Chapter 9 - What Derek Sold
I called Derek that night.
Dana was furious for thirty seconds, then agreed to listen as long as I followed her rules.
No threats.
No promises.
No revealing what Allison had given us.
Derek answered on the first ring.
“Natalie.”
“You took money from your mother.”
His silence told me enough.
“Five hundred thousand dollars.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Then tell me what it was like.”
He breathed out slowly.
“I made a bad investment.”
“How bad?”
“Bad.”
“Use numbers.”
He always used that phrase on me.
Now I gave it back.
“One point three million.”
Rachel’s eyes widened.
Derek had invested Meridian reserve money in a private medical software startup without board approval. The company collapsed. He covered part of the loss by moving funds through another account, believing he could replace them before anyone noticed.
Judith noticed.
“She said she could fix it,” he said.
“By buying you?”
“By protecting the company.”
“And your solution was to have me declared unstable?”
“I never wanted them to take Emily from you.”
“Then why did you sign the petition?”
“I wanted leverage.”
That word made me colder than anything else he had said.
“Against your wife in labor?”
“I thought you were going to leave after the birth.”
“You were right.”
“I panicked.”
“No. You planned.”
He began crying.
I had seen Derek angry, charming, frustrated, drunk, sick, embarrassed.
I had almost never seen him cry.
For years, that sound would have broken me.
Now I listened.
“My mother said if the trust activated cleanly, she could use the voting shares to protect Meridian, cover the loss, and keep the board from removing me.”
“And what did I have to do?”
“Stay in Ohio.”
“That’s not all.”
Silence.
“Derek.”
“You were supposed to be evaluated.”
“For what?”
“Just twenty-four hours.”
I closed my eyes.
Twenty-four hours to build a record.
Twenty-four hours to separate me from Emily.
Twenty-four hours for Judith and Derek to become the responsible adults in every document.
“What if the evaluation said I was fine?”
Derek whispered, “It wasn’t supposed to.”
Rachel covered her mouth.
Dana wrote something quickly.
I looked at my daughter sleeping in the bassinet.
“Who was going to make sure of that?”
Derek did not answer.
I already knew.
“Dr. Mason?”
He inhaled.
Then the line disconnected.
An hour later, Dana received a call from an attorney representing Dr. Ethan Mason.
He wanted to cooperate.
Not because he had grown a conscience overnight.
Because Riverside had suspended his privileges and Meridian’s compliance office had locked him out of every system.
His lawyer offered a recorded statement.
Dr. Mason admitted altering my chart.
He admitted writing the recommendation letter.
And then he said something none of us expected.
“Judith Foster did not ask me to do it.”
Dana leaned forward.
“Who did?”
“Derek.”
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