Chapter 2 - THE MOTHER WHO ALREADY KNEW
Zachary survived the night.
Doctors stabilized his breathing, controlled the violent reaction, and placed him under heavy sedation while they waited for his body to clear the unknown substance.
Lorena sat in a private hospital waiting room beneath fluorescent lights that made everyone look pale.
Gabriel occupied the chair beside the window. He had not spoken to Bianca since leaving the mansion.
Camila paced between the vending machine and the locked treatment-room doors.
Every few minutes, she looked at Lorena.
“You should go home and change,” Camila finally said.
“My husband is unconscious.”
“You’re covered in dust and blood.”
“Whose blood?”
Camila stopped.
There had been no visible blood in the room.
Lorena looked down at her sleeves.
A faint reddish mark stained one cuff.
She remembered Zachary striking his mouth against the bed frame during the convulsions.
“I’m staying.”
Camila lowered herself into the opposite chair.
“You have always been emotional.”
Lorena almost laughed.
Zachary had been discovered naked in his brother’s wife’s bed, and Camila still wanted the room to believe Lorena’s emotions were the emergency.
Gabriel turned from the window.
“How long did you know?”
Camila’s face tightened.
“This is a hospital.”
“How long?”
“Your brother and Bianca made mistakes.”
“Repeatedly?”
No answer.
“You helped them.”
“I tried to keep this family from falling apart.”
“You gave them a schedule.”
Camila glanced toward Lorena.
“That message can be interpreted many ways.”
Lorena stared at her.
“You told Bianca exactly when I would be upstairs and Gabriel would be gone.”
“I knew they needed to speak privately.”
“Naked?”
Camila stood.
“I will not be spoken to like a criminal.”
“Then stop acting like one,” Gabriel said.
It was the first time Lorena had ever heard him raise his voice at his mother.
Camila walked away.
Shortly before dawn, Detective Ellis arrived with a toxicology specialist. They asked Lorena to enter a consultation room.
“The contents of the capsule were altered,” Ellis said.
Lorena forced herself not to look away.
“Altered how?”
“The shell contained residue inconsistent with the product label. We are conducting further testing.”
“Could someone have tampered with it before Zachary brought it home?”
“That is one possibility.”
Lorena’s pulse beat painfully beneath her jaw.
“Where did you find the jacket?” Ellis asked.
“In the dining room.”
“Did you handle the packet?”
“Yes. I found it in the pocket.”
“Why were you searching the jacket?”
“I was preparing it for the dry cleaner.”
“Did you recognize the product?”
“Yes.”
“What did you think?”
Lorena hesitated.
“That my husband was cheating.”
“Did you confront him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I wanted proof.”
Ellis watched her for several seconds.
“Did you get it?”
Lorena looked through the glass wall toward Bianca.
“Yes.”
The detective wrote something down.
She did not accuse Lorena.
Not yet.
Outside, Gabriel was arguing with Bianca near the elevators.
“It began eight months ago,” Bianca admitted.
“Eight months?”
“We were unhappy.”
“You never told me.”
“You were always working.”
“I was working because your spending doubled.”
Bianca wiped tears from her face.
“Zachary understood me.”
“He purchased you.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“Your handbag cost more than my truck.”
Camila rushed toward them.
“Stop discussing money in public.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“Why? Is someone going to discover you were paying for the affair?”
The hallway became quiet.
Bianca looked at Camila.
That glance told Gabriel enough.
“What did she promise you?” he asked.
Bianca shook her head.
“Nothing.”
“What did my mother promise?”
“A position,” Bianca whispered.
Lorena stepped closer.
“What position?”
Bianca looked toward the treatment rooms, as though Zachary might somehow hear through the walls.
“Zachary planned to become chief executive after the merger. Camila said he would need a wife who understood the Woodward family.”
Lorena felt something inside her go silent.
She had spent four years building the company’s commercial partnerships. Her contacts, negotiations, and inheritance had helped prevent Woodward Medical Technologies from collapsing during a failed product launch.
Yet Camila had decided Lorena did not understand the family.
