Chapter 3 - A Name on the Medical File
Adrian opened the door only three inches.
A uniformed clinic security officer stood outside.
Behind him waited a nervous receptionist.
“No one else,” the officer said.
Adrian relaxed by a fraction.
The receptionist held a padded envelope.
“This was delivered for Ms. Bennett.”
Emma stared.
“When?”
“About an hour ago.”
“By whom?”
“A courier.”
Adrian took nothing.
He looked at Emma.
“Your choice.”
That mattered.
Emma accepted the envelope.
No return address.
Only her name.
Printed, not handwritten.
Dr. Greene offered to call police.
Emma hesitated.
Adrian said, “Call them.”
She looked at him.
He added, “Not my people. Police.”
The distinction was deliberate.
Emma nodded.
While security secured the floor, Emma opened the envelope.
Inside was a photocopy of a bank ledger.
At first, the page meant nothing.
Rows of dates.
Transfers.
Corporate entities.
Initials.
Then she saw one name.
E. BENNETT.
Beside it:
$250,000.
Transferred nine months earlier.
Emma stared.
“I never received this.”
Adrian took the copy.
His expression darkened.
“Where did it go?”
The destination account belonged to Bennett Consulting LLC.
Emma had never heard of it.
Her maiden name was Bennett.
Anyone looking casually might assume the company was hers.
“That’s why Weller told me you accepted a settlement,” Adrian said.
“What settlement?”
“He said you demanded cash instead of property.”
“I never demanded anything.”
“I know that now.”
Emma remembered the divorce agreement.
She had waived most claims.
Not because she wanted to punish Adrian.
Because she wanted out.
Weller told her Adrian would make the process ugly if she fought.
He advised her to accept a smaller private settlement.
Emma refused even that.
Or believed she had.
Adrian looked down the page.
“There are more transfers.”
“To whom?”
“Sofia Russo.”
Emma’s stomach turned.
A dead woman.
Another payment.
One month before the fake message.
Adrian pointed to another entry.
“Charles Weller.”
Then another.
“Marian Vale.”
Emma looked at him.
“So Marian was paid too?”
“Maybe.”
“Then why warn us?”
“I don’t know.”
Police arrived twenty minutes later.
Two detectives took statements.
Adrian answered without resistance.
Emma noticed both men recognized him.
One became visibly cautious.
The other, Detective Nora Castillo, seemed unimpressed.
She was in her forties, with dark hair pulled tightly back and an expression that suggested everyone in the room would be treated as equally inconvenient.
“I want the original envelope bagged,” Castillo said.
She turned to Adrian.
“Your people touch it?”
“No.”
“You?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She looked at Emma.
“You said someone attempted to request prenatal genetic testing?”
“Yes.”
“Using a dead lawyer’s identity.”
“Apparently.”
“And the outside attorney received a copy request?”
“Yes.”
Castillo rubbed her temple.
“This already sounds expensive.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Emma did not.
Castillo noticed.
“Bad joke.”
“It’s been a bad morning,” Emma said.
“Fair.”
The detective photographed the ledger.
“Do either of you recognize Bennett Consulting LLC?”
Both said no.
Castillo typed something into her tablet.
“Registered eighteen months ago.”
“To who?”
She paused.
“Rachel Bennett.”
Emma stopped breathing.
“No.”
Adrian immediately said, “There’s another Rachel Bennett.”
Castillo checked.
“Same date of birth as your sister.”
Emma stood too quickly.
Pain tightened across her abdomen.
Dr. Greene stepped forward.
“Sit down.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re eight months pregnant and under extreme stress. Sit.”
Emma obeyed.
Her hands shook.
Rachel.
Impossible.
Her sister had taken her in.
Bought prenatal vitamins.
Sat with her through nausea.
Helped her choose a new apartment.
Promised not to tell Adrian anything.
“She wouldn’t do this.”
Castillo did not argue.
“Identity theft is possible.”
Adrian looked at Emma.
“Where is Rachel now?”
“Boston.”
“Are you sure?”
Emma hesitated.
Rachel traveled often for her job.
Or claimed to.
“She texted yesterday.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Emma pulled out her phone.
The last message read:
Hope appointment goes smoothly tomorrow. Call me after.
Emma’s blood ran cold.
She had not told Rachel she had an appointment today.
Or had she?
She searched memory.
Maybe casually.
Maybe weeks ago.
No.
She had deliberately kept the date private after changing clinics.
“Adrian.”
He saw the screen.
“Don’t call her yet.”
“She’s my sister.”
“I know.”
“She could be in danger.”
“I know.”
Castillo intervened.
“Mr. Moretti is right about one thing. Don’t warn anyone until we know what we’re dealing with.”
Emma hated hearing it.
She hated more that it made sense.
Adrian crossed to the window.
He stared down at the parking lot.
Emma watched his reflection.
For years, she had accused him of shutting her out whenever something dangerous happened.
Now she understood what that looked like from his side.
He did not become emotionless.
He became focused.
Every feeling disappeared behind purpose.
“Adrian?”
He turned.
“What?”
“Why was your mother’s lawyer involved?”
He looked toward the detectives.
Then back at Emma.
“I think I know.”
“Tell me.”
“My mother created a trust.”
“What kind?”
