Chapter 25 - Richard's Name Was on the Medication OrderRichard went pale.
“No.”
Catherine remained on the hallway camera.
Emily stared.
“Was the signature real?”
Catherine answered:
“The authorization code was real.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Of course.
Again.
His credentials.
His name.
His authority.
Used by someone else.
But this time, someone had died.
Anna.
Richard's voice broke.
“I never changed her medication.”
“I believe you,” Catherine said.
He looked surprised.
She continued.
“But someone knew your access.”
Jonathan.
Daniel Crane.
Vivian.
The family office.
Too many people.
Emily hated that.
Power spread responsibility until everyone could say they did not know.
Emily asked:
“What medication?”
Catherine hesitated.
“Something used to control Anna's heart rhythm.”
No need for technical detail.
What mattered was the switch.
Anna's stable prescription had been altered days before her hospitalization.
The change increased her risk.
Richard looked sick.
“Who approved it?”
“Your code.”
“Who submitted it?”
“Hospital counsel authorization.”
Emily froze.
“Daniel Crane?”
Catherine nodded.
Silence.
The supposedly dead lawyer had been connected to Anna's hospital.
Rose stared.
“Was my mother killed?”
Catherine looked at her.
“I don't know.”
The honesty mattered.
She continued.
“I know the medication changed.”
“I know Anna questioned it.”
“I know Sarah found the original prescription.”
“And?”
“She disappeared three days later.”
Emily stopped breathing.
“My mother died nine years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Car accident.”
Catherine looked at her.
“No.”
Emily felt cold.
“What?”
“Sarah's car was found after the crash.”
“She wasn't in it.”
Silence.
Emily stared.
“No.”
Rose covered her mouth.
Richard looked shocked.
Emily's voice became small.
“I buried her.”
Catherine closed her eyes.
“You buried ashes.”
Emily stopped breathing.
“Whose?”
“I don't know.”
The room disappeared.
Her mother.
Alive?
Maybe.
Dead another way?
Unknown.
Every memory shifted.
The funeral.
The coffee tin.
The broken car.
The old coat.
The woman who raised Emily.
Rose.
Marcus.
Protected Anna's daughters.
Refused six million dollars.
Perhaps never died.
Emily stepped back.
Richard moved toward her.
Stopped himself.
Good.
He did not touch without invitation.
Emily looked at Catherine.
“Where is Sarah?”
“I don't know.”
“You said she gave you the key.”
“She did.”
“When?”
“Three days before her supposed death.”
Emily's eyes filled.
“Did she know what would happen?”
Catherine's face broke.
“She was afraid.”
Rose began crying.
“What did she say?”
Catherine answered:
“If I disappear, don't let them tell Emily I left because I wanted a better life.”
Emily covered her mouth.
Her mother knew.
She knew how abandonment could wound.
She had left a sentence behind.
Then Catherine continued.
“She also gave me something.”
“What?”
“A sealed medical file.”
“Anna's?”
“No.”
Emily stared.
“Whose?”
“Yours.”
Silence.
Richard frowned.
Rose looked confused.
Emily whispered:
“Why would my mother have a medical file on me?”
Catherine's face changed.
“Because Sarah Parker was not your biological mother.”
The corridor went dead.
Emily did not breathe.
Rose stared at her.
Richard whispered:
“No.”
Catherine continued.
“Sarah raised you.”
“Loved you.”
“Protected you.”
“But you were born to someone else.”
Emily's entire identity cracked open.
“Who?”
Catherine looked toward Rose.
Then at Emily.
And answered:
“Anna's mother.”
Silence.
Emily stared.
“That would make me—”
Catherine nodded.
“Anna's half-sister.”
Rose stopped breathing.
The triplets' aunt.
Rose's aunt.
The nanny they called staff was family by blood all along.
But Catherine continued.
“And that's why Anna left you forty-two million dollars.”
Emily's eyes filled.
Not payment.
Not gratitude.
Inheritance.
Family.
Then Catherine looked directly into the camera.
“But blood is not the biggest secret.”
Emily stared.
“What is?”
Catherine answered:
May you like
“Sarah Parker knew who your father was.”
And that man was still inside the mansion.
