Chapter 10 - What She Signed
The memory came back in pieces.
Victoria's study. Lemon tea. A stack of estate insurance documents. Victoria tapping one page with a manicured nail.
"Just routine coverage for the pregnancy," she had said.
Elena had signed without reading every line because she was nauseated, tired, and desperate to leave.
Now the same signature sat beneath language about neurological observation, maternal stress response, and voluntary participation.
"She swapped pages," Elena said.
Marcus read the form twice. "Or buried this page in the stack."
"Which means she planned it before I even started showing."
Mara photographed every document and sent copies to an outside lab and her attorney.
Marcus called the board of Blackwood Holdings and learned something worse: Victoria had scheduled an emergency family competency meeting for the next morning.
"Competency?" Elena said.
"She's trying to remove me as trustee if I refuse to act against you."
"Act against me means what?"
Marcus looked sick. "Petition for temporary psychiatric guardianship."
Elena turned toward the dark hospital window. "She doesn't need me dead. She needs me alive and legally powerless."
"Why?"
"The baby."
Marcus shook his head. "She can't just take our child."
"Not if I'm sane. Not if you're in control of the trust."
Silence filled the room.
Marcus sat beside her. "I should've seen this."
"You were raised inside it. That's different."
He looked at her. "Are you protecting me now?"
"No. I'm telling you why I haven't decided whether to leave you."
The words hurt both of them.
At 2:13 a.m., Elena woke to someone adjusting her IV.
"Mara?"
The woman beside the bed wore blue scrubs and a surgical mask.
"Go back to sleep, Mrs. Blackwood."
Elena looked at the IV bag.
A pink tint swirled near the port.
She grabbed the nurse's wrist.
The woman jerked away.
Elena ripped the IV from her arm and screamed.
Marcus lunged from the couch.
The fake nurse ran.
Security chased her down the hall, but she escaped through a stairwell.
May you like
On the floor where she had stood lay a single crimson velvet thread.
And inside the abandoned syringe, later tested by Mara, was the same compound found in Elena's blood - at ten times the concentration.
