Chapter 4
Detective Mills took my phone.
Daniel tried to sit up when he heard the words medical power of attorney.
The machines screamed immediately.
Nurses rushed in.
Dr. Singh ordered him still.
But Daniel kept staring at me.
“She forged you?”
“Yes.”
His voice cracked.
“Claire, I didn’t know.”
I believed him.
That almost made it worse.
He had not planned this crime.
He had simply opened every door for Madison to walk through.
His money.
His body.
His trust.
My name.
Our marriage.
All of it became tools in her hands.
Detective Mills read the message twice.
Then he looked at me.
“Did you ever sign a power of attorney?”
“No.”
“Any chance your husband had old signed blank documents?”
I turned slowly toward Daniel.
His face went white.
“Daniel?”
He closed his eyes.
“During the refinancing. There were blank signature pages. My assistant handled some scanning.”
“Madison was your assistant,” I said.
He nodded.
Natalie cursed under her breath.
Mills asked, “Where would she keep access to company files?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Office server. My laptop. Her laptop.”
“Passwords?”
He hesitated.
I laughed sharply.
“You gave her your passwords too?”
His silence answered.
Detective Mills closed his notebook.
“We’re getting warrants.”
After he left, Daniel looked smaller than ever.
“I ruined everything,” he whispered.
I was too tired to comfort him.
“Yes.”
He looked at me like I had hit him.
Maybe I had.
Good.
Some truth has to hurt before it heals.
“I don’t know how to fix this,” he said.
“You can start by staying alive.”
His eyes filled.
“Would you even care?”
I turned toward the window.
Morning light made the hospital walls look too clean.
“Yes,” I said.
The word came out rough.
“I care. That does not mean I forgive you.”
He nodded slowly.
“I know.”
“No, Daniel. I need you to hear me. I am not your wife in the way you want right now. I am not your safety net. I am not your donor. I am not the woman waiting at home for you to realize Madison was poison.”
Tears ran down his face.
“I know.”
“I’m here because someone tried to use my name to kill you.”
“And because you’re good.”
“No,” I said. “Because I am angry.”
That surprised him.
It surprised me too.
But it was true.
Anger had brought me upright.
Anger had kept me from collapsing.
Anger had made me look at the bottle, the records, the forged signature, the woman who thought I was too broken to fight back.
Madison did not know me.
Daniel had forgotten me.
I was about to remind them both.
By noon, Dr. Singh confirmed the toxicology.
The extract had damaged Daniel’s kidneys.
Maybe permanently.
Dialysis could stabilize him, but his numbers were still dangerous.
A transplant was likely.
Living donor preferred.
I heard all of it like someone standing underwater.
Then Dr. Singh asked to speak privately.
We stepped into her office.
She shut the door.
“I need to be direct.”
“Please.”
“You may be a compatible donor.”
“I know.”
“But no one can pressure you. Not your husband. Not his family. Not hospital staff. No one.”
“I understand.”
“Given the emotional circumstances, I would strongly recommend counseling before any decision.”
I almost smiled.
“The emotional circumstances being that he left me for the woman who poisoned him?”
Dr. Singh’s face softened.
“Yes.”
I sat down.
“If I say no and he dies…”
“That will not be your fault.”
I looked at her.
Doctors must say that often.
It still sounded impossible to believe.
“What if I say yes?”
“Then we test you. Slowly. Carefully. And you can withdraw at any time.”
“Would he survive long enough?”
“We will do everything we can.”
Everything.
A dangerous word.
After I left her office, I found Daniel’s mother in the hallway.
Evelyn Harper.
Pearls.
Perfect hair.
A face built for judgment.
She had never liked me.
Too middle-class.
Too quiet.
Too “fragile” after the miscarriages, as if grief was a personal flaw.
Now she rushed toward me.
“Claire, thank God.”
I stepped back before she could hug me.
Her arms froze.
“Daniel told me everything.”
“I doubt that.”
Her mouth tightened.
“He told me enough. This Madison woman is clearly unstable.”
“This Madison woman lived with your son.”
“Yes, well, men make foolish choices when they are lonely.”
Lonely.
I stared at her.
“He was married.”
Evelyn looked away.
“I didn’t approve of how he handled things.”
“But you approved of me being replaced.”
Her eyes flashed.
“This is not the time.”
“It never was, according to you.”
She inhaled sharply.
Then her voice softened in the way rich women soften knives.
“Claire, Daniel needs family now.”
“There it is.”
“He may need a donor.”
“Ask Madison.”
“That is cruel.”
“So was watching your son destroy our marriage and calling it loneliness.”
Her face reddened.
“My son could die.”
“And you came to ask me for body parts before asking if I was okay.”
For once, Evelyn Harper had no answer.
Then she whispered, “Please.”
That single word almost undid me.
Not because of her.
Because of every mother who would beg for her child.
But I was someone’s child too.
And nobody in Daniel’s family had begged him not to break me.
“I’m not making any decision today,” I said.
Evelyn’s eyes hardened again.
“You always were selfish in quiet ways.”
Natalie appeared behind her.
“And you always were loud in ugly ways.”
Evelyn turned.
Natalie smiled.
“Hi. I’m the sister who bites.”
I grabbed Natalie’s arm before she could continue.
Evelyn walked away stiffly.
Natalie looked at me.
“I meant every word.”
“I know.”
“Did she ask?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I don’t know.”
Natalie’s anger faded into fear.
“Claire.”
“I said I don’t know.”
Before she could answer, Detective Mills called.
They had searched Madison’s apartment.
She was gone.
Her closet half empty.
Daniel’s laptop missing.
But in her bathroom cabinet, they found more bottles.
May you like
And in her bedside drawer, they found a pregnancy test.
Positive.
