Chapter 7 - Beatrice’s Sin
Tessa left the study.
She did not slam the door.
That made it worse.
Beatrice sat motionless, tears sliding down her cheeks.
Damian remained standing across from her.
“Is it true?”
“Yes.”
The word was barely audible.
“How many?”
“Forty-three.”
Damian felt the number like a blow.
Beatrice wiped her face.
“I was forty-two. Your father hired me as a medical transport coordinator before I ever worked in your home. Rosewood was described as a private recovery center for terminal patients. Better rooms. Better nurses. Experimental options.”
“But it wasn’t.”
“No.”
“When did you know?”
“After the seventh transfer.”
“Then why keep signing?”
Her voice broke. “Because they had my son.”
Damian went still.
He had never known Beatrice had a child.
“His name was Luke. He had epilepsy. Your father controlled his medication through the company clinic. He told me if I stopped cooperating, Luke would lose everything.”
“And did he?”
Beatrice looked at him.
“He died at sixteen.”
Damian sat down.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
“After Luke died,” Beatrice continued, “I went to your mother. Evelyn believed me. She started copying records. Voss helped. We planned to expose everything.”
“And my mother died.”
Beatrice nodded.
“Your father said it was cancer.”
“Was it?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer hurt more than certainty.
Damian found Tessa outside near the greenhouse.
She stood in the cold without a coat.
“You should hate her,” Damian said.
Tessa looked at him sharply. “Is that what you came to tell me?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“That she admitted it.”
Tessa laughed through tears. “Great. Honesty. Seventeen years too late for Nora.”
Damian had no defense for that.
Tessa stared through the greenhouse glass at the white roses.
“My sister trusted doctors. She trusted forms. She trusted people with clean coats and quiet voices.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“You’re right.”
That stopped her again.
Damian looked toward the estate.
“But somebody attacked Voss last night. Somebody used my access. Somebody wants Beatrice discredited before we reach whatever is under that chapel.”
Tessa wiped her face.
“So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying guilt and truth can exist in the same person.”
Before she could answer, Grant came running from the house.
“Damian!”
He held a phone in his hand.
On the screen was live footage from Voss’s hospital room.
The bed was empty.
The guard on the floor was unconscious.
May you like
And written across the wall in blood were three words.
SHE IS ALIVE.
