Chapter 7 - THE FIRST RECORDING
Harris took Nate’s statement in the study.
No promises.
No handshake.
No agreement to overlook what he had done.
Nate understood.
“I delivered the cases,” he said.
“I knew the labels didn’t match the invoices.
I told myself that wasn’t my business.”
“How long?” Maya asked.
“Four years.”
“Four years.”
He lowered his head.
“Last night I asked Vivienne what was in them.
She told me to remember how much I owed her.”
The bruises had come later, when another member of the security team tried to take his phone.
Nate had escaped through the service gate.
The brass key belonged to a locked filing cabinet in a storage room behind the old garage.
Inside were duplicate delivery receipts, handwritten schedules, and a small digital recorder.
Nate pointed to it.
“Bell left that here three months ago.
Vivienne told me to destroy it.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I figured someday I might need insurance.”
Maya looked at him.
“You had insurance while Luca had nothing.”
Nate didn’t argue.
Back at the hospital, Harris played the recording for Luca and Evelyn.
Dr. Bell sounded frightened.
He’s developing complications.
I told you this was never sustainable.
Vivienne’s reply was sharp.
You told me the weakness would be manageable.
He needs an independent evaluation.
No.
He needs to stay exactly where he is until Adrian completes the restructuring.
A chair scraped.
Then Bell again.
And after that?
What do you think happens when someone compares the original scans?
Harris stopped the recording.
Luca hadn’t moved.
“What original scans?”
“We’re requesting them,” Harris said.
“Request faster.”
Dr. Reyes arrived an hour later with a specialist who had reviewed the hospital’s new imaging.
The old accident had injured Luca’s spine.
That much was real.
But the records they had received did not support the absolute conclusions he had been given for twelve years.
“No one can promise how much function you’ll recover,” the specialist said.
“But you should have been reassessed.
Repeatedly.”
Luca stared at the wall.
“I asked.”
Maya looked at him.
“I asked for another opinion.
She said they’d all read the same scans.”
His voice cracked on the last word.
Then Harris’s phone buzzed.
Dr. Bell had agreed to an interview.
May you like
He had also sent a message.
I need protection before I tell you who ordered the first dose.
