Chapter 4 - THE RECORDING
Sienna arrived at Nathan’s office forty-three minutes later.
Audrey almost refused to see her.
Then she looked at Maisie.
Pride had become a luxury.
Evidence mattered more.
Sienna entered wearing sunglasses despite the cloudy afternoon.
Without Derek beside her, she looked younger than Audrey expected.
Thirty, maybe thirty-one.
She stopped several feet from the table.
“I’m sorry.”
Audrey’s expression didn’t change.
“Were you sleeping with my husband?”
“Yes.”
“Then save the apology.”
Sienna lowered her eyes.
Fair.
Nathan gestured toward the phone in her hand.
“You said you recorded Lorraine Halston.”
Sienna nodded.
“I started recording because I thought she was trying to cheat me.”
Audrey almost laughed.
“What did Derek promise you?”
Sienna looked embarrassed.
“That we’d be together.”
“Original.”
“He said you were divorcing.”
“We weren’t.”
“I know that now.”
“What else?”
Sienna swallowed.
“He told me you had severe postpartum psychiatric problems.”
“I hadn’t given birth yet.”
“I didn’t know when he started saying it.”
Audrey leaned forward.
“Play the recording.”
Sienna placed the phone on the table.
Lorraine’s voice filled the conference room.
“We only need Audrey to look unstable long enough for Derek to obtain temporary control.”
A man spoke.
Audrey didn’t recognize him.
“What about the Vance shares?”
Lorraine answered:
“Once Derek controls household medical decisions and the child, she’ll negotiate.”
Nathan stopped the playback.
“Who is the man?”
Sienna shook her head.
“Derek called him Dr. Keller.”
Audrey knew no Dr. Keller.
Nathan resumed.
The man said:
“You can’t simply declare an adult incompetent because she’s emotional after childbirth.”
Lorraine laughed.
“We don’t need permanent incompetence. We need confusion.”
Audrey’s hands went cold.
Then Derek’s voice appeared.
“What happens if she refuses to sign?”
Lorraine:
“She won’t.”
Derek:
“You don’t know Audrey.”
Lorraine:
“I know exhausted women with newborns.”
Silence.
Then:
“She’ll be medicated, sleep deprived, frightened about losing the baby, and desperate to go home. People sign anything under those circumstances.”
Audrey reached over and stopped the recording.
Nobody spoke.
Maisie made a tiny sound in her bassinet.
Audrey turned automatically.
Instantly.
Her daughter was safe.
She repeated that to herself.
Nathan’s face had gone hard.
“This recording changes the landscape.”
Audrey looked at Sienna.
“When was this?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Where?”
“Lorraine’s house.”
“And you were there?”
“I was upstairs.”
“Why?”
Sienna’s cheeks reddened.
“Derek had taken me there.”
Of course.
Audrey forced herself to stay on the important point.
“What were they trying to make me sign?”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan asked:
“Did you ever see paperwork?”
“One folder.”
“What did it say?”
“I only saw the cover.”
She closed her eyes, trying to remember.
“Vance Family Holdings.”
Audrey and Nathan exchanged a look.
That wasn’t the house.
That wasn’t even Vance Capital.
Vance Family Holdings sat above everything.
The company controlled family real estate, private investments, two healthcare properties, mineral leases, and a trust created by Audrey’s late grandfather.
Audrey owned voting control.
On paper, the assets exceeded sixty million dollars.
Nathan lowered his voice.
“Derek couldn’t touch those through divorce.”
“No.”
“He could if you voluntarily transferred voting authority.”
Audrey thought of Lorraine’s words.
She’ll sign anything.
Suddenly, the seventeen ignored phone calls during labor looked different.
Derek hadn’t merely been with Sienna.
He had needed Audrey frightened.
Alone.
Exhausted.
Why?
Her phone rang.
Hospital number.
Audrey answered.
“This is Audrey.”
“Mrs. Halston? This is Monica Blake from Richmond Women’s Center.”
Audrey straightened.
“What’s wrong?”
“We’re reviewing a documentation discrepancy from your admission.”
“What discrepancy?”
The woman hesitated.
“Your husband submitted a medical power-of-attorney document during your labor.”
Audrey felt the blood leave her face.
“I never gave him medical power of attorney.”
“I understand.”
Nathan stood.
Monica continued.
“The signature is dated the morning you were admitted.”
Audrey remembered that morning.
Her water had broken at 3:40 a.m.
By six, contractions were four minutes apart.
She had signed nothing except hospital forms.
“What did the document authorize?”
Another pause.
Then Monica said:
“Your husband requested authority to make medical decisions if you became incapacitated.”
Audrey looked at Maisie.
“And did I?”
“No.”
“Then why does this matter now?”
“Because someone called the hospital this morning asking whether the document had been activated.”
Audrey’s heart stopped.
“Who?”
“They identified themselves as your husband’s attorney.”
Nathan shook his head.
Derek had no attorney authorized to do that.
Audrey whispered:
“What did they want to know?”
May you like
Monica answered:
“Whether there was any clinical record supporting temporary cognitive impairment after delivery.”
