Chapter 5
Emily sat down.
Slowly.
As if her own legs had betrayed her.
“You made Noah sick so I would miss meetings?”
Ryan immediately answered:
“No.”
The video continued playing behind him.
His own voice gave him away.
Linda:
“Three missed meetings and Vincent starts thinking motherhood is too much.”
Ryan:
“He already worries about her.”
Linda laughed.
“Then help him worry.”
I stopped the recording.
Ryan looked at me.
“It sounds worse than it was.”
Emily stared.
“What exactly is the better version?”
He had no answer.
Linda did.
“We were helping you.”
Emily looked at her.
Linda continued.
“You were exhausted.”
“Because Noah was sick.”
“Yes.”
“Because you were giving him something.”
Linda smiled thinly.
“You needed to understand your limits.”
Emily stood.
“My limits?”
“You became a mother twice and still thought you could sit with men discussing family business.”
The room went silent.
There it was.
Not medicine.
Not concern.
Contempt.
Linda wanted Emily exhausted because exhausted women surrender space.
Ryan wanted the space she surrendered.
I looked at him.
“What were you doing in those meetings?”
“Helping.”
“Speaking for Emily?”
“When necessary.”
“Giving orders?”
“Someone had to.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“You told me Dad asked for you.”
Ryan’s face changed.
I had never asked.
I looked at Emily.
“What did he say?”
“That you thought I needed rest.”
I stared at Ryan.
He shrugged.
“You would have eventually.”
That arrogance.
He believed lies became true if they seemed reasonable.
I looked at James.
“Is Noah going to be all right?”
“Yes.”
One word.
Emily cried.
James continued:
“We need to monitor him closely, but we caught this.”
Caught.
Not solved.
I looked at the pharmacy record.
“Where was this filled?”
James showed me.
Not one of our usual pharmacies.
A private clinic across town.
Controlled by a physician named Dr. Peter Lang.
I knew him.
So did Ryan.
His face told me.
“Who is Lang?”
Ryan said nothing.
Linda answered:
“A friend.”
I looked at her.
“Of whom?”
She smiled.
“Someone who understands that families occasionally need help managing difficult women.”
May you like
Emily went still.
And suddenly the conspiracy had another room outside this hospital.
