Chapter 10 - THE SECOND DEATH
Dr. Vale had kept everything.
Appointment logs.
Audio files.
Medication records.
Copies of payment transfers.
He even wrote down the dosage used to sedate me.
Eleanor had paid him through a shell corporation.
But he got scared.
After Liam died, he realized what kind of woman he was working for.
Then he started documenting her.
According to Gordon, Dr. Vale planned to go to police.
Two weeks later, his car went off a bridge.
“Who sabotaged it?” Hayes asked Gordon on the recording.
Gordon answered.
“I don’t know.”
“Who ordered it?”
Silence.
Then—
“Eleanor.”
Julian turned away from the speaker.
Rachel covered her son’s ears as though he could somehow understand.
I sat still.
Very still.
Sometimes fear gets so large that your body stops reacting.
That was where I was.
Beyond shock.
Beyond tears.
Eleanor Sterling had not simply hated me.
She had used me.
Drugged me.
Manipulated my pregnancy.
And perhaps killed two men to protect the same fortune.
Police arrested her before midnight.
News vans surrounded the hospital.
Every major network carried the story.
Sterling matriarch detained after wedding scandal.
My wedding photo appeared everywhere.
Me standing at the altar.
One hand on my stomach.
Eleanor screaming inches from my face.
I hated that image.
I hated that strangers were debating whether I cheated.
Whether I knew.
Whether I was part of some inheritance scheme.
By morning, the DNA results came back.
The doctor sat beside my bed.
“We have a match.”
I held my breath.
“The fetus is biologically related to Liam Sterling.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
Julian sat motionless.
I touched my belly.
My child.
Still my child.
No matter what they had done.
“What does this mean legally?” Mom asked.
Hayes shook his head.
“That’s for attorneys.”
I looked at Julian.
He looked like he had aged ten years overnight.
“This baby is my brother’s.”
I stared at him.
“Biologically.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
“This baby is mine.”
“Yes.”
I watched him carefully.
Then he said something I didn’t expect.
“And if you allow me, I still want to be part of their life.”
My chest tightened.
“I don’t know if I can forgive you.”
“I know.”
“You lied.”
“I know.”
“You chose silence.”
“I know.”
He wiped his face.
“But I’m done choosing her.”
Before I could answer, Hayes entered quickly.
“Rachel.”
She stood.
“What?”
“We found something in Eleanor’s safe.”
He handed her a folder.
Her hands shook.
Inside was a court petition.
Already prepared.
Request for emergency guardianship.
Rachel read it.
Her face went white.
“She was planning to declare me mentally unfit.”
Hayes nodded.
“To take your son.”
Rachel looked at me.
Then Hayes handed me another document.
My name was on it.
Chloe Bennett.
Petition for involuntary psychiatric commitment.
I couldn’t breathe.
“She was going to have me committed?”
Hayes nodded.
“After the wedding.”
I looked at Julian.
He looked horrified.
Then I reached the final page.
There was a handwritten note from Eleanor.
Three words.
After birth, remove.
May you like
I stared at it.
And I realized Eleanor’s plan had never required me to survive motherhood.
