Chapter 7 - The Lawyer Who Ran
By the time Ethan reached the front drive, Malcolm Rourke's car was gone.
"Track his vehicle," Ethan ordered.
Of course he had.
Ethan turned toward the house.
Grant stood beneath the portico.
"You need to calm down."
"A video recorded illegally by a nanny who kidnapped Sophie."
"She took Sophie to a hospital."
"Without consent."
"Because every complaint she made disappeared."
Grant's expression hardened.
"You're choosing a servant over your family."
Ethan stepped closer.
"I'm choosing evidence over people who keep asking me not to look at it."
For the first time, Grant had no quick answer.
Upstairs, Celeste had locked herself in the bedroom.
Ethan did not knock.
He opened the door with the master key.
She stood beside the fireplace with her phone in her hand.
"Who were you calling?"
"My attorney."
"Rourke?"
"My personal attorney."
"Give me the phone."
She laughed in disbelief. "Absolutely not."
"Then pack a bag."
Her face changed.
"You're throwing me out because of a nanny's spy videos?"
"I'm asking you to leave because you entered my daughter's room at two in the morning with an unauthorized medical case and then lied about it."
"I was helping her."
"Then tell me what was in the case."
Silence.
Ethan felt something inside him settle.
"Pack."
Celeste's eyes sharpened. "If you do this, the board will hear about your instability before breakfast."
"There it is."
"What?"
"The threat you were pretending not to make."
She stepped closer.
"Callahan Holdings is bigger than your feelings."
"My daughter is bigger than Callahan Holdings."
Celeste stared at him as if he had spoken a foreign language.
Then his phone rang.
Rachel Kim.
"Mr. Callahan, I'm representing Nora Ellis."
"I know."
"Then you should also know someone accessed the St. Anne's lab system using credentials linked to your family medical office. Sophie's sample wasn't contaminated."
Ethan closed his eyes.
"What happened to it?"
"It was deleted from the active record. But the lab kept an instrument backup."
"And?"
Rachel paused.
"The preliminary result is consistent with a medication not listed in Sophie's current chart."
Ethan looked at Celeste.
She could hear Rachel through the speaker.
Her face emptied.
May you like
Rachel continued.
"Mr. Callahan, Nora may have been the only person in that house telling you the truth."
