Chapter 5: The Room Without a Lock
Anna awoke beneath harsh hospital lights with a plastic bracelet around her wrist.
Julian sat beside the bed holding a bouquet of white roses.
“Get out,” she said.
He smiled.
“Good morning to you too.”
“Where is my father?”
“Being questioned about unlawful entry and abduction.”
“He carried me out after you hjt me.”
“Dr.
Pike found no evidence that anyone harmed you.”
Anna touched the bruise on her cheek.
“Then he should have his eyes examined.”
Julian’s smile vanished.
“You walked into a door after drinking.”
“I had one glass of water.”
“Three witnesses remember champagne.”
“Your paid guests?”
“Our friends, Anna.
People who are worried about you.”
She reached for the call button.
Julian covered it with his hand.
“You are not my fiancé anymore.”
“You don’t get to make that decision while you’re under evaluation.”
“I made it the moment I woke up on that carpet.”
Julian leaned closer.
“If you leave me, your father’s falsified report becomes public.
He loses his pension, his home, and possibly his freedom.”
“And if I stay?”
“We call this an unfortunate episode.
Your father apologizes.
Your mother returns to wherever she has been hiding.”
Anna pulled the engagement ring from her finger.
She dropped it into his glass of water.
“Tell your father the deal is rejected.”
Julian seized her wrist.
“You think that bruise makes you powerful?”
A woman in a housekeeping uniform entered with fresh towels.
“Sir,” she said, “remove your hand from the patient.”
Julian looked at her name badge.
“Nora, isn’t it?
I can have you dismissed before lunch.”
“Then you’ll have to wait until lunch.” Nora held his gaze.
“Security is already outside.”
Julian released Anna.
He lifted the wet ring from the glass and placed it on the bedside table.
“You’ll ask me to put this back on,” he said.
“They always do when they understand what being alone costs.”
After he left, Nora locked the door.
Anna rubbed her wrist.
“There wasn’t any security outside, was there?”
“No.”
“You could lose your job.”
“My sister used to come to this hospital with explanations nobody believed.” Nora set the towels down.
“I promised myself that if I ever heard those explanations again, I would listen.”
Anna’s eyes filled.
“Thank you.”
“Save that for later.
Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
“Then we have seven minutes before Dr.
Pike returns.”
Nora pulled a phone from beneath the towels.
The screen showed the gala hallway from a different angle.
Anna stared at it.
“Where did you get that?”
“The estate sends its catering feed to a private backup server.
My nephew maintains the cameras.”
The video showed Julian grabbing Anna.
It also showed Dr.
Pike entering moments later and wiping the hallway camera with a cloth.
“He erased it himself,” Anna whispered.
“There’s more,” Nora said.
“Listen.”
Julian’s father, Victor Vale, appeared at the edge of the frame.
“Move her before Mercer arrives,” Victor ordered.
“Once she signs the trust amendment, nobody cares what happens to the marriage.”
Anna gripped the phone.
“What trust?”
Nora opened the service door.
Elise waited outside in borrowed scrubs.
“Your grandmother left you shares in Vale Medical,” Elise said.
“Julian was not planning to marry you for love.”
Anna’s mouth opened, but no sound came.
Elise reached for her.
This time, Anna did not pull away.
“I’m sorry,” Elise whispered.
Anna’s forehead fell against her mother’s shoulder.
“I don’t know how much more truth I can survive.”
Elise held her while she cried.
“Then you won’t survive it alone.”
Footsteps approached the corridor.
Nora pushed a laundry cart between them.
“Inside.
Both of you.”
Anna climbed beneath the folded sheets.
Elise closed the lid just as Pike entered.
“Where is the patient?” he demanded.
Nora pointed toward the bathroom.
“She asked for privacy.”
Pike pushed through the bathroom door, then shouted for security.
Nora drove the cart into the service elevator.
When the doors closed, she handed Anna the phone.
May you like
A new message had appeared from an unknown number.
SIGN THE TRUST AMENDMENT BY NOON, OR YOUR FATHER WILL CONFESS ON LIVE TELEVISION.
