Chapter 5 - DR. TRENT’S RECORDS LED BACK TO THE CRASH
The car accident had been investigated eleven weeks earlier.
Dominic knew the official story.
Wet pavement.
Delivery truck changed lanes.
His driver swerved.
Vale sedan struck the barrier.
Driver survived.
Dominic injured.
No mechanical defect.
No criminal cause.
Case closed.
Then Dr. Trent’s records gave Vincent a reason to reopen one detail.
Trent had not been Dominic’s original orthopedic consultant.
The hospital assigned another surgeon.
Trent entered the case three days later.
Who requested him?
Arthur Voss.
Normal perhaps.
Trent had treated several Vale executives.
Then investigators found a payment.
Two weeks before the crash, one Arthur-controlled consulting account paid a risk-management firm.
That firm subcontracted to a transportation consultant.
That consultant had inspected Vale fleet maintenance.
Still not sinister.
The problem:
The consultant was Dr. Trent’s brother-in-law.
Too many circles.
Dominic said:
“Stop.”
Vincent frowned.
“What?”
“We’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Turning connections into guilt.”
He remembered Clare’s warning about her husband.
Terrible things could still be accidents.
So they separated the questions.
Was the crash caused deliberately?
Mechanical reinspection found no evidence of tampering.
Traffic footage supported a sudden lane conflict.
The truck driver had no Vale connection.
Conclusion:
Still an accident.
Good.
Dominic almost felt relief.
Not every scar needed an enemy.
Then the second question:
Did someone exploit the accident afterward?
That answer was different.
Arthur quickly centralized Dominic’s medical care.
Trent took control of rehabilitation decisions.
Vale corporate health paid bills with little independent review.
Arthur received temporary operational authority.
And when Dominic recovered faster than expected during weeks four through six, board records showed Arthur’s influence beginning to shrink.
Then Trent changed the rehabilitation plan.
More restriction.
Less independent loading.
More pessimistic notes.
Caleb Shaw was hired.
Three weeks later Dominic began deteriorating.
The crash was an accident.
The setback might not have been.
That distinction mattered.
Then Trent’s emails surfaced.
One to Arthur:
If you need a six-month runway, his current recovery trajectory won’t give it to you.
Dominic stared.
Arthur replied:
Then be realistic in the record.
Not:
Hurt him.
Not:
Make him worse.
But the next email:
Trent:
He pushes beyond recommendation. I can increase mechanical restriction to protect the repair.
Arthur:
Do what keeps him from turning every rehab session into a demonstration for the board.
There.
Ambiguous enough for lawyers.
Ugly enough for Dominic.
Trent claimed he interpreted the message clinically.
Arthur claimed he meant prevent Dominic from overexerting himself.
Caleb claimed Trent later told him to alter the brace without charting it.
Investigators had to decide what could be proven.
Meanwhile, Dominic had another problem.
His left leg was not the only thing failing.
He was not sleeping.
Appetite poor.
Temper shorter.
He had become obsessed with catching every lie personally.
Mara Chen finally told him:
“You’re sabotaging your own recovery now.”
He stared.
“Excuse me?”
“Stress increases pain.”
“Poor sleep slows recovery.”
“You skip exercises when meetings run late.”
“You overdo them when angry.”
Then:
“Arthur may have interfered.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to finish the job for him.”
Dominic hated her.
For almost six minutes.
Then accepted the truth.
He reduced meetings.
Delegated.
Rehabilitation first.
Not because weakness won.
Because leadership without self-preservation was theater.
Clare noticed.
“You’re home before midnight.”
“It’s my house.”
“You know what I mean.”
He did.
Then one evening, he found Ellie asleep on the sofa in the staff sitting room.
Clare was on the floor beside her working through bills.
Hospital bill.
Childcare invoice.
Rent notice.
Dominic stopped.
“You’re behind.”
Clare looked up sharply.
“Don’t read my mail.”
“It was facing me.”
“Convenient.”
He should have left.
Instead:
“Why?”
She sighed.
“Why what?”
“You work full-time.”
“My late husband’s life insurance was small.”
“Daycare is expensive.”
“Rent increased.”
“And I’m paying off legal fees from fighting St. Catherine after they fired me.”
Dominic understood numbers.
“How much?”
Clare’s expression hardened instantly.
“No.”
“I asked how much.”
“And I said no.”
He almost smiled.
Then:
“Fine.”
She looked suspicious.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re bad at nothing.”
True.
He walked away.
The next day, Clare received a notice from payroll.
Housekeeping wages across the estate were being adjusted after a compensation review.
Not just hers.
All lower-wage household staff.
Average increase:
11%.
Clare found Dominic.
“You did this.”
“No.”
“Sylvio said you ordered a compensation review.”
“That affects thirty-two people.”
“You saw my bills.”
“I also discovered my estate pays executive assistants twice what senior housekeeping supervisors make despite fewer hours.”
“That offended my sense of arithmetic.”
Clare stared.
“Not charity?”
“No.”
“Then I accept.”
Good.
Then she asked:
“Why are you doing any of this?”
Dominic thought about the board.
Arthur.
The brace.
Caleb.
The way people in his world assumed access without asking because power sat above permission.
He said:
“Because apparently I’m learning things late.”
Clare’s face softened.
“Late is still learning.”
That sentence stayed with him.
Two days later, Dr. Trent was arrested—not for attempted murder, not for causing the crash, but on financial and professional charges tied to fraudulent billing and falsified medical records after a broader investigation.
The medical-board process began separately.
Arthur was not arrested.
Not yet.
His conduct remained under investigation.
And that made Dominic angrier than a clean villain would have.
May you like
Because systems are harder to hate than monsters.
And Arthur had built himself into the system.
