Chapter 3 - THE PRESCRIPTION WITH MY NAME ON IT
Vanessa denied everything for exactly seven minutes.
Then Marcus found the pharmacy record.
The prescription had been purchased three days before Grace miscarried.
The buyer used cash.
The patient name on the account was fake.
But the authorization number traced back to a physician employed by one of my companies.
Dr. Samuel Reed.
My executive health director.
He arrived at headquarters pale and sweating.
“I didn't prescribe anything to Mrs. Hayes.”
“Did you prescribe it to Vanessa?”
“No.”
“Then why is your authorization on the transaction?”
He stared at the floor.
Marcus placed the document in front of him.
Samuel's hands started shaking.
“Someone used my credentials.”
“Who had access?”
“My administrator.”
“Name.”
“Lauren Pike.”
I knew Lauren.
Vanessa had recruited her eighteen months earlier.
That wasn't coincidence.
Marcus sent security upstairs.
Lauren's office was empty.
Her computer had been wiped.
Her phone disconnected.
She had boarded a flight to Montreal six hours earlier.
Vanessa sat across from me.
“You think I arranged this.”
“I think you've lied to me at least three times today.”
“You lied to Grace for eleven months.”
The words landed perfectly.
I deserved them.
But this wasn't about me anymore.
“This concerns my child.”
Vanessa laughed.
There was no humor in it.
“Now you care?”
I flinched.
She stood.
“For eleven months, you left your wife alone while you came to me. You missed her birthday because we were in Miami. You missed Christmas dinner because we stayed at my apartment.”
“Stop.”
“No. You don't get to become the grieving husband because something terrible happened.”
“I said stop.”
Her eyes filled.
“You chose me, Richard.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
Her face changed.
“What?”
“I used you.”
Silence.
I hated myself for the cruelty.
But it was true.
“Grace asked whether I loved you. I couldn't answer because I knew I didn't.”
Vanessa stepped back as though I'd slapped her.
“What exactly are you saying?”
“I destroyed my marriage for something I didn't even love.”
She grabbed her purse.
At the door, she turned.
“Then maybe Grace was right to disappear.”
She left.
Marcus waited.
“You believe her?”
“No.”
“Neither do I.”
By evening, we found Lauren Pike.
Canadian authorities detained her before she could board another flight.
She agreed to speak with my attorneys.
Not police.
Not yet.
The video call connected at 9:20 p.m.
Lauren looked terrified.
“I didn't know Grace would lose the baby.”
My heartbeat stopped.
Marcus leaned forward.
“What did you do?”
“I changed her supplements.”
My hands tightened.
“What supplements?”
“Prenatal vitamins.”
The room tilted.
Lauren started crying.
“She had a bottle delivered to the executive dining room. Someone paid me to replace three capsules.”
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“I never met them.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand.”
“Who contacted you?”
“An encrypted account.”
Marcus asked, “Did Vanessa know?”
Lauren hesitated.
“I don't know.”
“That's not good enough.”
“I don't know!”
I stepped toward the screen.
“Why Grace?”
“They said she was trying to trap you with a pregnancy.”
I nearly broke the monitor.
Marcus caught my arm.
“Who said that?”
Lauren sobbed.
“I never knew the name.”
Then she remembered something.
“They sent proof of payment from a Hayes Holdings account.”
I froze.
“Impossible.”
Only six people had authority to initiate transfers from the corporate executive reserve.
Me.
My CFO.
My chief legal officer.
My longtime assistant.
My brother.
And Grace.
Grace couldn't have paid someone to poison herself.
Marcus searched the transfer records.
Thirty seconds later, he found it.
Fifty thousand dollars.
Approved under my digital signature.
I stared at the screen.
“I didn't authorize that.”
Marcus's expression hardened.
“Then somebody inside Hayes Holdings can impersonate you.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
One photograph arrived.
Grace.
Alive.
Standing outside a small seaside clinic.
The photograph had been taken that morning.
May you like
Under it was one sentence.
STOP LOOKING FOR HER, OR NEXT TIME SHE WON'T SURVIVE.
