Chapter 6 - The Midnight Discovery
Z
The grandfather clock in the Highwood gallery chimed two in the morning, the heavy brass tones echoing like ominous footsteps through the darkened corridors. I couldn't sleep. The toxic confrontation with Genevieve, combined with the suffocating luxury of the guest suite, kept my mind racing in exhausting circles.
I tossed aside the heavy duvet, pulled on a fleece sweater, and quietly made my way down the carpeted hallway toward the south wing. Even though Lucas was equipped with an emergency call button, the instincts ingrained from caring for my dying mother made it impossible for me not to conduct a physical night check.
The hallway was dimly lit by low amber sconces. As I approached the double doors of Lucas’s private suite, a faint strip of light leaking from beneath the door of his adjacent private study caught my attention.
My brow furrowed. Lucas was under strict medical orders to take his sedative at 10:00 PM and remain in bed until dawn.
I gently turned the brass handle and pushed the study door open an inch. "Mr. Bennett?"
The room was silent, but it wasn't Lucas inside.
Sitting behind the massive antique desk was Julian Bennett. He had his laptop connected to a high-speed hard drive, and his fingers were flying across the keyboard with frantic speed. Spread across the desk were several thick financial dossiers marked with red, confidential security stamps.
I instinctively stepped into the room. "Julian? What are you doing in here?"
Julian jumped so violently that his knee slammed into the underside of the mahogany desk, knocking over a silver pen holder. His head snapped up, his face flushing crimson before instantly contorting into a mask of pure fury.
"What the hell are you doing creeping around at two in the morning?" Julian hissed, immediately slamming his laptop shut and shoving the papers into a leather satchel.
"I’m doing my job and checking on your father," I answered, stepping further into the room and noticing an open prescription bottle sitting near the desk lamp. "What are you doing on his personal computer?"
"This is my family's house, you glorified maid," he snarled, standing up and towering over the desk. "I don't answer to the domestic help. Get out before I have security throw you out the front gates in your pajamas."
My eyes darted to the prescription bottle. The label read: Digoxin - 0.25mg.
My clinical training flared instantly. Digoxin was a powerful, highly specific cardiac glycoside used to treat severe heart failure and arrhythmias. But Dr. Patel had specifically excluded Digoxin from Lucas’s regimen due to his low kidney clearance and the risk of fatal toxicity when combined with his current beta-blockers.
"Where did you get that medication?" I demanded, pointing directly at the amber vial. "That wasn't prescribed by Dr. Patel. That is completely contraindicated with his current post-infarction therapy."
Julian’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. Instead of offering an excuse, he calmly reached out, picked up the bottle, and slid it into his coat pocket.
"You're overstepping, Bailey," Julian said in a low, chilling whisper. "You have no idea what you're looking at. My father is an old man who forgets what his specialists tell him. I was simply cleaning up his unauthorized supplements."
"That's not a supplement, Julian! That is a high-potency cardiac drug!" My heart was hammering violently against my ribs. "Are you giving that to him?"
Julian rounded the desk with frightening speed, cornering me against the bookshelf. His face was inches from mine, his breath smelling of stale whiskey and mints.
"Listen to me very carefully, you little charity case," Julian whispered, his voice trembling with suppressed violence. "You think you're clever because you know a few medical buzzwords? You are an unqualified college dropout working on borrowed time. Tomorrow morning, you are going to pack your cheap bag, tell my mother you aren't cut out for this job, and disappear back to your sewer. If you mention this bottle, or anything you saw in this office tonight, to my father, my mother, or the police, I will make sure your sweet little brother Evan takes the fall for a massive inventory fraud at his precious hardware store. I own the commercial real estate his company leases, Bailey. One phone call from me, and Evan is facing five years in Cook County Jail."
Cold terror gripped my throat. He had investigated everything. He held my brother's life in his hands like a fragile glass ornament.
"You're a monster," I whispered, my voice shaking with rage.
"I'm a Bennett," Julian corrected with a sick, triumphant smirk. "We don't lose. Now get out of my sight."
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I backed out of the study, my knees trembling so violently I could barely stay upright. I retreated to my guest room, locked the heavy oak door, and sank to the floor with my back against the wood, gasping for air.
Julian wasn't just planning a corporate takeover. He was actively manipulating his father's medical vulnerability to ensure Lucas never returned to the boardroom. And if I spoke a single word to save Lucas Bennett's life a second time, my brother would pay the price.
