Chương 10
That recognition stirred an emotion Rebecca did not want to name.
Julian never asked to take Ivy alone. He never mentioned the money, the company, or the press during visits. He sat on the lodging facility’s uncomfortable sofa and read board books in a voice too formal for farm animals.
“The cow says moo,” he read.
Brooks, washing bottles nearby, said, “Put some feeling into it.”
Julian tried again.
Ivy stared at him solemnly.
“She’s judging me,” he said.
“She gets that from her mother,” Brooks replied.
Rebecca did not correct her.
Outside the visits, the investigation deepened.
North Lake Patient Advocacy was traced to a former Summit compliance consultant named Adrian Pike. Pike admitted that Eleanor hired him to gather information about Rebecca’s pregnancy and medical condition. He denied hacking the clinic portal but provided invoices for “risk assessment,” “family continuity planning,” and “reputational containment.”
One invoice included payment for a nurse who did not exist.
Another included Vanessa’s brother’s debt settlement.
The clinic breach had been carried out from a laptop purchased in cash and connected to Summit’s guest network. Security footage showed Adrian entering the building with Vanessa’s temporary authorization code.
Vanessa accepted a cooperation agreement with federal investigators. She surrendered messages, bank records, and a small audio recorder she had hidden in her apartment after Eleanor began threatening to report her.
The recorder did not contain a perfect confession. It contained something more believable: fragments of conversations, muffled instructions, irritation, and one clear exchange recorded three weeks before Ivy’s birth.
Vanessa: “The test says he is the father.”
Eleanor: “Then the urgency has increased.”
Vanessa: “Shouldn’t we tell him?”
Eleanor: “Not until Rebecca signs.”
Vanessa: “She won’t.”
Eleanor: “Everyone signs when the alternative is made sufficiently unpleasant.”
Rebecca listened to the recording once in Miriam’s office.
Afterward, she walked to the restroom and vomited.
Miriam found her sitting on the closed toilet lid, hands pressed between her knees.
“I thought knowing would help,” Rebecca said.
“It rarely helps in the way people expect.”
“She knew. She knew Ivy was his.”
“Yes.”
“And she stood outside the clinic.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca looked at the tiled floor. One corner had a crack someone had filled with gray sealant.
“What did she want me to sign?”
Miriam sat on the edge of the sink cabinet. “We found a draft agreement on Adrian Pike’s server. It required you to acknowledge uncertainty of paternity, waive marital claims to Prescott family trusts, and consent to private guardianship review if you were deployed again.”
Rebecca laughed once, harshly.
“She wanted me to sign away my credibility.”
“She wanted leverage over custody and inheritance.”
“I would never have signed.”
“She intended to make you believe Julian requested it.”
Rebecca’s laugh disappeared.
Miriam handed her a tissue.
“I want her charged,” Rebecca said.
“That decision belongs to prosecutors.”
“I want every charge possible.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
Miriam’s expression did not change. “You are right.”
Rebecca pressed the tissue against her mouth.
“I want her frightened,” she said. “I want her to wake up at three in the morning and wonder whether someone is standing outside her door with papers. I want her to lose control of one day.”
“That is understandable.”
“It is not admirable.”
“No.”
Rebecca looked at her.
Miriam continued. “You are not required to be admirable in my office.”
The criminal investigation moved slowly, which felt obscene to Rebecca. Evidence required authentication. Devices required forensic review. Attorneys negotiated interviews. Federal agencies debated jurisdiction over the medical data breach and company systems. The county prosecutor reviewed possible charges involving interception of communications and identity misuse.
Eleanor remained in her lakefront home.
She gave no interviews.
Through counsel, she denied authorizing illegal access or impersonation. She admitted using private investigators and paying Vanessa’s family debts but characterized those actions as lawful efforts to protect Julian from manipulation during a period of emotional vulnerability.
Her statement made Rebecca sound like weather again.
Julian read it in his office at Summit while the independent board committee questioned him for the third time.
“Did your mother ever express concern that Captain Hale would acquire influence over voting shares?” outside counsel asked.
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“That the shares were not Rebecca’s interest.”
“Was that true?”
Julian hesitated.
Rebecca had never cared about Summit’s shares, but she had cared about what they did to him. Every holiday could be interrupted by a hospital acquisition. Every disagreement became a strategic risk if Eleanor disapproved. Julian claimed he wanted independence while accepting the position that made independence impossible.
“She wanted me to leave Summit,” he said.
“Captain Hale?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she believed my mother controlled our marriage through the company.”
“Did she?”
Julian looked through the glass wall at Vanessa’s empty desk.
“Yes.”
The admission cost him less each time he made it and more each time he understood it.
The board investigation found that Eleanor had approved more than eight hundred thousand dollars in unrecorded consulting payments over three years. Some related to Rebecca. Others involved pressure campaigns against physicians, former executives, and a journalist investigating Summit’s billing practices.
The family conspiracy widened into corporate misconduct.
Julian’s position became unstable.
Two directors asked him to take a leave of absence. Shareholders questioned whether he had been willfully blind. Employees leaked stories about Eleanor attending executive meetings after her resignation. A hospital partner delayed contract renewal.
Dana Rusk advised him to step aside temporarily.
“My leaving suggests guilt,” Julian said.
“Your staying suggests you are protecting the Prescott name.”
“I am not.”
“Then prove the company can function without one.”
The sentence stayed with him.
He went home to the penthouse he had shared with Rebecca and discovered how thoroughly Vanessa had managed his private life. The refrigerator held food he had not ordered. His dry cleaning appeared every Tuesday. A vase of fresh branches stood in the entryway because Eleanor preferred them to flowers.
May you like
He removed the branches and immediately felt ridiculous.
In the bedroom, Rebecca’s side of the closet was almost empty. She had taken uniforms, civilian clothes, photographs, and personal files before deployment. At the time, Julian had interpreted the cleared shelves as preparation for travel. After the false messages arrived, he reinterpreted them as evidence she intended not to return.
