Chapter 4 - THE SIGNATURELuca recovered first.
“That’s a serious accusation.”
“It wasn’t an accusation.”
Hannah walked toward Nicholas.
“It was a laboratory result.”
Claire placed the pen on the table.
“What exactly are you saying?”
“That Nicholas has been receiving a medication that isn’t prescribed to him.”
Luca glanced at Nicholas.
“And you believe somebody here gave it to him?”
“I believe pills don’t climb into locked containers by themselves.”
Nicholas looked at the document.
“What am I signing?”
Claire answered quickly.
“A temporary management authorization.”
“Let me see it.”
Hannah picked it up before Claire could stop her.
She wasn’t a lawyer.
But several phrases were easy enough to understand.
Medical incapacity.
Temporary voting authority.
Operational continuity.
Hannah gave the document to Nicholas.
“This isn’t routine.”
He read silently.
Then looked at Luca.
“You want control of my voting shares.”
“Temporarily.”
“While I’m incompetent.”
“That isn’t what it says.”
Nicholas tapped the page.
“It literally says medically incapacitated.”
Claire reached for his shoulder.
“Nicholas, everyone is trying to protect what you built.”
He moved away.
“From whom?”
The question landed heavily.
Luca straightened.
“You’ve missed meetings for months.”
“I was hit by a truck.”
“Which is exactly why—”
“My spine was injured. My brain works.”
Hannah glanced toward him.
For the first time since becoming his nurse, Nicholas sounded like the man who had once controlled rooms without raising his voice.
Luca saw it too.
“You’re making this personal.”
“It became personal when somebody started putting unidentified medication in my body.”
Claire’s face drained.
Luca stared at Hannah.
“Can your lab prove who administered it?”
“No.”
“Then stop suggesting you know.”
Hannah didn’t move.
“Did I say your name?”
Silence.
Nicholas almost smiled.
Luca gathered his documents.
“This is ridiculous.”
He walked out.
Claire followed.
At the doorway, she turned.
“You’re destroying his family.”
Hannah replied, “I’m checking his medication.”
Claire left.
Nicholas watched the door close.
“I think she liked you better when she could threaten to fire you.”
“She can still threaten.”
“No.”
Nicholas’s voice sharpened.
“She can’t.”
By evening he had changed Hannah’s employment contract so only he could terminate it.
When she discovered that, she was furious again.
“You keep solving problems with money.”
“It’s the tool I have.”
“You also have words.”
“I’ve never found them reliable.”
“You should practice.”
Nicholas stared.
“Thank you for not leaving.”
Hannah blinked.
He looked uncomfortable.
“Was that acceptable?”
“Terrible delivery.”
“Still counts.”
“Yes.”
Over the next week, his condition improved.
Hannah removed all questionable medication.
His blood pressure stabilized.
His concentration sharpened.
The crushing fatigue began to lift.
Even his physical therapist noticed.
“You’re initiating movement sooner,” she told him.
Nicholas gripped the parallel bars.
“My legs still don’t work.”
“No one said they did.”
He shot Hannah an irritated look.
She smiled.
“You told me not to inspire you.”
Physical therapy remained brutal.
Some days Nicholas made progress.
Other days he came away with his shirt drenched in sweat and hatred in his eyes.
Once, after failing to transfer without assistance, he knocked a water bottle from the table.
Hannah let it roll.
“You’re not going to tell me anger is unhealthy?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because that would annoy me too.”
He laughed.
Then stopped.
“I hate this chair.”
“I know.”
“I hate people looking at it before they look at me.”
“I know.”
“I hate needing help.”
“I definitely know.”
Nicholas looked down.
“I used to walk into rooms and people moved.”
Hannah crouched so they were eye level.
“Maybe they were afraid.”
“They were.”
“That isn’t the same thing as respect.”
His expression changed.
“You really are fearless.”
“No.”
She stood.
“I’m just too tired to perform fear politely.”
Three days later, the house held a charity luncheon.
Claire insisted.
Photographers arrived.
Women wearing designer dresses filled the marble halls.
Nicholas hated every minute.
Hannah watched Claire perform devotion.
She adjusted his tie.
Touched his shoulder.
Laughed beside him.
For one photograph, she kissed his cheek.
The instant the cameras moved away, she stepped back.
Nicholas noticed Hannah watching.
He murmured, “Subtle.”
“What?”
“Your disapproval.”
“I’m working on it.”
Then Luca appeared with two glasses of champagne.
“For the happy couple.”
Nicholas didn’t take one.
“I’m not drinking.”
“Since when?”
“Since my nurse started suspecting everyone of murder.”
Hannah frowned.
“I said poisoning.”
Luca smiled.
“Much more comforting.”
Half an hour later, Nicholas began sweating.
Hannah noticed immediately.
His speech slowed.
His right hand trembled.
She moved toward him.
“What did you eat?”
“Nothing.”
“Drink?”
“Water.”
“Where?”
He pointed toward a glass on the table.
Hannah smelled it.
Nothing unusual.
She checked his blood pressure.
Too low.
“Nicholas, stay awake.”
Claire rushed forward.
“What happened?”
“I need everyone back.”
Guests stared.
Hannah didn’t care.
She called emergency medical services.
Nicholas’s eyes struggled to focus.
“Hannah.”
“I’m here.”
His hand closed around hers.
“Don’t let…”
“What?”
“Them…”
His eyes closed.
The ambulance transported him to Northwestern Memorial.
Testing revealed the same unprescribed medication in his system.
A larger exposure.
This time there was no denying it.
Someone had tried again.
At 1:30 the next morning, Hannah sat outside his hospital room.
Walter arrived.
“Is he awake?”
“Sleeping.”
“Police?”
“Interviewed everyone.”
Walter sat beside her.
“Claire?”
“Claims she knows nothing.”
“Luca?”
“Same.”
Hannah looked at him.
“The security system went offline again.”
Walter’s jaw tightened.
“For how long?”
“Twelve minutes.”
“Who had access?”
“You know who.”
Walter said nothing.
Hannah had requested a full access report from security.
It arrived on her phone while Walter was sitting beside her.
She opened it.
There were three administrator logins around the time the camera failed.
Luca.
Unknown remote terminal.
And Walter Bell.
Hannah slowly lowered the phone.
Walter noticed.
“What?”
She stood.
“Nothing.”
But her stomach had turned.
Because one hour before Nicholas collapsed, the system showed Walter accessing the secured medication storage room.
When Hannah returned to Nicholas’s hospital room, he was awake.
“You look worried.”
“I am.”
“About me?”
“Mostly.”
“What’s the rest?”
She hesitated.
Nicholas noticed.
“Hannah.”
She closed the door.
“Walter accessed your medication room before you collapsed.”
Nicholas became very still.
“That’s impossible.”
“I saw the log.”
“He’s been with my family for thirty years.”
“So?”
“He practically raised me.”
Hannah held his gaze.
“And Claire is your fiancée.”
The words hurt him.
She saw it.
Nicholas looked toward the dark hospital window.
“Everyone I trust is becoming a suspect.”
Hannah pulled a chair beside his bed.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Everyone who deserves your trust is being tested.”
Nicholas stared at her for a long moment.
Then he asked quietly:
“Will you stay tonight?”
Hannah nodded.
“Yes.”
Neither of them noticed the man standing at the far end of the hospital corridor.
Walter Bell watched through the glass.
Then he lifted his phone.
“He knows,” Walter whispered.
A voice answered.
May you like
Walter closed his eyes.
“We don’t have much time.”
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