Chapter 8 - For the first time since I met Julian, I saw him exactly as he was.Not my husband.
Not Leo's father.
Not the man who had held my hand in the hospital.
A stranger.
A stranger who had spent years learning what I loved so he could use it against me.
Marcus immediately moved me to another location.
Daniel began freezing the insurance policy.
The medical attorney requested an emergency injunction preventing access to Leo's records.
And I did something else.
I called Julian.
He answered on the first ring.
“Clara.”
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“My home.”
Silence.
“You know what I've discovered.”
He laughed softly.
“You've been talking to people.”
“I know about the insurance.”
His voice changed.
“What insurance?”
“You tell me.”
“You're paranoid.”
“Five million dollars.”
No answer.
“You took out a policy on me.”
“It's normal for married couples.”
“Not when one spouse hides it.”
“Clara, you're grieving.”
I interrupted him.
“Why did you take out three million on Leo?”
Silence.
For a second, I heard nothing but static.
Then he said:
“Who told you?”
That was enough.
I ended the call.
Marcus looked at me.
“Did you record that?”
“Yes.”
Daniel smiled grimly.
“Good.”
But we weren't done.
That night, the county investigator found something shocking.
The property transfer had been electronically authorized using a device registered to Julian.
The same device had also accessed my medical insurance account.
And a third system.
The hospital's patient portal.
Three crimes.
One device.
One person.
But Julian still had one advantage.
He was walking around as if nothing had happened.
The police weren't ready to arrest him.
Not yet.
We needed proof that connected him directly to the medication change.
Then Emily Carter called.
She had found something.
“Come to the hospital.”
We met her in a conference room.
She placed a printed document on the table.
“What's this?”
“A medication override.”
The approval code belonged to a physician.
But the physician denied issuing it.
Emily pointed at the bottom.
“There was a second authorization.”
My eyes widened.
Julian's name.
Not as doctor.
As proxy administrator.
“He had access?”
“He shouldn't have.”
“Then how?”
Emily shook her head.
“Someone added him as an emergency family administrator.”
“When?”
“The day before Leo died.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“Who authorized that?”
Emily handed him another document.
My signature.
Again.
Forged.
I stared at it.
“How many documents were forged?”
“We don't know.”
Then Emily whispered:
“There was one more.”
She placed a sealed envelope in front of me.
“This was found in Leo's chart.”
My hands trembled as I opened it.
Inside was a handwritten note.
Please don't give him the blue medicine.
Leo had drawn a little red heart at the bottom.
I couldn't breathe.
“He wrote this?”
Emily nodded.
“Two days before he died.”
I looked at Marcus.
“What's the blue medicine?”
No one answered.
Then Emily said:
“The medication Julian authorized.”
My entire body went cold.
Leo had known.
My four-year-old son had somehow known something was wrong.
And if he had written that note before the final medication...
Then someone had frightened him.
Someone had been in that room.
Someone had warned him.
Marcus took the note carefully.
“We need to know who was with Leo when he wrote this.”
Emily checked the records.
She frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“What?”
“The nurse logged the note.”
“So?”
“She wrote that Leo was alone.”
I looked at her.
“Leo was never alone.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed to the timestamp.
“This note was written at 10:43 p.m.”
I remembered that night.
I had been beside his bed.
At 10:43, I had gone downstairs to get coffee.
I was gone for six minutes.
Six minutes.
Six minutes was all it took.
Marcus looked at me.
“Someone was with him.”
My stomach turned.
“Who?”
Emily pulled up camera footage.
The screen showed the hospital hallway.
At 10:42, a figure entered Leo's room.
At 10:49, the figure left.
He was wearing a dark jacket.
And when he turned toward the camera...
I recognized him.
Julian.
But there was one problem.
At the exact same time, Julian had been recorded in the hospital cafeteria.
He had been nowhere near the room.
Which meant the man entering Leo's room...
was wearing a mask.
Marcus froze the image.
Then zoomed in.
There was a scar above the left eyebrow.
May you like
The same scar from the photograph.
Ethan Cole.
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