Chapter 11 - THE MEDICINE IN MY NAME
The medication had been prescribed by Dr. Samuel Keene.
He was the psychiatrist who signed the false evaluation.
According to the pharmacy record, I had collected the prescription personally.
Security footage proved otherwise.
Eleanor had collected it wearing a scarf and sunglasses.
The pharmacist remembered her because she complained about waiting.
The medication was powerful.
Combined with alcohol, it could cause confusion, memory loss, impaired coordination, and emotional instability.
Exactly the symptoms Marcus had described in his exit plan.
The cabernet bottles placed in my office were not merely props.
Someone intended to drug me.
Ava asked Chloe whether she had ever put anything in my drinks.
“No.”
Her answer came immediately.
“Did Marcus ask you to?”
“Yes.”
The room became silent.
“What did he give you?”
“Tablets.”
“What did he say they were?”
“Sleep medication.”
“He told me you had insomnia and refused treatment.”
“What did you do with them?”
“I flushed them.”
“Why did you not tell me?”
Chloe looked down.
“Because I was already lying about everything else.”
Marcus was questioned for six hours.
He denied knowledge of the vial.
He denied instructing Chloe to drug me.
He claimed the tablets were vitamins.
Investigators seized his office computer and discovered searches related to medication interactions.
They also found a draft email addressed to Meridian’s chief executive.
Clara’s condition is progressing.
A temporary management transition may become necessary sooner than anticipated.
The date was two weeks before our anniversary.
Marcus had been preparing his employer to accept control of my bakeries after my fabricated breakdown.
Eleanor was charged with possession of fraudulently obtained medication, attempted evidence destruction, financial fraud, and conspiracy.
She was released on bond with electronic monitoring.
Marcus was not immediately charged with the drugging plan.
The evidence established preparation but not completion.
Ava warned me that proving attempted poisoning would be difficult without direct testimony.
Chloe was the only witness.
Her credibility had been damaged by months of deception.
Marcus knew that.
He began attacking her publicly.
Anonymous accounts posted photographs of Chloe wearing clothes I had bought her.
Captions called her a gold-digger.
A criminal.
A home-wrecker.
Some posts claimed she had seduced Marcus and fabricated the fraud scheme after he rejected her.
Others portrayed me as a wealthy employer using a vulnerable young woman to punish an unfaithful husband.
The story spread beyond local gossip.
My bakeries received angry messages.
A protester appeared outside the downtown location holding a sign that called me a trafficker.
Truth had become inconveniently complicated.
I was both victim and employer.
Chloe was both participant and exploited young woman.
Marcus presented himself as the only reasonable person trapped between two unstable women.
A familiar strategy.
Ava recommended silence.
“Anything you say publicly can be distorted.”
“But silence lets him define the story.”
“Temporarily.”
I hated the word.
At the first bakery, customers asked employees whether the allegations were true.
Some staff members wanted a public statement.
Others feared becoming involved.
Maribel called an all-manager meeting.
I stood before people who had worked beside me for years.
“I will not ask any of you to defend my personal life,” I said.
“I will ask you to judge my professional conduct based on what you have experienced.”
“The company’s finances are secure.”
“Payroll is protected.”
“An independent cybersecurity firm is auditing every system.”
“If anyone feels unsafe or wishes to take paid leave, speak with human resources.”
A manager named Denise raised her hand.
“My daughter’s information was in the stolen employee files.”
“I know.”
“What happens if it is leaked?”
“We provide identity protection and legal support.”
“Who pays?”
“I do.”
Denise lowered her hand.
“You shouldn’t have to pay for what he did.”
“No.”
“But the company has a responsibility to protect you even when someone else causes the harm.”
After the meeting, Denise hugged me.
That simple act nearly broke the control I had maintained for days.
Not because it erased the damage.
Because loyalty freely given felt almost unfamiliar.
That evening, Chloe received a message from an unknown number.
I know what happened to your mother.
Meet me alone or Clara learns what you did in Seattle.
Chloe showed it to Maya and Ava.
I read the words twice.
“Were you in Seattle while I attended the food convention?”
Chloe’s face went pale.
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“Marcus sent me to your hotel.”
“Why?”
“To put something in your room.”
“What?”
“An envelope.”
“What was inside?”
“Photographs.”
“Of whom?”
“You.”
“And a man from the convention.”
I remembered the man.
A restaurant investor who asked to discuss franchising over coffee.
Nothing inappropriate happened.
“What were the photographs supposed to show?”
“That you were having an affair.”
“Did you plant them?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“In Marcus’s desk at home.”
My stomach tightened.
Marcus had planned both narratives.
If instability failed, adultery would justify the divorce.
Chloe continued.
“But that wasn’t the worst thing.”
“What else happened in Seattle?”
She looked at Maya.
Maya nodded for her to continue.
“Marcus asked me to switch your hotel medication.”
“I told him you did not carry any.”
“He said to put the tablets in your vitamin bottle.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“I left the bottle untouched.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
“Because I entered your room illegally.”
“That can be addressed.”
Chloe shook her head.
“When I was leaving, a hotel employee saw me.”
“Marcus paid him to erase the security footage.”
“Who was the employee?”
“I never knew his name.”
Ava examined the anonymous message.
“Someone else knows.”
Nina traced the number.
It belonged to a prepaid phone activated near the hospital where Emma was receiving treatment.
We called the hospital.
Emma had been discharged two hours earlier.
Not through the front entrance.
May you like
A woman claiming to be her aunt had signed her out.
The signature belonged to Eleanor Vance.
