bChapter /b376

    “It’s all right. The doctor said he was just badly shaken. Noreen was worried Tricia might try something again if her first attempt failed, so without checking with you first, we transferred him to our facility.”

    Charlotte’s eyelids fluttered. “Vera, thank you iso /imuch for everything today.”

    “You don’t have to thank us, Charlotte.”

    “But Tricia probably recognized you too. I’ll try to make a trip back to Riverspire City in the next few days. For now, just avoid running into her directly.”

    Vera nodded. “I understand.” Suddenly remembering something, she added, “Oh, and we really have Dr. Carstairs and Gentry to thank as well. The clinic is already checking the security footage.”

    Charlotte paused, her gaze lowering. “All right.”

    After ending the call, Charlotte turned around and found Evander leaning against the doorframe.

    He must have overheard.

    “Tricia’s not as easy to handle as you think,” he said quietly.

    Charlotte looked at him, and suddenly let out a dryugh. “You’ve let her off the hook more than once, haven’t you? At this point, does it even matter if she’s easy to handle?”

    She was about to leave, but Evander caught her arm, holding her back with a steady grip. “When Wesley helped you get him admitted to Summitview Wellness Retreat, it took even me some digging to find out where he was. There’s no way Tricia just happened to discover Hiram’s whereabouts by chance.”

    Charlotte froze, her brow furrowing in thought.

    He was right. When she brought Hiram to Summitview, not a soul knew.

    b12:44 /b

    Tricia couldn’t have found out, not unless she’d deliberately gone looking for him just to get at Charlotte–which she never would have done.

    “I used to think Jonathan was the only one behind her,” Evander went on. “But after he confessed a few things to me, I realized it isn’t that simple.”

    Charlotte turned to him. “What did he tell you?”

    Evander’s gaze dropped, his expression turning serious. “Back then, she only epted your grandmother’s money because she was pregnant. But while I was seeing her, I never once touched her.”

    He paused, letting the words sink in. “She was in Riverspire City much earlier than I thought. Apparently, she had a procedure at District General Hospital to protect her pregnancy. But she never once mentioned having family or friends here.”

    Charlotte pulled her arm from his grasp. “She lied to you, and you can’t ept it.”

    “That’s not it. I just keep thinking: if she approached me with an agenda from the start, there must be someone else orchestrating things behind her.”

    “What makes you iso /isure there’s someone else?” Charlotte pressed.

    Evander’s eyes fixed on her, unblinking. “She always imed to be an orphan with only a foster father. But when I looked into him, turns out he’s apulsive gambler who can barely scrape by. How would he afford to live in an upscale neighborhood?”

    He’d never wanted to dig too deeply. But once her lies started unraveling, piece by piece, he realized just how wrong he’d been about everything.

    Charlotte fell silent, lost in thought.

    “Hiram’s whereabouts at Summitview–aside from you and Wesley’s people, no one else could possibly know, right?” Evander asked.

    She met his gaze. “You think bsomeone /bon my brother’s team is involved?”

    213

    “Your DNA test with Loretta was switched out. Wasn’t that also someone

    from his side?”

    Charlotte found herself at a loss for words.

    Suddenly, Wesley’s warning came back to her: the person who tampered with the DNA test was Zoe.

    Could Tricia be working with Zoe, too?

    Before Charlotte could process it all, Miranda approached with Jacques at her side. “Evander, you shouldn’t be standing out here, inot /iwith your health.”

    Her eyes lingered meaningfully on Charlotte as she spoke.

    Evander slipped his arm around Charlotte’s shoulders. “We just finished our checkup.”

    Charlotte blinked, caught off guard.

    Miranda kept her gaze fixed on her. “Did you?”

    Charlotte didn’t respond. Before Miranda could press her again, Jacques cut in, his tone measured. “That’s enough. The treatment’s done, that’s what matters.” He turned to Evander. “There’s something at the office I need to discuss with you privately.”

    Evander’s guarded expression softened just a touch. “Alright.”

    As Evander and Jacques walked away, Miranda turned her gaze on Charlotte. “If Evander recovers, I’ll allow you two to divorce. He’s my only son, and I can’t bear to see him suffer for anyone’s sake again.”

    She smoothed her designer handbag with manicured fingers, then added, “Maybe if you be a mother someday, you’ll understand how it feels.”

    Not waiting for a reply, Miranda walked past Charlotte and left without another word.

    Charlotte stood there, unmoving, lost in her thoughts.

    Judd had just finished settling Hiram in his new hospital room when his phone buzzed twice.

    He nced at the screen–Charlotte had messaged to thank him for arranging Hiram’s transfer.

    Judd stared at the message for half a minute, typed out a response, erased it, and finally just sent: [Let’s talk when we’re back in Riverspire.]

    “Dr. Carstairs.”

    Vera approached him.

    He pocketed his phone and nodded. “Are the discharge papers sorted?”

    She smiled. “All done.”

    “Good.”

    12 44

    Meanwhile, inside the hospital room, the patient stirred at the sound of voices in the hallway, slowly opening his eyes.

    He stared nkly at the ceiling. The fear from being pushed into the water was nothingpared to the confusion and dread that Tricia’s

    words left him with.

    No home left. And now, his only sister was abandoning him, too?

    Elsewhere, police found Tricia having tea with Zoe.

    “Ms. Winthrop, someone reported that you attempted to harm Mr. Sterling at Summitview Wellness Retreat. Can you tell us where you were this morning?”

    Tricia’s eyes flickered with panic, but she looked to Zoe for support.

    Zoe smiled smoothly. “Officers, I think you must be mistaken. Miss Winthrop was with me all morning.”

    One of the officers frowned, producing surveince stills from near the retreat. “Really? Then how do you exin this footage?”

    The image, though grainy, caught a quick glimpse of Tricia’s face–clear enough to raise suspicion.

    Under the table, Tricia’s hand clenched tight as she stood up slowly. “I don’t know who reported this, but I wasn’t at Summitview Wellness

    Retreat.”

    “Ms. Winthrop, lying to police will have consequences.”

    Before Tricia could respond, Zoe interjected calmly, “We have security cameras at my clinic as well. You’re wee to verify the footage.”

    The officers exchanged nces. One stayed behind to keep watch, while the others followed Zoe’s assistant to check the surveince.

    Tricia sipped her tea, trying to appearposed. In reality, she was barely holding it together–if not for Zoe’s reassuring nce, she might have bolted already.

    12 44 m

    Chapter

    About ten minutester, the officers returned, requesting a copy of the clinic’s footage for further investigation. They also asked both women to keep their phones avable for follow–up questioning.

    Zoe nodded, signaling her assistant to prepare the video copy.

    Once the police had left, Tricia’s hand was slick with cold sweat. She set her teacup down, but her nerves betrayed her–the cup slipped, sloshing tea across the table.

    “What’s wrong? Getting nervous already?” Zoe asked.

    Tricia took a shaky breath. “The footage is edited, after all. They’ll figure it out eventually.”

    Zoe idly traced the rim of her cup. “Rx. If I dared to fake that footage, I’m more than ready to deal with any fallout.”

    Tricia’s fingers tightened around the handle. This woman was even more dangerous than she’d thought.

    Still, her own luck had been rotten, running into those particr people. And Vera… Vera was definitely the biggest threat of all.