Chapter 10 - The Hidden Note
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Inside the envelope was a detailed, typed medication schedule, a checklist of observed physical symptoms, and a short note written on a prescription pad in unfamiliar handwriting.
Mia quickly scanned the clinical text. She read the final line of the doctor’s note, and her face went completely pale.
“Mr. Russo…” she whispered, her hands shaking.
Damian turned to her immediately. “What is it, Mia?”
Mia could barely speak the words out loud. Her voice cracked with horror.
“The note says… it says that if you report any returning physical sensation, Miss Vanessa must be contacted immediately before any treatment changes are made. It says to increase the dosage of the muscle relaxants to suppress the nerve activity.”
Damian slowly looked toward his fiancée.
Vanessa had backed herself entirely against the heavy bedroom door, her hand resting on the brass knob. The woman who had spent three years crying by his bed, telling him he would never walk again, was now visibly trembling at the terrifying possibility that he might.
Damian extended his hand toward Mia.
“Give me that paper.”
She obeyed instantly, placing the damning evidence into his palm.
Damian read the note once. Then he read it again. His jaw tightened so severely a muscle ticked visibly in his cheek. The profound depth of the betrayal settled over him like a suffocating blanket.
Finally, he raised his dark eyes.
“Vanessa.”
She began crying—real, desperate tears of panic.
“Damian, please, I can explain! It’s not what it looks like!”
He slowly shook his head. “Not yet.”
His voice was barely above a whisper, which made it infinitely more dangerous than if he had screamed.
“First, you're going to tell me exactly who wrote this note.”
Vanessa stared at the paper in his hand. She realized she was trapped. She realized the empire she thought she controlled was crumbling.
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Then, she said something that made Mia's blood run absolutely cold.
“If you call that doctor, Damian… he'll tell you what really happened the night of your car accident.”
