Chapter 16 - THE WOMAN WHO WALKED INTO THE ROOMMiriam Vale had been Daniel’s nurse for eleven months.
Nobody had known her real name.
She closed the door behind her.
Liam stepped between her and Clara.
Miriam smiled.
“Still protecting people by standing in front of them.”
“I’m not armed.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because I’ve been watching you.”
Clara stepped around Liam.
“Stop talking to him.”
Miriam looked at her.
“You’re Susan’s daughter.”
“You knew my mother?”
Miriam’s expression softened.
“I loved your mother.”
Clara froze.
Miriam explained.
Susan Bennett had worked briefly as a receptionist in one of Victor Mercer’s clinics.
That was how she discovered Elizabeth Vale’s death.
Susan had helped Miriam obtain copies of records.
They became friends.
Then Susan died.
Miriam blamed Daniel for taking Victor’s money.
She blamed Liam for inheriting the empire.
She blamed Adrian for surviving a system that killed his mother.
And mostly, she blamed herself.
“I was sixteen when Elizabeth died.”
Miriam’s eyes glistened.
“I spent thirty years trying to prove what happened.”
Clara crossed her arms.
“So you framed our foundation?”
“I exposed contaminated money.”
“You froze treatment for children.”
“I didn’t authorize that.”
“But you knew it could happen.”
Miriam hesitated.
That was enough.
Clara stepped closer.
“You became so obsessed with punishing dead men that you stopped seeing living people.”
Miriam flinched.
Liam watched Clara.
Once, he would have threatened Miriam.
Clara’s words were doing far more damage.
Miriam reached into her bag.
Leo’s hand moved toward his jacket.
She noticed.
“Relax.”
She removed a flash drive.
“The missing ledger pages.”
Liam stared.
“Why give them back?”
“Because there’s something on them I didn’t understand until last month.”
She handed the drive to Clara.
“Victor Mercer wasn’t the highest person in the operation.”
Liam frowned.
“My father answered to no one.”
“Everybody answers to somebody.”
Miriam looked at Daniel.
“Tell him.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Tell me what?” Liam asked.
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Victor had a partner.”
“Who?”
Miriam answered.
“Dr. Samuel Harrington.”
Liam’s face emptied.
Clara whispered:
“Your doctor?”
The man who had treated Liam after the shooting.
The doctor who had entered his home.
Managed his infection.
Touched his wounds.
The physician Clara had trusted during the worst nights of Liam’s recovery.
Liam stared at Miriam.
“Harrington worked for my father?”
“Since before you were born.”
Miriam nodded toward the flash drive.
“And he’s still working.”
Clara went cold.
“Working on what?”
May you like
Miriam’s next words made Liam forget how to breathe.
“Grace Mercer’s pediatric clinic belongs to him.”
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