Dark
Z
I read the invoice until the words blurred.
Sterling had not merely arranged my marriage. He had signed for medical supplies connected to Everett's treatment, and those supplies had been routed through a company named in Everett's private notebook.
But suspicion was not proof.
I had learned that lesson the hardest way possible.
Before I could discuss the invoice with Leo, the house manager knocked on the ICU door and announced that Sterling wanted me downstairs.
I found him in the library with two attorneys and a woman wearing an elegant gray suit. The woman introduced herself as Meredith Shaw, the attorney overseeing Everett's estate.
“Mrs. Kane,” Meredith said, “we need to discuss the conditions of your marriage.”
Sterling gestured toward a chair.
I remained standing.
“Your husband is currently unable to make legal decisions,” Meredith continued. “His estate is protected by a trust. However, if he dies, the distribution of certain assets will depend on the terms of his existing will and the validity of any amendments.”
“Why am I here?”
“Because Sterling believes Everett may have signed a new document shortly before his accident.”
“I have no idea what he signed.”
“Perhaps not,” Sterling said. “But you have access to his private room. You may have seen something.”
The question was a trap. They wanted to know whether I had found the notebook.
“I've seen a man who deserves better medical care than he's receiving,” I said.
One attorney gave a quiet, disbelieving laugh.
Sterling didn't.
“Your concern is touching. But let's be practical. You have a debt-free life now. Your mother's care is secured. All you have to do is remain here and allow the doctors to do their work.”
“And if I refuse?”
“The payments can be reconsidered.”
There it was again: my mother, used like a chain around my neck.
I thought of the woman who had raised me alone, who had worked double shifts at a laundromat so I could attend nursing school. She had taught me that kindness was not weakness and that fear was never a reason to abandon someone who needed help.
“I'll stay,” I said. “But I won't sign anything.”
Sterling's eyes narrowed.
“We'll see.”
When I returned upstairs, Everett's room was empty.
For one terrifying moment, I thought he had been moved. Then I heard a faint sound from behind the privacy screen.
Leo stood near the bed, holding a small medical bag.
“Whitfield said he needed to change the dressing,” Leo explained. “I made him leave the supplies here until you could check the inventory.”
I examined the labels without touching the medication.
One vial carried a batch number that didn't match the invoice. Another had a label printed over an older label.
“This is wrong,” I said.
“Can you prove it?”
“Not yet.”
Leo placed the bag on a side table.
“I've contacted a physician who isn't connected to the family. Dr. Hannah Cole. She specializes in neurological rehabilitation. She'll review the records if we can get them to her.”
“Will she come here?”
“If I can convince her that she'll leave alive.”
I almost smiled.
After Leo left, I sat beside Everett and opened the notebook again.
“I don't know what you planned,” I whispered. “I don't know who betrayed you. But I'm not going to let them turn your life into a business transaction.”
His eyelids trembled.
I leaned forward.
“Everett?”
His lips parted, but no sound emerged.
Then his thumb moved once against the blanket.
It was a small movement. Almost nothing.
But it was deliberate.
I held my breath.
“I know you're there,” I whispered. “You don't have to fight alone.”
For the first time, a tear slipped from the corner of his closed eye.
I wiped it away with a clean tissue.
May you like
And I made another promise.
“I'll find out who did this to you.”
