Chapter 4 - VIVIENNE OPENS HER EYES
Vivienne looked impossibly fragile.
Machines surrounded her.
An oxygen tube ran beneath her nose.
Her skin was pale.
Her hair was damp against the pillow.
But when I entered the room, her eyes opened.
“Conrad.”
I rushed to her.
“I'm here.”
She stared at me.
Then at Gemma.
“My baby.”
Gemma burst into tears.
She kissed her mother's hand.
“Mom.”
Vivienne squeezed weakly.
“I thought I lost you.”
“You almost did.”
Vivienne looked at me.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“I tried to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
She looked toward the door.
“Are we alone?”
I checked.
“Yes.”
She whispered:
“No.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Someone is listening.”
I looked at the room.
“Who?”
Vivienne's eyes moved toward the ceiling.
“The camera.”
I looked up.
A small black device sat near the corner.
Hospital security camera.
I pressed the call button.
A nurse came in.
“Could you disable that camera?”
The nurse looked confused.
“It's hospital security.”
“My wife says someone is monitoring it.”
“We can't disable security.”
I stared at her.
“Then move us to another room.”
She hesitated.
“I'll speak with the charge nurse.”
Vivienne grabbed my wrist.
“Don't.”
“Why?”
“Because they already know.”
“Who?”
She swallowed.
“Everyone.”
Gemma stepped closer.
“Mom, who did this?”
Vivienne looked at her daughter.
“I don't know.”
“Was it Grandma?”
Vivienne closed her eyes.
A tear slid down her cheek.
“Your grandmother knows.”
That was not an answer.
“Mom,” Gemma said. “Did Grandma try to kill you?”
Vivienne opened her eyes.
“No.”
Relief.
Then:
“But she helped the people who did.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who?”
Vivienne shook her head.
“Not here.”
“What about Dr. Albright?”
Her eyes widened.
“He's involved.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“Why did he declare you dead?”
“He didn't.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“He never examined me.”
My heart stopped.
“Then who did?”
Vivienne whispered:
“A woman.”
“What woman?”
She looked toward Gemma.
“Someone wearing a nurse's uniform.”
I felt dizzy.
“What happened?”
“I collapsed at home.”
“Who was there?”
“Mason.”
My brother.
“And Paige.”
My sister.
“And Brenda.”
I stepped back.
“Brenda was there?”
Vivienne nodded.
“But Brenda didn't hurt me.”
“Then who did?”
Vivienne closed her eyes.
“I remember a voice.”
“Whose?”
“I couldn't see her face.”
“What did she say?”
Vivienne's breathing became faster.
“She said…”
I leaned closer.
“What?”
Vivienne whispered:
“You should never have found Maeve.”
Silence.
Then the heart monitor began beeping rapidly.
A nurse rushed in.
“Sir, please step back.”
Vivienne's eyes closed.
“Mom!”
Gemma cried.
The nurse pushed us outside.
I stood in the hallway.
My mind raced.
Maeve.
The biological mother.
The secret.
The money.
My mother.
My siblings.
The fake death.
Someone had wanted Vivienne dead because she found Maeve.
But why?
Then I remembered the photograph.
Vivienne and Maeve.
December 12.
Six days before her collapse.
I pulled out my phone.
I called Maeve.
No answer.
I tried again.
Still nothing.
I contacted the cemetery security guard.
“Where did Maeve go?”
“She left about twenty minutes ago.”
“Where?”
“She got into an old blue sedan.”
“Did you get the plate?”
“Yes.”
He gave it to me.
I immediately sent it to Elias.
“Find that car.”
“Already doing it.”
“Elias.”
“Yes?”
“If anyone follows Maeve, stop them.”
A pause.
Then:
“Sir, you may want to hear this.”
“What?”
“The plate is registered to an abandoned property.”
“Where?”
“Thirty-seven miles outside Cedar Rapids.”
“Whose property?”
Elias hesitated.
“The property belongs to Pendelton Enterprises.”
I stared at the hospital wall.
An abandoned company property.
A woman claiming to be Vivienne's biological mother.
A fake death.
And now a secret location owned by my own company.
I suddenly understood something.
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Vivienne hadn't been investigating her past.
She had been investigating mine.
