Chapter 3 - THE DOCTOR WHO WANTED MY LIFEThe next morning, I found an envelope in my locker.
No name.
No return address.
Inside was a photograph.
Me.
Six years ago.
Standing beside Adrian's hospital bed.
The second photograph showed Vanessa.
Standing outside the medication room.
The third showed someone else.
A man I recognized.
The hospital administrator.
Richard Mercer.
He had signed my termination papers six years ago.
I walked directly to Adrian.
He looked at the photographs.
Then smiled.
“Now we have a direction.”
We went to the hospital.
Mercer's office was empty.
He had left twenty minutes earlier.
Security footage showed him entering the basement archive.
We followed.
The archive doors were open.
Inside were thousands of medical files.
Someone had destroyed the section from six years ago.
All except one box.
Mine.
Adrian opened it.
Inside were forged evaluations.
False complaints.
Anonymous accusations.
A disciplinary report claiming I had endangered a patient.
I stared.
“This destroyed my career.”
“I know.”
“There was never a hearing.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because someone wanted you gone before you could remember what happened.”
He looked at me.
“What did you remember?”
I closed my eyes.
A flash.
Adrian bleeding.
Vanessa shouting.
A syringe.
A man in a black coat.
A hospital corridor.
Then a voice.
Don't let her talk to him.
I gasped.
Adrian caught me.
“Sarah?”
“My sister?”
He looked confused.
“Who?”
“Sorry.”
I shook my head.
“Not Sarah.”
“Who?”
“Vanessa.”
Adrian's expression changed.
“What did she say?”
“I don't know.”
“Try.”
I closed my eyes again.
The memory returned.
Vanessa was beside me.
She was holding a chart.
She looked terrified.
And another person was behind her.
A man.
Tall.
Dark suit.
Silver cuff links.
I opened my eyes.
“The man who was with her…”
“What man?”
“I saw him.”
“Who?”
I whispered,
“Your uncle.”
Adrian froze.
“Marcus?”
I nodded.
Marcus Falcone had supposedly died eight years earlier.
But my memory said otherwise.
He had been there.
Six years ago.
At the hospital.
Standing beside Vanessa.
Adrian found the first photograph of Marcus at an old family property.
Then another.
Then a bank transfer.
Marcus had not died.
He had changed his identity.
He had spent years building an organization against Adrian's father.
And he had one goal.
Destroy Adrian.
The attempt on Adrian's life had been the first step.
But there was something worse.
Marcus had discovered that Adrian loved me.
And that made me his weakness.
That night, someone broke into our house.
I woke to glass.
Adrian was already moving.
He grabbed me.
“Bedroom.”
“No.”
“Go.”
A shot hit the wall.
Adrian returned fire.
The intruder escaped.
On the floor was a single object.
A faded hospital bracelet.
Another one.
But this one wasn't mine.
It belonged to Adrian.
The date matched the night of the shooting.
On the back was written:
SHE SAVED YOU ONCE.
WE'LL SEE IF SHE CAN DO IT AGAIN.
Adrian stared.
Then looked at me.
For the first time since I had met him, the terrifying billionaire looked genuinely afraid.
May you like
Not for himself.
For me.
Related Stories
