Chapter 6 - THE LABOR PLAN
The next forty-eight hours became a blur of security protocols, legal documents, and fear.
Detective Hale moved me again.
This time, I was not transferred to another hospital.
I was transferred to a private residential medical facility outside Dallas under the name Claire Morgan. The building looked like an expensive rehabilitation center, with white stone walls, gardens, and security guards who did not wear uniforms.
Dr. Price came with me.
Martin came too.
I hated leaving my company behind.
But I hated the thought of Daniel finding me more.
Ashley sent messages every day.
I’m sorry.
I didn’t know.
Please tell me you’re safe.
I did not answer.
Not yet.
Then, on a cold Thursday morning, my water broke.
I was thirty-six weeks pregnant.
Too early.
Dr. Price checked me immediately.
“The baby’s heart rate is strong,” she said. “But we need to monitor you closely.”
My hands shook.
“Is he okay?”
“He’s okay right now.”
Right now.
Those words followed me everywhere.
Detective Hale arrived within an hour.
“We found the hospital leak,” she said.
“Who?”
“A medical billing contractor. Daniel paid him through one of Richard Webb’s shell companies.”
I closed my eyes.
Daniel had been tracking me.
He had been waiting for labor.
Waiting for me to be vulnerable.
“Can you arrest him now?” I asked.
“Not yet. But we have surveillance on him.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
“We need evidence tying him directly to the fraud, the insurance scheme, and Cassandra’s death.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You have a recording of him planning my fall.”
“We have evidence that can make his lawyer work very hard,” Detective Hale said. “But I want evidence that makes a jury stop breathing.”
That afternoon, Ashley arrived at the facility.
I had not authorized it.
The guards stopped her at the entrance, but she refused to leave.
“I need to see Claire,” she told them. “I have something.”
Detective Hale brought her inside.
Ashley looked exhausted. Her makeup was gone. Her expensive clothes were wrinkled. She held a small silver key in one hand.
“I found this in Mom’s jewelry box,” she said.
“What does it open?” I asked.
“The safety deposit box.”
“Patricia has one?”
“Not at a bank. At Daniel’s office.”
She handed the key to Detective Hale.
“I went there because Daniel called me. He said I needed to stand by family. He said Claire was trying to destroy us.”
“Did you tell him where I was?” I asked.
Ashley’s eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
I studied her face.
“I believe you,” I said quietly.
It was the first kindness I had offered her since the stairs.
Ashley broke down.
“I should have stopped them sooner,” she cried. “I knew they were bad people. I just didn’t think they would do this.”
“You were afraid,” I said.
“That doesn’t make me innocent.”
“No,” I said. “But it gives you a chance to become better.”
The safety deposit box contained what Detective Hale had been waiting for.
A flash drive.
Inside were scans of company records, insurance policies, forged signatures, photographs, and a spreadsheet labeled EXIT STRATEGY.
Daniel had planned to sell portions of Bennett Development Group after my death.
Richard Webb would certify the transactions.
Mara would become trustee for my son.
Daniel would control Mara through threats against Ava.
And Patricia would move into my home as “guardian grandmother.”
But there was one final file.
A video.
It showed Daniel and Richard in Daniel’s office.
Daniel’s voice was clear.
“Once Claire dies, the board will panic. Richard, you tell them the market is unstable. Ashley signs whatever I put in front of her. Mara handles the trust. And by the time anyone notices where the money went, I’ll be gone.”
Richard asked, “What about the baby?”
Daniel laughed.
“The baby is an asset. He doesn’t have to understand anything.”
I felt something inside me become completely still.
Not numb.
Clear.
My son was not an asset.
My life was not a transaction.
And Daniel Carter was not going to escape with either of them.
That evening, labor intensified.
Dr. Price rushed into the room.
“It’s time.”
Outside, Detective Hale made calls.
Inside, I held Martin’s hand while pain tore through me.
Then an alarm sounded in the hallway.
One of the guards shouted.
And Detective Hale burst into the room with a gun drawn.
May you like
“Claire,” she said, “Daniel knows where you are.”
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