Chapter 6
I stared at the phone.
"Are you saying Doreen accessed my medical records?"
Thomas answered carefully.
"I'm saying an administrative account connected to the foundation office was used to access information it should not normally need."
My mouth went dry.
"Does Doreen have that account?"
"We haven't established who used it."
I looked at Rachel.
Her expression was furious.
Thomas continued.
"The hospital is preserving the access logs and investigating the incident."
I swallowed.
"What happens to my information?"
"We're reviewing whether there was an unauthorized disclosure and will provide the appropriate notifications."
I closed my eyes.
My medical records.
My pregnancy.
My delivery.
My private conversations with doctors.
Nothing felt private anymore.
When the call ended, Rachel immediately contacted Dana.
She explained everything.
Dana listened.
Then said:
"That's important. Don't speculate about who used the account yet. Preserve the call details and any written notices."
I nodded.
But my mind kept returning to Doreen.
She'd always acted as though Briar Glen belonged to her.
She knew administrators.
She knew donors.
She knew which staff members had worked there longest.
And she'd repeatedly reminded me that her family had helped build the maternity wing.
Now I wondered whether she'd used those connections to influence my care.
I looked at Mae when she entered later that afternoon.
"Did you know?"
She frowned.
"Know what?"
I told her about the access logs.
Mae's face changed.
"I knew the chart had inconsistencies. I didn't know about that."
I swallowed.
"Could someone have looked at my records and used them against me?"
She nodded carefully.
"That's one possibility the hospital is investigating."
I felt tears rise.
"Why would anyone do that?"
Mae sat beside me.
"I can't answer that."
She looked at Owen.
"But I can tell you this: your privacy matters. And people should be held accountable if they violated it."
I nodded.
The next morning, Rachel brought unexpected news.
Nathan wanted to speak with me.
Not through text messages.
Not through Doreen.
He'd contacted Dana and requested a conversation with both attorneys present.
My stomach twisted.
"Why now?"
Rachel shrugged.
"Maybe he's realizing this isn't going away."
I looked down at Owen.
He was awake, blinking slowly.
I touched his cheek.
"What do you think, little man?"
He stretched his fingers.
I smiled sadly.
Rachel sat beside me.
"You don't have to speak to Nathan yet."
I knew.
But part of me needed answers.
I wanted to hear him explain why he'd signed those papers.
I wanted to know whether he'd truly believed I was dangerous.
Or whether he'd knowingly helped his mother take our baby.
That difference mattered.
Even if both possibilities hurt.
I agreed to a carefully arranged meeting.
Dana attended.
Nathan came with his attorney, Michael Shaw.
We met in a hospital conference room.
Owen remained safely with Mae.
I walked slowly, still sore from surgery.
When I entered, Nathan stood.
He looked exhausted.
His beard was untrimmed.
His eyes were red.
"Leah."
I sat opposite him.
"Why?"
One word.
That was all I could manage.
Nathan lowered his eyes.
"I'm sorry."
I shook my head.
"That's not an answer."
He swallowed.
"My mother said you weren't coping."
I stared at him.
"With what?"
"The pregnancy. The fear. The nightmares."
I felt anger rise.
"So you told people I wanted to hurt Owen?"
Nathan looked horrified.
"No."
I leaned forward.
"Then what did you sign?"
He looked at his attorney.
Michael nodded for him to answer truthfully.
Nathan took a shaky breath.
"Mom gave me a statement. She said it was for a temporary family support plan."
I stared at him.
"What did it say?"
"That you were emotionally unstable. That you needed observation."
My voice broke.
"Did you read it?"
He hesitated.
That was enough.
I started crying.
"You signed something about my mental health without reading it?"
Nathan covered his face.
"I trusted her."
I laughed bitterly.
"You trusted her more than me."
He looked up.
"Leah—"
"No."
My voice shook.
"I told you about a nightmare because I was scared. You gave it to your mother. Then you helped turn it into evidence against me."
Tears rolled down his cheeks.
"I didn't know she was going to use it that way."
I stared at him.
"You heard her outside the supply room."
He went still.
I continued.
"You heard her say Owen would leave with family while I was held for psychiatric evaluation."
Nathan lowered his head.
"I know."
"And you didn't stop her."
He began crying.
"I froze."
I looked at him.
I wanted to believe that.
But then I remembered the mortgage application.
"Why did you change my banking access?"
He looked startled.
"What?"
"Our bank account. My password stopped working."
Nathan frowned.
"I didn't change your password."
Dana leaned forward.
"Mr. Carver, did you authorize anyone to change Leah's account access?"
Nathan shook his head.
"No."
I stared at him.
"Then why is Doreen involved in our refinance application?"
His face drained.
"What refinance?"
For the first time, his shock looked genuine.
Dana placed a copy of the notice on the table.
Nathan read it.
His expression changed.
"That's impossible."
I swallowed.
"Why?"
He looked at Michael.
"My mother told me she needed temporary access to some documents for the business."
I stared.
"What documents?"
"Tax returns. Property information. Insurance records."
My stomach twisted.
Nathan looked at me.
"Leah, I never agreed to refinance our house."
Dana asked whether he'd signed any loan-related documents.
He hesitated.
Then admitted he'd signed several authorizations his mother prepared.
I closed my eyes.
Again.
He'd signed papers without understanding them.
Again.
I felt exhausted.
Nathan leaned forward.
"Leah, I swear I didn't know."
I looked at him.
"That doesn't make you innocent."
His face crumpled.
"I know."
For a long time, nobody spoke.
Then Nathan said something that made me look up.
"There's something else."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
He swallowed.
"Mom wanted me to take Owen to her house after the hospital discharged him."
I stared at him.
"Without me?"
He nodded slowly.
"For a few days."
I felt sick.
"Why?"
"She said you needed rest."
I shook my head.
"And you agreed?"
He started crying again.
"I thought it would help."
My voice rose.
"Help whom?"
He couldn't answer.
I stood carefully.
My incision burned.
Dana immediately moved beside me.
I looked at Nathan.
"I gave birth yesterday. I almost died. And instead of protecting me, you were making plans to separate me from my baby."
Nathan covered his face.
I walked toward the door.
Then stopped.
"One more thing."
He looked up.
"If you ever want me to trust you again, stop telling me what your mother said."
My voice broke.
"Start telling me what you believe."
I left the room.
And when Mae brought Owen back to me, I held him against my chest and cried.
But later that evening, Dana called with another discovery.
The lender had supplied additional documents.
The refinance application listed Doreen as the person coordinating the transaction.
And attached to it was a purported authorization from me.
A signature.
A date.
A scanned identification document.
May you like
But the date made my blood turn cold.
Because the authorization was supposedly signed while I was unconscious in surgery.