Bianca continued.
“They said you would receive a settlement and return to your father’s ranch.”
“They?”
“Zachary and Camila.”
“What about Gabriel?” Lorena asked.
Bianca looked at her husband.
“Camila said the company would give him enough money to start over.”
Gabriel stepped backward.
“You were all planning our divorces.”
“I didn’t think it would happen like this.”
“How did you think it would happen?”
Bianca could not answer.
A physician entered the hallway.
“Mr. Woodward is conscious.”
Camila immediately moved toward the door.
The physician held up a hand.
“He has requested to see his wife.”
Everyone looked at Lorena.
She followed the doctor into the room.
Zachary lay beneath white blankets with monitors attached to his chest. His skin looked gray, and a small cut marked the corner of his mouth.
When the doctor left, he stared at Lorena.
“You knew.”
She did not pretend to misunderstand.
“I found the capsule.”
“What did you do?”
Her throat tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“I took one from the packet before dinner. It was normal.”
Lorena’s heart stopped.
He had possessed more than one.
“The one in my jacket was different,” he continued. “You found it.”
“I found evidence that you were cheating.”
“What did you put inside it?”
For several seconds, the only sound was the heart monitor.
Lorena thought about lying.
Then she thought about the screams, the foam around his mouth, and the paramedics fighting to keep him breathing.
“I changed it.”
Zachary closed his eyes.
“You tried to kill me.”
“No.”
“You poisoned me.”
“I wanted to expose you.”
“You could have killed me.”
“I know.”
Saying it aloud broke through the frozen determination that had carried her through the night.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I called for help.”
“After you watched me walk into Bianca’s room.”
“I didn’t know the reaction would be that severe.”
“That is supposed to save you?”
“No.”
The honesty surprised both of them.
Zachary pressed the call button beside his bed.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling the police.”
Lorena did not stop him.
The nurse entered, followed minutes later by Detective Ellis.
Zachary pointed toward Lorena.
“She admitted tampering with the capsule.”
Ellis faced her.
“Mrs. Woodward?”
Lorena’s knees felt weak.
“I need an attorney.”
The detective nodded.
“That would be wise.”
Camila entered before anyone could remove Lorena.
“My son is confused because of the medication.”
“I am not confused,” Zachary said.
Camila placed both hands on the bed rail.
“You cannot accuse Lorena.”
“She poisoned me.”
“If she is arrested, investigators will examine every financial transaction connected to this marriage.”
Zachary stared at his mother.
Lorena did too.
Camila’s fear had nothing to do with protecting her.
She was afraid Lorena’s arrest would expose the company.
Detective Ellis noticed the exchange.
“What transactions?” she asked.
Camila straightened.
“Family matters.”
“Mrs. Woodward,” Ellis said, “you should understand that phrase does not prevent an investigation.”
Lorena was escorted from the hospital but not immediately arrested. Her attorney, Naomi Park, arranged a voluntary interview for the following afternoon.
Before leaving, Lorena stopped near Gabriel.
“I changed the capsule.”
His expression hardened.
“You knew it was dangerous?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted the truth.”
“You could have exposed them without risking his life.”
“I know.”
Gabriel looked toward the room where Bianca sat alone.
“I don’t know which betrayal is worse anymore.”
Lorena had no right to ask for his understanding.
She left the hospital by a side entrance.
When she arrived at the Pacific Heights mansion, police vehicles still occupied the driveway.
Her key no longer opened the front door.
Camila had changed the locks.
A house employee handed Lorena a suitcase containing several dresses and a pair of shoes.
“Mrs. Woodward says you may collect the rest after the investigation.”
“It is my home.”
The employee lowered his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Lorena took the suitcase and walked toward her car.
Then she noticed a manila envelope beneath the windshield wiper.
Inside were bank records showing that more than eight million dollars had been transferred from Woodward Medical Technologies into three private companies.
Each company was controlled by Camila.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
May you like
ZACHARY’S AFFAIR IS THE DISTRACTION.
YOUR SIGNATURE IS ON EVERY TRANSFER.
