Chapter 2 - The Resignation in the Hallway
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The word poisoned hung in the cold hospital air like a blade.
I turned slowly toward Vanessa. She had gone completely white, her hands trembling so hard she nearly dropped her phone.
"What kind of toxin?" I demanded, turning back to Dr. Bennett.
"We don't have the full toxicology panel yet," Dr. Bennett replied, keeping his voice lowered. "What I can confirm is that it was introduced into her system very recently. Within the last three to four hours."
"Could it have been an accidental drug interaction?" I asked desperately. "A mistake by the pharmacy?"
"It is highly improbable," Bennett said plainly. "The substance in question is not something stocked in a standard hospital dispensary."
A cold, sharp realization pierced my brain. Someone had walked into my wife’s room on the happiest night of our lives and handed her a poison.
"Where are my children?" I asked, my heart pounding against my ribs like a sledgehammer.
"The triplets are safe," Bennett assured me quickly. "Noah, Elliot, and Grace are being monitored in the neonatal unit under armed guard. They were born early, but they show zero signs of exposure."
I let out a ragged breath, leaning against the wall for support. My children were safe. But the woman who had built my life alongside me was fighting for her breath behind two locked doors.
Dr. Bennett bowed his head and walked back inside the ICU, leaving me alone in the corridor with Vanessa.
"Vanessa," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous baritone.
She flinched. "Mason... I don't know what to say. This is awful."
"Why are you here?" I stepped closer to her. "I invited senior management to visit tomorrow afternoon. Not at midnight."
Vanessa swallowed hard, reaching into her leather handbag. She pulled out a thick cream-colored envelope and extended it toward me with a shaking hand.
"What is this?" I asked, refusing to take it.
"My resignation," she whispered. "Effective immediately."
May you like
I stared at the envelope, then at her face. "You're quitting? Tonight? While my wife is dying in an ICU?"
"I was going to leave it in your office tomorrow," Vanessa confessed, tears welling in her eyes. "I brought it tonight because I wanted to drop it off and leave before anyone noticed. Mason... I saw someone entering Claire’s suite earlier tonight."
