Chapter 4 - SIX MONTHS WAS A LIE
Florence survived.
Barely.
Doctors stabilized her after several frightening hours.
Edward remained outside the treatment room with dried blood from his mother’s cut hand on his shirt.
Detective Mitchell sat across from him.
“We’re testing everything she ate today.”
Edward rubbed both hands over his face.
“I married her.”
Mitchell said nothing.
“I brought her into this family.”
Still nothing.
“I trusted her with my mother.”
Mitchell finally spoke.
“Then help us find her.”
Edward looked up.
“How?”
“Tell me everything.”
So he did.
He described meeting Victoria at a charity auction in Boston.
The accidental spilled champagne.
Her quick laugh.
Their first dinner.
Their engagement eleven months later.
The small wedding in Tuscany.
The way she had seemed uninterested in his money.
“I offered to buy her a larger apartment before we married.”
“She refused.”
“She said she hated people who showed off wealth.”
Mitchell raised an eyebrow.
“She understood what you needed to hear.”
The words hurt because they were true.
A doctor approached.
“Mr. Hale?”
Edward stood immediately.
“How is she?”
“Stable.”
“And the cancer?”
The doctor hesitated.
“I reviewed the records you brought.”
Edward’s heartbeat quickened.
“Is she terminal?”
“No.”
One word.
Edward nearly collapsed with relief.
The doctor continued.
“Mrs. Hale has lymphoma, but based on her current scans and pathology, describing her as having only a few months would be medically unsupported.”
Edward stared.
“So the records were fake?”
“Some pages appear altered.”
“How?”
“Dates changed.”
“Notes added.”
“Sections copied from another patient’s file.”
Edward’s eyes hardened.
Victoria had built a countdown clock inside Florence’s mind.
She had convinced an elderly woman she was dying.
Then rushed her toward changing financial documents.
The doctor continued.
“There is something else.”
Edward’s stomach tightened again.
“Her bloodwork suggests she may have been taking substances that were not part of her treatment.”
“Could they make her weak?”
“Yes.”
“Confused?”
“Potentially.”
Edward closed his eyes.
It had all been deliberate.
Not one burst of greed.
A campaign.
A slow dismantling of Florence’s confidence until she believed she had no future.
His phone rang.
His attorney, Julian Price.
“Edward, we have a problem.”
“What now?”
“Someone accessed one of the family holding accounts forty minutes ago.”
“How much?”
“Two-point-eight million.”
Edward shot to his feet.
“Freeze everything.”
“I’m trying.”
“Who authorized the transfer?”
Silence.
Then Julian said,
“You did.”
Edward stopped.
“What?”
“Digital signature.”
“Biometric approval.”
“Your credentials.”
“I didn’t authorize anything.”
“I know.”
“But the bank thinks you did.”
Edward looked through the glass at his unconscious mother.
Victoria wasn’t simply running.
She was emptying the house on her way out.
Then Julian added,
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“The money wasn’t transferred overseas.”
“Where did it go?”
“To a company registered three months ago.”
Edward gripped the phone.
“What company?”
Julian answered.
“Hale Medical Holdings.”
Edward frowned.
“I don’t own a company called Hale Medical Holdings.”
“I know.”
May you like
“Edward…”
“It was incorporated by your wife.”
