Chapter 12 - What Evelyn Built
Damian looked at his mother.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
Evelyn did not.
Adrian laughed softly.
“There it is. The silence of the righteous.”
Evelyn sat across from him.
“I designed an emergency treatment program for terminal patients. Voluntary enrollment. Independent review. Full withdrawal rights.”
“And then?” Damian asked.
“Your father changed it.”
Adrian shook his head. “Convenient.”
Evelyn ignored him.
“He removed oversight. Patients were transferred without proper consent. Data was altered to make the drug look safer.”
“Did you know?”
“Not at first.”
“At first.” Damian repeated the words.
Evelyn’s eyes filled. “When I learned the truth, I tried to stop it.”
Adrian leaned forward. “After eleven people had already died.”
Beatrice whispered, “She tried.”
Tessa’s voice came through Damian’s earpiece. “Nora would have been years later. So it continued.”
Damian understood what she was asking.
“Why didn’t it end after Mom disappeared?”
Adrian smiled.
“Because your father saw profit.”
“And you?”
“I saw survival.”
“You helped him.”
“I kept the company alive for you.”
Damian laughed bitterly. “You keep saying that like I asked you to.”
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“You were a child. You benefited anyway.”
He slid a folder across the table.
Inside were settlement records, board approvals, and signatures.
One signature belonged to Damian.
Tessa went silent in his earpiece.
Damian stared at the page.
He remembered signing hundreds of acquisition documents at twenty-four after his father suffered a stroke.
“This is forged.”
“No,” Adrian said. “It’s real.”
Damian’s stomach turned.
The document authorized continued funding for legacy patient care and confidential settlements tied to Rosewood.
He had signed it.
Without reading it.
Tessa’s voice finally came through.
“You signed?”
“I didn’t know what it was.”
Adrian smiled. “Intent is such a comforting luxury.”
Damian looked at Tessa’s unseen position beyond the windows.
For the first time, he understood that ignorance could still leave blood on a person’s hands.
Beatrice suddenly stood.
“Enough.”
Adrian reached for the pistol.
Evelyn moved faster.
She grabbed the wine bottle and smashed it across his wrist.
The gun hit the floor.
Damian lunged.
A shot exploded from outside.
The window shattered.
May you like
Beatrice screamed.
And Adrian disappeared through the back door.
