Chapter 4 - The Hospital Room
The Ashford estate became chaos.
Security officers rushed through the halls.
Guests were evacuated through the underground garage.
Police surrounded the property.
But Nadia wasn't interested in the police.
She was interested in the photograph.
Vivian's mother was alive.
Somewhere.
And someone was trying to kill her again.
Nadia spread the documents across Harrison's desk.
“Where was this photograph taken?”
“St. Gabriel's Hospital.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“Who took it?”
“I don't know.”
Vivian stared at the image.
Her mother looked older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably alive.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Harrison looked broken.
“Because every time I tried to reach her, someone found out.”
Vivian whispered:
“You let me grieve her for twenty years.”
“I thought grief was safer than a funeral.”
Nadia looked at the hospital records.
“Your mother wasn't admitted under Ashford.”
“What name?”
“Mary Collins.”
Nadia stopped.
“That name is familiar.”
Harrison looked at her.
“How?”
“Because my father investigated it.”
She pulled out her phone.
Her old encrypted files were still stored in a private cloud.
She searched.
Michael Reed had written hundreds of reports.
One contained the name Mary Collins.
Nadia opened it.
Her father's final investigation had been about an Ashford employee who disappeared.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
Mary Collins is not a patient. She is a witness.
Nadia's heart raced.
“A witness to what?”
She kept reading.
Then she found it.
A transaction.
Twenty-three million dollars.
Transferred from Ashford Foundation accounts to a company called Northbridge Recovery.
Vivian frowned.
“What's Northbridge?”
Nadia searched.
“Nothing.”
“What do you mean?”
“The company doesn't officially exist.”
Harrison went pale.
“It does.”
Nadia looked at him.
“I know.”
She showed him the file.
“Northbridge Recovery owns the private facility where your mother has been held.”
Vivian's eyes widened.
“They've been keeping her there?”
“Apparently.”
“Then let's get her.”
Nadia grabbed her coat.
Harrison stopped her.
“It's a trap.”
“Probably.”
“You can't walk into a private facility controlled by Eleanor.”
Nadia looked at him.
“I'm not walking in.”
She opened the desk drawer.
Inside was a security badge.
Harrison stared.
“Where did you get that?”
Nadia smiled faintly.
“You hired me.”
Three hours later, Nadia stood outside Northbridge Recovery.
She wore a medical uniform.
Vivian was beside her.
“You look terrifyingly convincing,” Vivian whispered.
“Good.”
They entered.
The receptionist looked at Nadia's badge.
“Room?”
“Seventeen.”
The receptionist hesitated.
“That's restricted.”
Nadia smiled.
“Then call your administrator.”
The receptionist reached for the phone.
Nadia pressed a hidden device against the desk.
The entire security system flickered.
“Thirty seconds,” Nadia whispered.
They moved.
Room seventeen was at the end of a dark corridor.
Vivian's hand trembled.
Nadia opened the door.
An elderly woman sat beside the window.
Gray hair.
Thin shoulders.
Eyes that immediately widened when she saw Vivian.
“Mom?”
The woman stood.
Her lips trembled.
“Vivian?”
Vivian ran to her.
They embraced.
Twenty years of grief collapsed into one desperate hug.
Nadia stood back.
Then the woman whispered:
“They found you.”
Vivian pulled away.
“Who?”
Her mother looked at Nadia.
“You.”
Nadia frowned.
“What?”
The woman stepped closer.
“You're Michael's daughter.”
Nadia froze.
“Yes.”
The woman grabbed her wrist.
“Your father didn't die in that robbery.”
Nadia's breath caught.
“What are you saying?”
“He was killed because he discovered the real owner of Northbridge.”
“Who?”
The woman looked toward the door.
Then whispered:
“Eleanor.”
A loud click came from the hallway.
The door locked automatically.
Red lights began flashing.
May you like
The woman's face went white.
“They know we're here.”
