CHAPTER 10 — THE CHILD THEY INTENDED TO ERASE
Claire woke beneath a surgical light.
Her wrists were fastened beside her body.
A transparent oxygen tube rested beneath her nose.
Pain tightened across her abdomen, but the contractions were no longer regular.
They came in violent waves, then disappeared for several minutes.
Veronica stood beside the operating table.
Up close, the differences between her and Vanessa became clearer.
Veronica’s face was slightly thinner. A pale scar disappeared beneath her hair. Her eyes held none of Vanessa’s social polish.
Only years of controlled rage.
Claire struggled against the restraints.
“Where’s Nathan?”
“Looking for you.”
“Let me go.”
“No.”
“You don’t need me. You need the documents.”
“I need both.”
Dr. Cole entered and checked the monitor.
“The medication is wearing off.”
“Then increase it,” Veronica said.
“We’ve already exceeded the safe dose.”
“You told Margaret that danger could be presented as necessity.”
Cole looked at Claire.
“That was before Nathan became involved.”
Veronica smiled.
“Nathan has always been involved. He simply never knew it.”
Claire turned toward her.
“Why are you doing this?”
Veronica leaned against the instrument table.
“Because my mother gave Vanessa everything.”
“Margaret is your mother too.”
“She visited me twice a year and called it protection.”
Veronica lifted her hair, revealing the scar behind her ear.
“When I was eight, I asked why my sister lived in the mansion while I lived behind locked doors. Dr. Cole said I had a condition that made me dangerous.”
Claire looked at Cole.
“What condition?”
Veronica answered for him.
“Existence.”
Cole avoided her gaze.
Veronica continued:
“Vanessa attended schools in Switzerland. I learned to copy her handwriting. Vanessa attended charity galas. I learned to copy her voice. Vanessa appeared in family photographs. I was taught how to enter a room after everyone else had left.”
Claire felt pity despite her fear.
“They turned you into a weapon.”
“And now I’m pointing myself at them.”
“You’re not hurting Margaret. You’re hurting my baby.”
Veronica’s face hardened.
“Your baby is the only thing everyone values.”
“Nathan values me.”
“Does he?”
Claire looked away.
Veronica saw the wound she had struck.
“He believed a photograph,” she said. “He let them take you from your bedroom. He walked away from the clinic.”
“He came back.”
“After he saw proof.”
Claire raised her eyes.
“He was wrong. That doesn’t make you right.”
Veronica picked up a folder from the table.
“This child gives me control over Nathan, Margaret, Gabriel, and the Whitmore trust.”
“You plan to hold my baby hostage?”
“I plan to give your child the same childhood they gave me.”
Claire’s blood ran cold.
“No name. No public record. No life outside locked walls.”
“You’re punishing an unborn child for what Margaret did.”
“I’m proving that the Whitmores only understand pain when it carries their name.”
Dr. Cole checked Claire’s blood pressure.
“We need to stop. The fetus is in distress.”
Veronica’s expression did not change.
“Continue.”
Cole shook his head.
“I won’t be responsible for another death.”
Veronica stepped closer.
“You were responsible for the first.”
Cole went pale.
Claire watched them.
“Evelyn didn’t fall from the balcony, did she?”
Cole looked toward the door.
Veronica smiled.
“Tell her, Doctor.”
He said nothing.
“Tell her what you did after Margaret ordered you to remove Gabriel.”
Cole’s hands began to tremble.
“I followed the medical directive.”
“You forged the directive.”
“I was twenty-nine years old.”
“You drugged Evelyn until she couldn’t speak. Then you signed a report declaring her unstable.”
Cole closed his eyes.
Veronica leaned closer.
“And when Henry found out, you helped Margaret alter the flight maintenance records.”
Claire stared at him.
Nathan’s father had not died in an accident.
Cole opened his eyes.
“You don’t understand what Margaret would have done to me.”
Veronica laughed softly.
“You are still afraid of her.”
A sharp sound came from the corridor.
Then another.
Someone was trying to break through the outer doors.
Nathan.
Claire pulled against the restraints.
“Nathan!”
Veronica turned toward the monitor displaying the corridor camera.
Nathan and Gabriel stood outside with Evelyn in a wheelchair.
For the first time, Veronica looked uncertain.
She stared at Evelyn.
“She’s awake.”
Cole moved toward the door.
Veronica blocked him.
“Stay here.”
“Margaret will know.”
“Margaret already knows.”
As if summoned by the words, Veronica’s phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
MOTHER.
She answered.
Margaret’s voice came through the speaker.
“Veronica, open the east gate.”
Veronica’s eyes narrowed.
“How did you know I was here?”
“You were always easier to find than you believed.”
“What do you want?”
“My family returned to me.”
Veronica looked at Claire.
“Which family?”
“All of it.”
A powerful impact shook the double doors.
The lock began to bend.
Margaret continued calmly:
“If Claire’s baby is harmed, you will return to the room where I raised you.”
Veronica’s face emptied of emotion.
Then she picked up a scalpel.
Claire’s heartbeat thundered.
Veronica brought the blade toward the intravenous tube.
“I’m never going back.”
May you like
She cut the line.
At that exact moment, the doors burst open.
