Chapter 6 - LAUREN’S MOTHER HAD NOT DIED NATURALLY
Lauren’s mother, Elaine, had died from a stroke.
That was what doctors said.
She collapsed in her kitchen six years earlier.
No suspicious circumstances.
No autopsy.
Lauren sat beside her in the hospital and held her hand until the monitors went silent.
Now David claimed Harrison was responsible.
“Prove it.”
David nodded.
He had expected that.
Sierra opened a laptop.
Documents.
Payments.
Private medical consultants.
A physician named Dr. Caleb Ames.
Harrison had paid him through a Whitmore shell company three days before Elaine’s death.
“What does that prove?”
“Not enough.”
David agreed.
Then Sierra played an audio recording.
Harrison’s voice.
Older.
Sharper.
“If Elaine contacts Lauren, the trust becomes a problem.”
Another man answered.
“We can manage her medication.”
Lauren’s blood turned cold.
Her mother had been taking anticoagulants.
A dosing change could have caused catastrophic bleeding or stroke.
The audio continued.
Harrison:
“No scandals. No police.”
Then:
“Natural.”
Lauren stood.
“I’m going to be sick.”
Sierra stopped the recording.
David reached toward Lauren.
She pulled away.
“You knew?”
“Not until two years ago.”
“And you still stayed hidden?”
“If I surfaced, Harrison would know I found the recording.”
“He already knew you were alive.”
“Not where.”
“Gabriel gave him that.”
David’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Lauren breathed slowly.
“What about Cole?”
David looked toward her.
“I don’t think Cole knew about Elaine.”
That should have helped.
It didn’t.
He still knew about the trust.
Still stayed silent.
Still cheated.
Still allowed his father to build a case that Lauren was unstable.
Sierra closed the laptop.
“We have enough to expose Harrison financially.”
“Not enough for murder?”
“Not yet.”
Then police sirens sounded outside.
Sierra froze.
“You called them?”
Lauren stared.
“Of course I did.”
David shook his head.
“We have to leave.”
“No.”
“Lauren.”
“No more disappearing.”
The door crashed open.
Not police.
Three men in dark jackets entered from the rear loading bay.
One held a handgun.
Everything happened fast.
Sierra shoved Lauren behind a printing press.
David pulled a fire alarm.
The shriek filled the building.
Actual police stormed the front seconds later.
The men fled.
One was captured.
Two escaped.
Lauren’s hands shook violently.
David looked at her.
“Harrison found us.”
Police searched the captured attacker.
No identification.
But one phone.
One recent text.
SHE MUST NOT REACH 35 FREE.
Lauren stared.
Her thirty-fifth birthday.
Eleven days.
If she reached it legally competent, the trust became fully hers.
The plan was no longer subtle.
Then Sierra found another message on the device.
Not from Harrison.
From a saved contact labeled C.W.
Cole Whitmore.
Lauren stopped breathing.
“Cole?”
Sierra looked at the metadata.
The message had been sent four minutes earlier.
LOCATION CONFIRMED. SHE’S INSIDE.
Lauren felt the room collapse around her.
May you like
Her husband had just sent armed men to the building.
Or someone wanted her to believe he had.
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