Chapter 7 - The Needle
Marin heard the bedroom door lock behind her.
Vivien stood between her and the hallway.
The leather medical case sat on the table.
Isabella watched from the wheelchair.
Marin looked at Vivien.
“What are you doing?”
Vivien removed a small vial.
“Helping Isabella sleep.”
“Dr. Mercer didn’t order anything.”
“I didn’t say he did.”
Marin’s pulse jumped.
Vivien took out a syringe.
“Put that down.”
Vivien looked at her.
“Excuse me?”
Marin stepped between her and Isabella.
“You heard me.”
Vivien smiled.
“You’ve become brave.”
“My son is safe.”
The words changed everything.
Vivien’s face went blank.
Marin saw it.
“You don’t have him.”
Vivien did not answer.
“You never had him.”
Marin’s fear transformed.
Not gone.
Focused.
Vivien placed the syringe on the table.
“You’ve spoken to Dominic.”
Marin said nothing.
Vivien laughed once.
“He heard the call.”
Marin stayed silent.
Vivien looked toward Isabella.
“You knew.”
Isabella stared back.
Vivien’s mask finally cracked.
“Of course.”
She paced once.
Then looked at Marin.
“How much did you tell him?”
“All of it.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because he would have thrown me out.”
Marin’s eyes narrowed.
“Maybe he wants to know who else is involved.”
Vivien stopped.
That landed.
For the first time, Marin saw fear in her.
Vivien looked toward the door.
Marin realized she had made a mistake.
Vivien started moving.
Marin blocked her.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Vivien slapped her.
Hard.
Marin staggered.
Isabella made a harsh sound in her throat.
Vivien froze.
It was not a word.
But it was fury.
Isabella tried to stand.
Her weak leg buckled.
Marin rushed to her.
That gave Vivien the opening.
She reached the door.
The handle did not turn.
Vivien stared.
Locked from outside.
Her eyes widened.
Dominic’s voice came through the other side.
“Vivien.”
Every trace of color left her face.
Marin closed her eyes.
The door opened.
Dominic entered.
Behind him were Rocco and Dr. Mercer.
Dominic’s eyes went to the syringe.
Then to Marin’s red cheek.
Then to Vivien.
“What is that?”
Vivien recovered astonishingly fast.
“Your mother was agitated.”
Mercer walked to the table.
He picked up the vial.
His face changed.
“Where did you get this?”
Vivien looked at him.
“It’s a sedative.”
Mercer’s expression hardened.
“It’s midazolam.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Dangerous?”
“In an elderly stroke patient with compromised respiratory function?”
Mercer stared at Vivien.
“Yes.”
“How dangerous?”
“At the wrong dose?”
Mercer’s voice became cold.
“Potentially fatal.”
Silence.
Vivien laughed nervously.
“This is ridiculous.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Who prescribed it?”
“No one.”
Mercer looked shocked.
Vivien turned toward Dominic.
“I was trying to help.”
“By injecting my mother with an unprescribed sedative?”
“It wasn’t going to hurt her.”
Mercer interrupted.
“You cannot know that.”
Vivien snapped.
“Stay out of this.”
Mercer stared at her.
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“No.”
Everyone stopped.
“You don’t tell anyone to stay out of anything anymore.”
Vivien looked at him.
“Dominic.”
He stepped closer.
“Who is Nathan Cole?”
Her face changed.
Only slightly.
Enough.
Dominic continued.
“Your father told me.”
Vivien went completely still.
“Where is he?”
“The boathouse.”
“What did you do?”
“Asked questions.”
“You had no right—”
Dominic laughed.
The sound frightened her.
“No right?”
He moved closer.
“You threatened a child.”
“I was bluffing.”
“You had men outside his school.”
Vivien’s lips parted.
“You sedated my mother.”
“I did not.”
Dominic pointed to the vial.
“What do you call that?”
“One dose.”
“Tonight.”
He emphasized the word.
“What about every other night?”
Vivien looked away.
Mercer stepped forward.
“How long have you been administering this?”
Vivien said nothing.
Mercer’s face hardened.
“I want bloodwork now.”
Dominic nodded.
“Do it.”
Mercer approached Isabella.
Vivien suddenly shouted.
“Stop.”
Everyone looked at her.
She was breathing hard.
The elegant woman Dominic had proposed to seemed to be disappearing piece by piece.
“You don’t understand what she was doing.”
Vivien pointed at Isabella.
“She was going to destroy everything.”
Dominic stared.
“What?”
“The merger.”
Vivien’s eyes filled with furious tears.
“The development.”
“My father spent three years building it.”
“And?”
“You were going to walk away because she didn’t like me.”
Dominic’s expression became almost pitying.
“You think this is about whether my mother likes you?”
“She controls you.”
Isabella’s eyes flashed.
Vivien stepped closer to Dominic.
“She always has.”
“My mother controls seventeen percent of a company.”
Dominic spoke calmly.
“You were drugging her to control the vote.”
“I was protecting our future.”
“There is no our future.”
The sentence struck harder than a shout.
Vivien stopped breathing.
Dominic removed his engagement ring from the chain he wore beneath his shirt.
After his father’s death, Dominic had worn the family ring close to his chest.
Vivien had once told him she loved that tradition.
Dominic held out his hand.
“Give me yours.”
Vivien stared.
“No.”
“Give me the ring.”
“No.”
“Vivien.”
Her face twisted.
“You love me.”
Dominic looked at her for a long moment.
“I loved the person I thought you were.”
Vivien began crying.
Real tears this time.
“That was me.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
She grabbed his shirt.
“I did everything because you were going to leave.”
Dominic gently removed her hands.
“I had never said I was leaving.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Her voice broke.
“Every time Isabella looked at me, I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That she saw me.”
Isabella watched.
Vivien turned toward her.
“She knew I wasn’t enough.”
Dominic’s face became cold.
“So you decided to make her helpless.”
Vivien’s crying stopped.
Something darker returned.
“You have no idea what it is like to spend your whole life beside people who inherit power.”
Dominic did not answer.
“You were born with your name.”
She pointed toward Isabella.
“She married into it.”
“My father built from nothing.”
Dominic said.
Vivien ignored him.
“My father had to beg bankers.”
“Your father kidnapped a teenager tonight.”
Vivien froze.
Dominic watched the information hit.
“You didn’t know?”
For the first time, the fracture inside the Morrow plan became visible.
Vivien whispered.
“Claire?”
“Yes.”
Vivien looked stunned.
“He said he would pressure Sloan.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“Apparently your family defines pressure creatively.”
Vivien looked toward the door.
Rocco stepped into her path.
Dominic continued.
“And Sloan talked.”
Vivien looked at him.
“So did Charles.”
Fear entered her eyes.
Dominic pulled out his phone.
“Tomorrow’s blessing dinner is canceled.”
“No.”
Vivien said it too quickly.
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
“No?”
Vivien looked around.
Her mind was calculating.
Then she smiled.
It was a terrible smile.
“You can’t cancel.”
“Watch me.”
“You don’t understand.”
“What?”
“If tomorrow doesn’t happen, the documents go public.”
Dominic stopped.
“What documents?”
Vivien wiped her tears.
The fear vanished from her face.
“Your father’s.”
Isabella’s eyes widened.
Dominic saw it.
Vivien smiled.
“There.”
She pointed.
“She knows.”
Dominic slowly turned toward his mother.
Isabella looked terrified.
Not for herself.
For him.
May you like
Vivien whispered.
“Ask her what your father did in 1998.”
