Chapter 1 - THE BRUISES THAT TOLD THE TRUTH
Arianne was still breathing when Baldric carried her out of the bathroom.
Barely.
Her head rested against his shoulder, her hair damp against his neck.
“Stay with me, sweetheart.”
Nothing.
Baldric looked at Derek.
“Call 911.”
Derek didn't move.
That was when Baldric understood something.
Derek wasn't shocked.
He was afraid.
Not afraid for Arianne.
Afraid of what would happen if she survived.
Baldric lowered his daughter onto the living-room sofa.
Then he pulled out his phone.
“Emergency medical response. Vance estate. Possible poisoning and physical assault.”
Derek finally found his voice.
“You can't call anyone.”
Baldric stared at him.
“Watch me.”
Bertha rushed down the staircase.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving my daughter.”
“You're humiliating this family!”
Baldric looked at her.
“Your family already did that.”
Sirens appeared in the distance.
Derek stepped forward.
“You don't understand. Arianne has mental health problems.”
Baldric's eyes narrowed.
“My daughter has never been diagnosed with anything.”
“She was prescribed medication.”
“By whom?”
Derek hesitated.
“Her doctor.”
“What doctor?”
Silence.
Baldric smiled coldly.
“That's what I thought.”
Paramedics rushed through the doors.
One examined Arianne.
“She's severely sedated.”
Another checked her pupils.
“Blood pressure is dropping.”
Baldric followed them.
Derek tried to stop him.
“You can't come.”
The paramedic looked at Baldric.
“He's her father.”
Derek stepped back.
Within minutes, Arianne was loaded into the ambulance.
Baldric climbed inside.
Before the doors closed, he looked at Derek.
“You have one chance.”
Derek swallowed.
“One chance for what?”
“To tell me the truth before I discover it myself.”
The ambulance doors slammed shut.
Derek watched it disappear.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
A voice on the other end whispered:
“Is she alive?”
Derek's face went pale.
“Yes.”
There was a long silence.
Then:
“Then you failed.”
At the hospital, doctors immediately began stabilizing Arianne.
Baldric stood behind the glass.
A toxicology nurse approached.
“Sir?”
“Yes?”
“We found something unusual.”
“What?”
“The puncture marks aren't consistent with recreational drug use.”
Baldric's jaw tightened.
“What are they consistent with?”
“Repeated controlled injections.”
“How long?”
“Possibly weeks.”
Baldric closed his eyes.
Weeks.
That meant Derek had been doing this while Arianne smiled at family dinners.
While Gideon played with his grandfather.
While Baldric had told himself not to interfere.
The nurse lowered her voice.
“There is something else.”
She handed him a preliminary report.
Arianne's blood contained traces of a powerful sedative.
But the concentration wasn't random.
It had been administered in carefully measured doses.
Baldric looked at the report.
“This was planned.”
“Yes.”
His phone vibrated.
A message appeared from his private investigator.
WE FOUND THE PRESCRIPTION RECORDS.
Then another message arrived.
THE PRESCRIPTION WAS NEVER AUTHORIZED BY ARIANNE'S DOCTOR.
Baldric stared at the screen.
Someone had forged her medical records.
And whoever had done it had access to a medical system.
His phone rang again.
This time it was his attorney.
“Mr. Vance.”
“Yes.”
“We need to talk.”
“About what?”
“The estate.”
Baldric's expression hardened.
“What about it?”
“There has been an attempt to transfer ownership of several Vance properties.”
“To whom?”
A pause.
“Derek.”
Baldric looked through the glass at his unconscious daughter.
Suddenly, the entire puzzle came together.
The drugs.
The bruises.
The forged prescriptions.
The attempted transfer.
This wasn't domestic violence alone.
May you like
It was an attempted takeover.
And Baldric had just found the first piece of evidence.