“For future Moretti grandchildren.”
Emma laughed once.
“Of course she did.”
“It wasn’t sentimental.”
“I didn’t imagine it was.”
“It controls thirty percent of voting shares in Moretti Holdings.”
Emma stared.
“What?”
“The shares transfer only when a direct descendant of mine is born.”
Emma’s hands moved protectively over her belly.
“And if no child is born?”
“They remain under the control of the existing trustees.”
“Who?”
“My uncle Dominic.”
The name was familiar.
Dominic Moretti.
Adrian’s father’s younger brother.
Charming at family events.
Generous with gifts.
Always smiling.
Emma had never liked him.
Not because he was rude.
Because his eyes never smiled with his mouth.
“And Marian Vale?” Emma asked.
“One of the trust attorneys.”
“So if I’m carrying your child…”
“My child becomes the beneficiary.”
“Of thirty percent of your company.”
“Eventually.”
Emma felt sick.
Suddenly the fake affair looked different.
The divorce.
The money.
The forged lawyer.
The effort to push her out of Chicago.
“What if they didn’t know I was pregnant?”
Adrian turned fully toward her.
“They didn’t.”
“Then why break us apart?”
His expression grew bleak.
“Because my uncle expected me to marry someone else.”
Emma went still.
“Who?”
Adrian did not answer.
“Adrian.”
“Celeste Romano.”
Emma knew the name.
Old Chicago family.
Political connections.
Money.
And, according to society pages Emma occasionally saw, Celeste had attended nearly every major event with Dominic Moretti since Emma’s divorce.
“You were supposed to marry her?”
“No.”
“Did you know about this?”
“Absolutely not.”
“But your uncle did?”
“He suggested the match before I met you.”
Emma stared.
“And you never told me.”
“Because I refused.”
“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have told me.”
“You’re right.”
She blinked.
The old Adrian would have explained why he had been justified.
This Adrian simply accepted it.
That made anger harder to sustain.
Detective Castillo returned from the hallway.
“We found the courier.”
Emma looked up.
“Already?”
“Security footage caught his license plate.”
“Who is he?”
“Contract driver. Says he received the package from a woman at a coffee shop.”
“Description?”
“Mid-fifties. Dark coat. Sunglasses.”
Adrian asked, “Photo?”
“Coffee shop footage is being pulled.”
Emma’s phone rang.
Rachel.
Everyone looked at it.
The screen displayed her sister’s smiling photograph.
Castillo raised one finger.
“Speaker.”
Emma answered.
“Rachel?”
Her sister was crying.
“Emma, I need you to listen.”
Emma stood.
“Where are you?”
“Don’t be angry.”
“Where are you?”
“I didn’t know what they were doing at first.”
Emma’s heart broke before the explanation came.
“What did you do?”
“I gave them information.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Emma whispered, “Why?”
“They told me Adrian was dangerous.”
Rachel sobbed.
“They said they were helping you escape him.”
“Who?”
“I thought it was a legal organization. They knew everything about him. About the family. They showed me documents.”
“Who, Rachel?”
A long pause.
Then:
“Dominic Moretti.”
Adrian’s face turned to stone.
Rachel continued rapidly.
“He said Adrian would never let you leave if you became pregnant. He said I needed to help before it was too late.”
Emma gripped the phone.
“You created Bennett Consulting?”
“They created it in my name. I signed papers. I thought it was for legal expenses.”
“You took two hundred fifty thousand dollars?”
“No! I swear. I never saw that money.”
“Where are you?”
Rachel started to answer.
Then stopped.
“Rachel?”
Emma heard another voice in the background.
A man.
Calm.
Close.
Rachel whispered, “Emma, I’m sorry.”
The line went dead.
Castillo immediately traced the call.
Adrian was already dialing someone.
Emma grabbed his wrist.
“You said no people.”
“This is my sister-in-law.”
“And the police are handling it.”
“What if they’re too late?”
“What if your people make it worse?”
They stared at each other.
For one second, Adrian looked like the man she remembered.
The man who believed power solved everything.
Then he lowered the phone.
“Castillo.”
The detective looked surprised.
“Find her.”
“We will.”
Thirty minutes later they had a location.
Rachel’s phone had pinged from a hotel near O’Hare.
Police units were dispatched.
Emma insisted on going.
Dr. Greene refused to clear her.
“You are not joining a police operation at eight months pregnant.”
Emma glared.
Adrian said nothing.
She turned on him.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“That he’s right.”
She wanted to hate him for it.
Instead she sat.
An hour passed.
Then another.
Finally Castillo received a call.
Her expression changed.
“They found the room.”
Emma stood.
“And Rachel?”
Castillo hesitated.
“The room was empty.”
Emma’s knees weakened.
“But there was something left behind.”
“What?”
“A laptop.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
Castillo looked directly at him.
“It was playing a video when officers entered.”
“What video?”
The detective turned the screen of her tablet toward them.
A paused image filled it.
Emma recognized the room immediately.
Her old bedroom.
The lakefront townhouse.
The date stamp was from the morning she left Adrian.
And on the screen, someone was standing beside Adrian’s phone.
Someone Emma knew.
Someone she had trusted.
Castillo pressed play.
The person turned toward the hidden camera.
May you like
Emma saw the face.
The video froze.
