Chapter 3 - The Doctor Who Sold Mothers
Dr. Vale entered through the side door carrying a court order that authorized Marcus to place Claire in a private treatment center until the baby was delivered.
He insisted his license had been restored through an appeal.
Eleanor checked the court database.
No appeal existed.
The order carried her own electronic signature.
Marcus smiled.
“Even your name agrees Claire needs help.”
Eleanor looked at him with open disgust.
“You forged a judge’s signature to imprison her, and you still expect me to be impressed by your confidence.”
Vale claimed Claire suffered from prenatal paranoia and class resentment.
He said women from modest backgrounds often felt overwhelmed after marrying into powerful families.
Claire’s voice shook with fury.
“So when a rich husband controls the money, takes the phone and threatens the child, the poor wife is sick for noticing?”
Vale tried to leave, but Eleanor called state investigators and ordered the doors secured.
Elena surrendered a small recorder hidden inside her apron.
It captured Marcus telling Vale, “Once the baby is born, sedate Claire long enough for my mother to claim emergency custody.”
Another voice answered, “The treatment center has handled women like her before.”
Eleanor recognized that voice too.
It belonged to Chief Justice Harrison Caldwell—Marcus’s father.
Then the front doors opened again.
May you like
A silver-haired woman entered with a hospital bracelet, bruised wrists and a file marked MATERNAL TRANSFER PROGRAM.
Claire recognized her as the Caldwell family’s former daughter-in-law, who had supposedly abandoned her newborn fifteen years earlier.
