Chapter 7 - Chapter 7 - THE CLINIC BED
By 1:30 AM, the sterile white walls of the private VIP suite at St. Jude Medical Center felt like heaven compared to the toxic atmosphere of the Vance household. An IV drip was steadily pumping saline and broad-spectrum antibiotics into my veins, cooling the raging fire in my bloodstream. Dr. Hayes, a trusted family physician who had known my father for decades, adjusted the monitors with a gentle, disapproving frown.
"Severe bronchial pneumonia combined with total physical exhaustion," Dr. Hayes diagnosed, shining a small penlight into my eyes. "Clara, what were you thinking staying in that house under those conditions? If you had waited another twenty-four hours to seek medical help, your lungs would have sustained permanent damage."
"I had to execute a legal checkmate, Doctor," I murmured weakly, resting my hand against the cool cotton sheets. "Can't file a multi-million-dollar asset forfeiture from a hospital bed."
Marcus stood near the window, tapping away on his encrypted smartphone before looking up. "The timing was actually surgical perfection. While you were getting your IV started, federal bankruptcy judges officially locked down all of Ethan's corporate accounts. Furthermore, Patricia’s personal bank accounts have been frozen because she was listed as a silent partner in Vance Enterprises' shell companies. They are completely tapped out."
"And Chloe?" I asked, closing my eyes as the medication began to soothe my aching muscles.
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"Chloe realized within ten minutes of arriving at the estate that Ethan was a sinking ship," Marcus chuckled dryly. "She grabbed her baby, called an Uber, and is currently camped out at a local motel, threatening to slap Ethan with a massive paternity and child support lawsuit first thing in the morning. The man has enemies closing in from every single direction."
Good. They deserved every piece of chaos they had sown. I pulled the blanket higher around my shoulders, letting the steady beep of the heart monitor lull me into the first truly peaceful sleep I had experienced in five miserable years.
