Chapter 3 - THE SECOND BETRAYAL
Emily was still connected to the fetal monitor when Raymond entered.
She saw his expression immediately.
“What happened?”
Raymond closed the door.
“Did you give Preston permission to access your medical records?”
Emily stared at him.
“No.”
“Recently?”
“No.”
Raymond pulled a chair beside the bed.
“Someone using his executive credentials accessed your obstetric file at 8:14 this morning.”
Emily felt cold.
Her appointment had been scheduled for 10:30.
Preston had claimed he did not know she would be there.
Emily looked toward the door.
“He knew.”
Raymond said nothing.
“He knew I was coming.”
“Yes.”
Emily remembered Preston’s words.
You should have stayed home.
Not surprise.
Not confusion.
A warning.
“Why?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
Emily stared at the monitor.
The baby’s heartbeat continued.
Steady.
Dependable.
Unlike everything else in her life.
“My appointment time.”
Raymond nodded.
“He could have seen it.”
“And Vanessa was already here.”
“Yes.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“So it wasn’t an accident.”
“We don’t know that yet.”
Emily opened them again.
“You don’t believe in coincidences.”
“No.”
“Neither do I.”
Outside, Preston was pacing.
Vanessa grabbed his arm.
“You told me she wouldn’t be here.”
“Keep your voice down.”
“You said you checked.”
Preston stopped.
Vanessa realized too late what she had admitted.
At the other end of the hallway stood Rachel Morgan.
And Rachel had heard every word.
Preston saw her.
Rachel immediately turned toward the nurses’ station.
“Rachel.”
She stopped.
Preston walked toward her.
“You’re misunderstanding this.”
Rachel looked at him.
“I don’t think I am.”
“I was checking my wife’s schedule.”
“That’s still protected medical information.”
“I’m an executive.”
“That doesn’t make you her doctor.”
His expression hardened.
“You enjoy working here?”
Rachel went still.
Vanessa smiled.
There was the Preston she knew.
The Preston who believed every problem had a price.
Rachel looked directly at him.
“Are you threatening my job?”
“I’m reminding you that accusations have consequences.”
A voice came from behind him.
“They certainly do.”
Raymond.
Preston turned.
Raymond had heard enough.
He looked toward Rachel.
“Ms. Morgan, your employment is protected.”
Then at Preston.
“And your executive access is revoked effective immediately.”
“You can’t do that.”
“I just did.”
Preston laughed bitterly.
“You think you can remove a Whitmore from Whitmore-Saint Claire?”
Raymond pulled out his phone.
“I think I can remove an employee who misused protected patient information.”
“I’m not an employee.”
Margaret Hale stepped forward.
“Technically, you are.”
Preston looked at her.
Margaret held up the corporate bylaws.
“Executive vice president of development.”
Vanessa blinked.
“You told me you owned the place.”
Preston snapped.
“Not now.”
But Vanessa was beginning to understand something dangerous.
The cars.
The penthouse.
The private club.
The hospital office.
The charity galas.
The Whitmore name.
She had assumed Preston controlled all of it.
Maybe Preston had assumed the same thing.
Raymond’s phone rang.
He listened for less than thirty seconds.
Then his face changed.
“Send it to Margaret.”
He ended the call.
Emily’s attorney arrived moments later with another discovery.
Preston had not accessed Emily’s medical records once.
He had accessed them seven times.
May you like
And one of those searches had been for something very specific.
Emily’s estimated delivery date.
