Chapter 4 - The Tainted Ledger
"She kept a record of everything, Ethan," Lena whispered as she sat next to me in the hospital corridor, a cold compress pressed against her cheek. "Your mother has a leather-bound logbook inside her master bedroom wall safe. She lists the dates, the dosages, and the names of the doctors she paid to write the blind prescriptions."
"Why would she do this, Lena?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper as the sheer scale of the betrayal settled in. "She already controls the family estate. Why destroy Ava?"
"Because of the car crash," Lena said, her tears dropping onto her apron. "The night of the accident three years ago... the brakes failed on Ava's sedan. Your mother told you it was a mechanical error by the manufacturer. But two weeks before the crash, your mother transferred fifty thousand dollars to a private account owned by a mechanic named Thomas Cross. He was the last person to service Ava's car."
I stood up, the chair scraping sharply against the hospital tile. My world didn't just tilt; it completely shattered. The accident that had stolen Ava’s ability to walk, the tragedy that had devastated our lives and forced us to rely on my mother’s financial backing, wasn't an act of fate. It was a corporate execution.
"Lena, stay here with Ava," I ordered, my face setting into an absolute mask of stone. "Do not let my mother, her lawyers, or anyone from the family estate near this wing. I’m going back to the house, and I’m bringing Detective Reynolds with me."
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"Ethan, she’ll have the security team there," Lena warned, her voice laced with fear.
"Let her," I said, checking the battery on my phone as I walked toward the exit. "My mother thinks she owns the walls of that house. She’s about to find out that the state owns the prison cell she’s heading toward."
