Chapter 5 - The Woman Behind the Bottle
Victoria Vale had always been elegant.
Even at three in the morning, she entered the hospital in a cream coat with perfect hair and calm eyes.
Then she saw Dominic.
“What happened?”
He crossed the corridor.
“Did you pay Maria Jensen?”
Victoria stopped.
Marcus closed the doors behind her.
Her eyes moved toward me.
Then Emma.
Then Caleb’s room.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Dominic held up his phone.
“We have the transfers.”
Victoria’s face remained composed.
“You went through my accounts?”
“I went through mine.”
She looked at me.
“Gabriel, Caleb is sick. Is this really the time?”
I stared at her.
“You know his name, but you didn’t ask what happened to him.”
Her silence was answer enough.
Dominic stepped toward her.
“Tell me you didn’t.”
Victoria looked at her husband.
“You were supposed to inherit everything.”
Dominic went pale.
Emma whispered, “Jesus.”
Victoria continued.
“For twenty years, you stood beside Gabriel. You handled his disasters. You protected him. You made him powerful.”
“He’s my brother.”
“And you got nothing.”
“I have everything I need.”
“No. You had leftovers.”
Dominic stared at her as if seeing a stranger.
Victoria’s eyes moved toward Caleb’s room.
“Then that child appeared.”
I stepped forward.
“His name is Caleb.”
Her voice sharpened.
“He changed everything.”
“He was six months old.”
“I never told Maria to kill him.”
Emma spoke for the first time.
“You instructed her to replace infant medication with a contaminated bottle.”
Victoria looked at her.
“I was told it would make him ill.”
“You don’t get to control what poison does after it enters a baby’s body.”
Victoria flinched.
Good.
I wanted her to understand.
Dominic lowered his voice.
“You used my company.”
“I was protecting our future.”
“Our future?”
His laugh sounded broken.
“You almost killed my nephew.”
Victoria stared at him.
“You should have been the head of this family.”
Dominic shook his head.
“You never understood anything.”
Police officers appeared beyond the corridor.
Victoria looked at me.
“You called the police?”
“I did,” Emma said.
Everyone turned toward her.
She stood beside Caleb’s door.
“This happened to a child in my hospital. Whatever rules the Vale family follows outside these walls do not matter here.”
For a moment, I almost smiled.
Of course Emma had called them.
Three years ago, I might have been furious.
Tonight, I was grateful.
Victoria looked at me.
“You’re allowing this?”
“Yes.”
“You’re Gabriel Vale.”
“I’m Caleb’s father.”
The officers approached.
Victoria looked at Dominic one last time.
He stepped away from her.
That seemed to hurt her more than the handcuffs.
After she was taken away, Dominic sat down.
For the first time in my life, my older brother looked old.
“I didn’t know.”
I remained standing.
“You still destroyed Emma and me.”
He looked at the floor.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Father told me love made men like us vulnerable.”
“And you believed him.”
“I believed I was protecting you.”
Emma stood silently behind me.
Dominic finally looked at her.
“I was wrong.”
Emma’s expression was unreadable.
“That apology belongs to three years ago.”
“I know.”
“You took three years.”
“I know.”
“You took my choice about Caleb.”
Dominic lowered his head.
“There is no apology large enough for that.”
“No.”
Emma’s voice was steady.
“There isn’t.”
A nurse emerged from Caleb’s room.
“Dr. Carter?”
Emma turned.
“He’s awake.”
I was inside before anyone else moved.
Caleb lay beneath the blanket blinking sleepily.
His fever had dropped.
“Hey.”
My voice broke.
He looked at me.
Then made the smallest irritated sound.
I laughed.
It was probably the best sound I had ever heard.
“You can yell at me all you want.”
Emma came beside the bed.
Caleb turned toward her voice.
She touched his cheek.
His tiny hand caught her finger.
Emma froze.
He held on.
Her eyes filled.
I looked at her.
“Emma.”
She shook her head.
“Don’t.”
“You’re allowed.”
“I don’t know what I’m allowed to be.”
I understood.
She had discovered in one night that a child she never knew existed carried her DNA.
I moved beside her.
“We’ll do the test.”
She nodded.
“And whatever it says?”
I looked at Caleb.
Then at her.
May you like
“We tell the truth.”
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