Chapter 10 - The Doctor
Detective Ramos kicked open Dr. Reed’s office door at 2:17 in the morning.
I watched from the hallway because the police had already threatened to carry me back to the hospital if I crossed another crime-scene line.
The office was empty.
Computer gone.
Desk drawers open.
A framed medical license lay facedown on the floor.
Charles’s attorney, Dana Brooks, stood beside me with her laptop.
“He filed the petition at 11:42 tonight.”
“After the hospital found out he accessed my records.”
“Yes.”
“So he knew we were onto him.”
“Yes.”
Dana looked at me.
“He also requested a psychiatric evaluation before delivery.”
My teeth clenched.
“Why before delivery?”
“I’m working on that.”
A detective called from inside.
“We’ve got a safe.”
Ramos found a key under the desk.
Inside were cash envelopes, patient files, and a burner phone.
The phone contained dozens of messages from a contact saved only as NH.
My husband.
One message read:
Need notes consistent with impaired judgment.
Another:
Use confusion, paranoia, memory lapse. Keep blood pressure documented.
My vision narrowed.
Dana photographed the screen.
Then Ramos opened the final thread.
BEFORE DELIVERY. EVERYTHING HAS TO BE IN PLACE BEFORE DELIVERY.
I touched my stomach.
“Why?”
Nobody answered.
A sound came from the back hallway.
Metal scraping tile.
Two officers drew weapons.
“Police!”
A man stumbled out of the records room.
Dr. Reed.
His shirt was soaked with sweat.
One hand clutched his ribs.
“Don’t shoot.”
Ramos lowered his weapon slightly.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Reed raised both hands.
He looked at me.
His face collapsed.
“I didn’t know he would hurt you.”
I stepped forward.
“You altered my records.”
“I wrote what he told me.”
“You called me confused.”
“He paid me.”
“You accessed my medical history.”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
“Did you put anything in my vitamins?”
His head snapped up.
“No.”
“Did you tell Nathan how?”
“No.”
“Did you help him get a power of attorney?”
Reed swallowed.
“I prepared the physician packet.”
Charles lunged.
Ramos blocked him.
“You prepared paperwork to take away her rights?”
Reed backed against the wall.
“I thought it was a divorce strategy.”
I laughed without humor.
“You thought drugging a pregnant woman into looking unstable was a divorce strategy?”
“I didn’t know about the drugs.”
Dana stepped closer.
“Why before delivery?”
Reed’s face tightened.
“Nathan said after the baby came, the leverage disappeared.”
“What leverage?”
“I don’t know.”
Dana’s phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
“My office.”
She answered and walked two steps away.
Her expression changed almost immediately.
“Send it now.”
She hung up.
“What?” Charles asked.
Dana opened an email.
“I found the trust clause.”
She turned the laptop toward me.
The legal language meant nothing at first.
Then she translated.
“The moment you give birth to a living child, the mansion and thirty-one percent of Hale Industries voting shares move into a protected trust for you and the child.”
I stared at her.
“Thirty-one percent?”
“Your late father owned shares through an investment vehicle. Charles added his portion to the trust.”
Charles looked away.
“You never told me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
I almost screamed.
Instead, I pressed both palms to the desk.
“Can Nathan get those shares?”
“Not after delivery.”
“Through divorce?”
“No.”
“Through marriage?”
“No.”
“Through the power of attorney?”
“Only if he controls you before the trust activates.”
The room went very quiet.
I looked at the message on Reed’s burner phone.
BEFORE DELIVERY.
I whispered, “So when is his deadline?”
May you like
Dana looked at me.
“The day your child is born.”
