Chapter 10
I had signed hundreds of medical forms.
Fertility forms.
Surgery forms.
Treatment forms.
Consent wrapped in hope and fear.
Margaret knew exactly where to stab.
Eleanor requested the documents.
Margaret refused.
“She can have them after she signs a nondisclosure agreement.”
I laughed when Eleanor told me.
It hurt my face.
“Absolutely not.”
Margaret’s lawyers filed an emergency motion claiming Christian had been falsely accused by a mentally unstable fiancée influenced by medication and trauma.
Dr. Lawson submitted a statement supporting it.
From hiding.
Bad move.
The court hearing happened by video.
I appeared with bandages across half my face.
Christian appeared in a suit.
Sabrina appeared with perfect tears.
Margaret sat behind them like a queen.
Then Eleanor played Christian’s recording.
Then Colin’s confession.
Then Dr. Chen’s report.
Then the hidden files from Lawson’s nurse.
The judge’s expression changed piece by piece.
Christian’s lawyer asked for a recess.
Denied.
Margaret stood.
“Your Honor, this is a media circus.”
The judge looked at her.
“Sit down, Mrs. Prescott.”
For the first time, Margaret obeyed.
The motion was dismissed.
A warrant was issued for Dr. Lawson.
Christian’s passport was seized.
Sabrina lost temporary custody pending investigation.
Margaret left the courtroom feed without a word.
That scared me more than her threats.
Eleanor noticed.
“She’s regrouping.”
“What does she want?”
“Control.”
“Of Christian?”
“Of the empire.”
The Prescott music brand was worth hundreds of millions.
But my public image had helped rebuild Christian after a scandal years earlier.
The faithful fiancée.
The gentle muse.
The woman America trusted.
Margaret did not need me pretty.
She needed me usable.
That night, a nurse found a man in a janitor uniform outside my room.
In his pocket was a syringe.
May you like
And a note.
Make her sleep through the wedding.
