Chapter 5 - The Missing Files|
The night stretched on, quiet and agonizing. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Daniel’s smirking face in the courtroom. I was terrified of what he might do to Lily, but Carter had assured me he had a friend at child protective services doing a “welfare check” under the radar.
At 2:00 AM, my cell phone buzzed on the bedside table. I reached for it with a shaky hand.
It was an unknown number.
“Hello?” I whispered.
“Sarah? It’s Mark.”
My breath caught. Mark was my former attorney—the one who had abandoned my case two weeks ago, claiming he was too overwhelmed to work without the retainer Daniel had drained from my account.
“Mark? How dare you call me after—”
“Listen to me, Sarah,” Mark interrupted, his voice hushed and frantic. “I didn’t drop your case because of the money. I dropped it because I was threatened.”
I sat up, ignoring the pinch of the IV. “Threatened? By Daniel?”
“By his mother’s people,” Mark hissed. “Patricia isn’t just some wealthy socialite. She has connections. While I was digging into Daniel’s financials for the divorce, I found a secondary life insurance policy. A massive one.”
My blood ran cold. “On who?”
“On you, Sarah. Three million dollars. Taken out six months ago, right when your 'mystery illnesses' started.”
Before I could respond, a heavy knock pounded on the hospital room door. Mark hung up abruptly.
I stared at the locked door in terror. Carter had left an hour ago to check on the expedited lab results. I was entirely alone.
“Who is it?” I called out, my voice shaking.
May you like
“Hospital security, Mrs. Whitaker,” a deep voice replied. “We need to check your windows. There’s been a breach on the floor.”
I looked at the handle. It was slowly turning. But the person on the other side didn’t realize Carter had engaged the manual deadbolt.
