Chapter 11 - THE NURSE WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO HELP ME
The plan became terrifyingly clear.
I would give birth.
I would go home exhausted.
Gavin would insist I needed help.
Marcus Hale would arrive as a private nurse.
Then something would happen.
Not necessarily something dramatic.
Medication.
Confusion.
A panic episode.
A fabricated emergency.
Enough to put me in a psychiatric facility.
Enough to trigger the competency documents.
Enough to separate me from Emma temporarily.
Enough time for Gavin to control the land sale, the house, and the trust.
Claire asked the prosecutor the question I couldn't.
“Was he planning to kill her?”
There wasn't enough evidence to say that.
And I was almost grateful.
Almost.
Marcus Hale was arrested for conspiracy and fraud-related offenses before he ever came near me.
Under questioning, he claimed Gavin only asked him to “document postpartum instability.”
Then investigators found text messages.
If she gets agitated, use the drops.
Drops.
The substance had not been identified.
But the words made my skin crawl.
At thirty-seven weeks, my doctor advised me to reduce stress.
I laughed so hard I nearly cried.
Then something unexpected happened.
Maren went into the hospital with heavy bleeding.
Not labor.
A complication.
Her baby survived.
She did too.
But she called me from the hospital.
I almost refused.
Then she sent one message.
I have proof Gavin lied to both of us.
I went with June and Claire.
Maren looked small beneath the hospital blanket.
No makeup.
No champagne.
No confidence.
She handed me an envelope.
Inside was a prenatal paternity report.
Probability of paternity: excluded.
I stared.
“Gavin isn't the father?”
“No.”
“Who is?”
She looked away.
“Someone I dated briefly before the affair.”
My anger sharpened.
“You announced Gavin as the father.”
“I believed he was.”
“Then why hide the test?”
“I found out two days before your baby shower.”
Everything in me stopped.
“You knew at the shower?”
“Yes.”
“You let me expose him as the father.”
Tears slid down her face.
“I was terrified.”
“Of what?”
“Gavin.”
She told me Gavin had already suspected the baby wasn't his.
When she confirmed it, she tried to leave.
He threatened to turn the fraud evidence against her.
“He said if I stayed quiet, he'd still raise the baby.”
I felt sick.
“Why?”
“Because he needed people to believe he was building a new family.”
For court.
For investors.
For reputation.
Maybe even for custody.
Then Maren gave me the real reason she had called.
“There's another account.”
“What account?”
“Gavin has money hidden overseas.”
“How much?”
“I don't know.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he asked me to keep the access phrase.”
She handed Claire a folded note.
Twelve words.
A cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrase.
Investigators accessed the wallet.
Its value was just over $3.7 million.
Money stolen from investors.
And the transaction history showed one planned transfer scheduled for the week after my due date.
May you like
Destination:
Belize.
