Chapter 6 - MY EX-HUSBAND’S SECRET
His name was Daniel Bennett.
And for three years, I had done everything possible to forget him.
The photograph showed Daniel leaving a restaurant with Dr. Mercer.
The date printed in the corner was six months earlier.
The exact week Mercer accessed Oliver’s medical records.
My hands turned cold.
Sebastian watched my face.
“You recognize him.”
“My ex-husband.”
Gabriel swore.
Sebastian’s expression sharpened.
“What does he do?”
“He sells medical equipment.”
The answer sounded ordinary until it didn’t.
“Mostly rehabilitation technology. Hospital contracts. Mobility devices.”
Sebastian looked toward my hand.
“The kind of equipment used by spinal injury patients.”
I nodded.
Daniel had once been charming.
Ambitious.
Always chasing the next deal.
When Oliver became sick, the medical bills piled up and Daniel became angrier.
Not at the disease.
At us.
At me for working fewer hours.
At Oliver for needing expensive care.
He began hiding money.
Then came another woman.
Then the divorce.
He fought me over everything except custody.
Oliver required too much responsibility.
Daniel disappeared from our lives with shocking ease.
“I haven’t spoken to him in eleven months,” I said.
Sebastian gave Gabriel an order.
“Find him.”
Gabriel left.
I paced the medical consultation room.
“Maybe this has nothing to do with him.”
Sebastian said nothing.
“Maybe Mercer approached him because he works in medical sales.”
Still nothing.
I turned.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you already know I’m wrong.”
He leaned back.
“I spent twenty years ignoring coincidences because they came wearing familiar faces.”
That landed harder than I wanted.
Three hours later, Gabriel found Daniel.
Not in Chicago.
At O’Hare.
Preparing to board a flight to Zurich.
Sebastian made one call.
Daniel never boarded.
I did not ask how.
By evening, he was escorted into the private clinic’s conference room.
He looked older.
More expensive.
Tailored coat.
Designer watch.
Same nervous habit of rubbing his thumb along his wedding finger even though the ring was gone.
Then he saw Sebastian.
His face drained.
“Claire.”
“Why were you meeting Mercer?”
Daniel looked toward the guards.
“I want a lawyer.”
Sebastian rolled closer.
“Excellent idea.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Am I under arrest?”
“No.”
“That’s worse,” Gabriel muttered.
I stepped between them.
“This is my conversation.”
Sebastian looked at me.
Then nodded.
I faced Daniel.
“You accessed Oliver’s records.”
“I did not.”
“Mercer’s company did.”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
I threw the photograph onto the table.
“Try again.”
His eyes dropped.
His shoulders sagged.
“I needed money.”
The sentence was so familiar I almost laughed.
Daniel had needed money through our entire marriage.
“What did you sell him?”
“Information.”
“About me?”
He nodded.
My stomach twisted.
“Mercer heard about you through a clinic chain. Someone mentioned a therapist who had unusual success with nerve injuries.”
“So?”
“He asked whether you were legitimate.”
“And you told him?”
“That you were talented.”
For one absurd second, I hated him more for the compliment.
“What else?”
“He wanted to know what would make you accept a private job.”
Oliver.
I felt sick.
“You told him about Oliver.”
Daniel looked down.
“He already knew you had a son.”
“You gave him medical information?”
“I gave him the pharmacy.”
I stepped back like he had struck me.
“You sold our son’s illness.”
“I owed people money.”
“My God.”
“Claire, listen—”
“No.”
Sebastian’s voice came quietly.
“How much?”
Daniel looked at him.
“How much did Mercer pay you?”
“Twenty thousand.”
Sebastian’s expression turned almost amused.
“Twenty thousand dollars.”
Daniel nodded.
“You sold your sick son for less than the watch on your wrist.”
Daniel covered the watch instinctively.
Sebastian smiled without warmth.
“Interesting.”
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I asked the question that mattered.
“Why did they want me?”
Daniel hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
Sebastian glanced at Gabriel.
Daniel panicked.
“I swear. Mercer said he needed someone outside the usual medical establishment.”
“To examine me?” Sebastian asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He said you were becoming suspicious.”
Sebastian froze.
“When?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Last year.”
Sebastian frowned.
“You’d started complaining about sensations in your right leg.”
I looked at Sebastian.
He had told me those sensations happened rarely.
Apparently Mercer knew they were becoming more frequent.
Daniel continued.
“Mercer worried you would eventually demand new tests. He wanted someone unofficial to examine you first.”
“Why Claire?” I asked.
“Because if you said nothing could be done, it would reinforce Mercer’s diagnosis.”
“And if I found something?”
Daniel looked terrified.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Silence.
“What was supposed to happen?” I asked.
“Mercer believed the medication would suppress most reflexes. He told Gabriel’s contact to schedule you after Sebastian’s evening dose.”
Sebastian’s head turned.
“Gabriel’s contact?”
Daniel immediately realized his mistake.
Every guard in the room went still.
Gabriel’s face changed.
“What contact?”
Daniel backed away.
“I don’t know the name.”
Sebastian’s voice became deadly.
“You said Gabriel’s contact.”
“Mercer told me someone inside your security team was arranging the therapist.”
Gabriel looked at Sebastian.
“I didn’t know.”
“I believe you.”
The answer came instantly.
That loyalty moved through the room like electricity.
Sebastian turned toward Daniel.
“Who?”
“I only saw a phone number.”
“Give it to him.”
Daniel did.
Gabriel entered the number into his system.
The result appeared seconds later.
The registered account belonged to a Lombardi company.
The authorized user made Sebastian stop breathing.
His younger cousin.
Marco Lombardi.
Carlo’s only son.
Marco had practically grown up in Sebastian’s mansion.
Sebastian had paid for his college.
Given him a position in the legitimate family businesses.
Trusted him.
Then Daniel said something worse.
“Marco isn’t just helping his father.”
Sebastian stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“He’s taking over.”
A distant alarm suddenly sounded from the clinic parking garage.
Gabriel looked at his phone.
“Security breach.”
The lights flickered.
Sebastian reached for his weapon.
I grabbed Oliver’s medical bag.
Then the building’s emergency speaker activated.
Marco Lombardi’s voice filled the hallway.
“Cousin.”
Sebastian’s eyes turned to ice.
“You spent twenty years learning how to rule from a chair.”
May you like
A pause.
“Now I’m going to show Chicago how easily that chair can become a coffin.”
