Chapter 5 - The Phantom Phone Call
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Damian had miraculously survived the crash. His trusted driver had not.
And when Damian woke up weeks later in an intensive care unit, he could no longer move his legs.
Vanessa had been constantly by his bedside throughout his grueling recovery. She meticulously arranged his specialist appointments. She personally handled his complicated medication schedule. She aggressively dismissed nurses and therapists she considered "incompetent" or "disrespectful."
Eventually, she had convinced Damian to stop attending his painful physical rehabilitation sessions altogether.
“The doctors are only giving you false hope, my love,” she would tell him, wiping away his sweat. “It breaks my heart to watch you suffer like this for nothing.”
Damian had trusted her completely. He had even proposed marriage, offering her the world.
But Mia had noticed something strange during her very first month working at the mansion.
Every evening, shortly after taking his prescribed medication from Vanessa, Damian became incredibly exhausted. His strong hands sometimes trembled when holding a coffee cup. His usually sharp speech slowed to a slight drawl. And on certain mornings, he could barely lift his own body weight to transfer into his wheelchair.
Vanessa always smoothly blamed it on his lingering injuries and chronic fatigue.
Then, two weeks before the accident with the hot water, Mia had discovered something deeply unsettling.
She had been quietly cleaning the master bathroom when she heard Vanessa speaking on her cell phone in the adjoining bedroom.
“No, he hasn't noticed anything,” Vanessa had said.
There was a long pause.
“His condition is exactly where we need it.”
Mia had stopped wiping the marble counter, holding her breath.
Vanessa had lowered her voice to a harsh whisper. “Just make sure the doctor doesn't change the prescription. Keep the dosage exactly the same.”
When Mia accidentally knocked over a heavy glass bottle of cleaning solution, Vanessa rushed into the bathroom.
Her face was stark white. “How long have you been standing there?”
Mia quickly apologized, keeping her head down. “Only a moment, ma'am. I just started cleaning.”
Vanessa studied her with deep, paranoid suspicion. Then, her face smoothed into a fake smile.
“Good. Because private family medical matters are absolutely none of your business.”
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Mia had said nothing. But she never forgot those chilling words.
Now, standing in Damian's bedroom, watching him stare at the pill bottles, she began wondering whether that mysterious, hushed phone call had everything to do with the heat he had just felt on his leg.
