Chapter 5 - The Matriarch's Ultimatum
The door swung inward to reveal Grand-Aunt Beatrice, leaning heavily on her walking stick, flanked by two private estate guards. Her expression remained an unreadable mask carved from cold granite.
Mark rose instantly, placing himself between the bed and the matriarch. “You shouldn’t be here. Did you poison my wife, Aunt Beatrice?”
Beatrice let out a dry, wheezing scoff. “Poison? Don’t be a fool, Mark. I built this empire with blood and iron; I don’t use kitchen venom to settle family affairs. If I wanted that child gone, you would have known my decision directly.”
“Then explain the tea!” Elena protested, wincing as her incision pulled against the hospital bandages. “You gave me those capsules!”
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Beatrice stepped forward, motioning for her guards to seal the door shut. She reached into her wool coat and withdrew a leather-bound folder, dropping it heavily onto Elena’s lap. “I gave you high-potency vitamins because I knew someone was trying to terminate that child. Those documents are the financial records of Erica’s secret offshore accounts. She hired a rogue biochemist five months ago.”
As Mark snatched the dossier, the power grid of the hospital abruptly shut down, plunging the entire floor into pitch-black darkness.
