Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Mirror
Elena spun around with the notebook raised like a weapon.
No one was there.
Her pulse slammed against her throat.
"You're not real," she said to the empty corridor.
The mirror reflected only Elena: hair wild, blood dried on her palm, eyes too wide.
But Victoria's perfume lingered in the air. Gardenia and smoke.
Elena hated herself for noticing.
Marcus returned alone. "Owen got out through the service stairs. Security is looking for him."
She held up the notebook. "This is proof."
"It's something."
"Don't say something. Say proof."
Marcus closed his eyes for a second. "It's proof someone tracked your symptoms. It doesn't prove my mother did it."
Elena stared at him.
"You still can't say it."
"I need facts, Elena. Because if we accuse her and we're wrong-"
"If we're wrong, she gets offended. If we're right, she is poisoning me."
That ended the argument.
Marcus called Dr. Mara Chen, Elena's obstetrician, and asked her to come to the estate privately. Forty minutes later, Mara sat at the kitchen island under bright lights, examining the pink tablet through a specimen bag.
"I never prescribed this," she said.
"Victoria said it was an enhanced prenatal supplement," Elena replied.
Mara's face tightened. "There is no legitimate prenatal supplement that should cause hallucinations."
"Can you test it?"
"Yes. And I want bloodwork from you tonight."
Marcus paced behind them. "Could this hurt the baby?"
"We don't know what's in it yet."
The baby kicked suddenly, strong enough to make Elena gasp.
Mara checked her heartbeat, then the fetal heart rate. "Both steady. That's good. But I don't want you taking anything you didn't personally open from a pharmacy-sealed bottle."
Elena nodded.
Mara sealed the sample in her medical bag.
The lights went out.
Total darkness swallowed the kitchen.
Elena heard a drawer slide open.
Mara cried out.
When Marcus's phone flashlight came on, Mara was on the floor.
Her medical bag was gone.
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And pinned to the refrigerator with a carving knife was a note written in red ink.
SHE WILL HURT THE BABY BEFORE I EVER DO.
