Chapter 4 - WHAT THEY CALLED TREATMENTAudrey's heart rate dropped during the ride to the hospital.
I sat beside her in the ambulance.
Her hand stayed wrapped around two of my fingers.
The same way she had held my hand when she was four.
“Don't leave.”
“I won't.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Her eyes closed.
I wanted to kill Julian.
It is easy to say you're a disciplined man when nobody has hurt your child.
Real discipline begins when someone has.
I had spent three decades training myself not to confuse anger with action.
That training saved Julian's life that night.
At the hospital, Audrey was placed under protective status.
No visitors without her permission.
No calls transferred.
No Thorne family member allowed near her floor.
Her doctor came to me two hours later.
Dr. Helen Park was small, tired, and furious.
“Your daughter is severely malnourished.”
“How severe?”
“She has significant muscle loss, dehydration, anemia, and multiple untreated injuries.”
I felt sick.
“Could she die?”
“She is stable now.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Dr. Park met my eyes.
“Yes.”
One word.
Enough.
“Her wrists?”
“Repeated restraint injuries.”
My jaw tightened.
“Her ankle?”
“Old fracture.”
“How old?”
“Possibly six weeks.”
“Was it treated?”
“Not correctly.”
I looked through the glass.
Audrey slept beneath a thin hospital blanket.
Thirty-one years old.
Yet she looked smaller than she had at sixteen.
Dr. Park lowered her voice.
“There are also signs of prolonged psychological abuse.”
I laughed once.
There was nothing funny in it.
“They called it discipline.”
Dr. Park didn't respond.
A state trooper arrived an hour later.
They had obtained emergency authorization to secure the Thorne estate.
The black cabinet was still there.
So were the recordings.
Julian had apparently been too arrogant to destroy them.
Or maybe he had enjoyed keeping them.
Rachel Warren arrived just after dawn.
She sat across from me in the hospital cafeteria.
“We found video.”
“How much?”
“Months.”
I closed my eyes.
“Do I need to see it?”
“No.”
“I want to.”
“I don't recommend that.”
“I didn't ask for a recommendation.”
Rachel watched me.
“You may regret it.”
“I already regret eight months.”
She opened her laptop.
The first video showed Audrey sitting at the dining room table.
Julian stood behind her.
A full dinner rested in front of everyone else.
Audrey's plate was empty.
Miriam's voice came from off camera.
“Apologize.”
Audrey whispered.
“For what?”
Julian took the plate away.
“No food tonight.”
The video ended.
The next one showed Audrey trying to use a phone.
Arthur took it from her.
“You're embarrassing this family.”
“I want to call my dad.”
“You will not involve outsiders.”
“He's my father.”
Julian grabbed her wrist.
Hard.
The video ended.
Another.
Audrey was locked on the balcony in winter.
Another.
Her bedroom door had been removed.
Another.
Julian reading her text messages aloud while Miriam laughed.
Another.
Audrey begging them to let her attend a friend's funeral.
Denied.
Another.
Julian holding her car keys.
“You don't need these anymore.”
I shut the laptop.
My hands were shaking.
Rachel closed it.
“We've also found financial documents.”
“What kind?”
“Audrey signed over control of several accounts.”
“She wouldn't.”
“The signatures may be forged.”
“How much money?”
Rachel looked at me.
“Just over eleven million dollars.”
I stared at her.
Audrey's mother had left her an inheritance.
Julian hadn't only trapped my daughter.
He had been stealing from her.
Rachel continued.
“We found something else.”
“What?”
“Life insurance.”
I didn't breathe.
“How much?”
“Twenty-five million.”
“Beneficiary?”
“Julian Thorne.”
The cafeteria suddenly felt very quiet.
“When was the policy taken out?”
Rachel looked at the document.
“Six weeks ago.”
Six weeks.
The same age as Audrey's untreated ankle fracture.
Then Rachel gave me the detail that turned my anger into fear.
“The policy becomes fully contestable after Audrey's next medical evaluation.”
“When is that?”
May you like
She looked at me.
“Tomorrow.”
