Chapter 7 - The Drink
I remembered dinner.
The board members.
Vanessa beside Adrian.
My water glass tasting slightly bitter.
I had blamed nerves.
The hospital toxicologist said the amount was small.
Enough to slow reaction time.
Enough to make me dizzy.
Not enough to knock me unconscious.
Claire asked:
"Could it make someone appear unstable?"
"Yes."
I felt cold.
Vanessa had spent the evening telling people I was emotional.
Then Adrian punished me after I stumbled and spilled wine near her dress.
That was supposedly the insult that started everything.
"What if the spill wasn't an accident?" I said.
Dad's team requested catering footage from the dining room.
Unlike the entrance hall, those cameras had not been deleted.
The video showed a server placing water in front of me.
Then Vanessa passing behind my chair.
Her hand disappeared near the rim for less than two seconds.
Not proof by itself.
Then Priya found a pharmacy charge.
Vanessa's corporate card had purchased the same medication three days earlier.
Prescription issued to her.
Adrian's attorney called the timing coincidence.
Officer Reyes called it probable cause.
Vanessa was questioned separately.
She denied drugging me.
Then she made a mistake.
She told police:
"Mia was already dizzy before dinner."
The medication had not been mentioned publicly.
Neither had dizziness.
Claire smiled when she heard.
"People who build lies often know too many true details."
Adrian changed lawyers that afternoon.
His new attorney requested settlement talks.
I refused.
Not because I wanted more money.
Because I still did not know how much of my life had been planned behind my back.
Dad's forensic team found another hidden transfer.
Monthly payments from Vale Meridian to a fertility clinic.
Vanessa was a patient.
That part was not surprising.
What surprised me was the date.
Treatment began eight months earlier.
Adrian had been involved with her far longer than he admitted.
Then Priya found something else.
A second patient code attached to the same billing account.
Not Vanessa.
Me.
My name.
My birth date.
My insurance information.
I had never been treated at that clinic.
Claire called immediately.
The clinic refused to discuss medical records without a court order.
Dad's face changed.
"What could they have done with your identity?"
I knew one possibility.
And it terrified me.
Because three months earlier, Adrian had insisted I undergo a fertility evaluation after two years without a pregnancy.
He chose the doctor.
May you like
He handled the paperwork.
And I had never seen the complete results.
