Chapter 5 - My Laptop in His Hands
I knew the laptop before I saw the small scratch near the hinge.
It had happened when I dropped my keys against it six months earlier.
Dominic had teased me for being careless.
Now he was carrying it through a hospital corridor at two eleven in the morning while I lay unconscious one floor below.
"Pause it," I said.
Daniel froze the video.
Dominic's face was turned partly toward the camera.
There was no mistake.
The laptop was tucked beneath his left arm.
In his right hand was a white envelope.
"Can you zoom in?"
Daniel enlarged the image.
The quality softened, but one detail became visible.
The envelope carried the blue logo of the hospital business office.
Mara leaned closer.
"Do you recognize it?"
"No."
Everett did.
"Payroll and reimbursement documents use those envelopes."
Daniel nodded.
"So do procurement disbursement packets."
My grandfather's hand tightened around the head of his cane.
"Continue."
The footage resumed.
Dominic looked over his shoulder and entered the conference room.
The door closed behind him.
For the next nineteen minutes, nobody appeared.
Then Natalie came out alone.
She was holding the white envelope.
My laptop was no longer visible.
She left the frame.
At 2:34, Dr. Lang emerged.
At 2:36, Dominic followed.
He carried my laptop again.
This time he also held a phone against his ear.
The video had no audio.
It did not need any.
"Can we see where he went next?" Mara asked.
"We are tracing the cameras now."
Daniel swiped across the tablet.
"But there is something you should know before we continue."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"Dr. Lang accessed Ms. Audrey's chart from the conference room workstation."
"We already know that."
"He also accessed the twins' charts."
The room went silent.
I sat straighter.
"Why?"
"We do not know."
"What did he change?"
"Nothing obvious."
"That is not enough."
Daniel nodded.
"We are running a full comparison against the audit history."
I looked at Everett.
"I want Liam and Chloe's records locked."
"Done," Daniel said.
"No changes without the neonatal attending and compliance approving them."
"And Dominic?"
"His access as a parent is temporarily limited to viewing ordinary updates while legal reviews the situation."
I hated that the word temporarily still applied to a man who had done all of this.
Mara seemed to read my face.
"We cannot erase his parental rights because we are angry."
"I know."
"We build a record."
"I know."
I repeated it because I needed to hear myself say it.
Everett turned to Daniel.
"What about Peter Lang?"
"His hospital credentials have been suspended pending investigation."
"Does he know?"
"The suspension was activated four minutes ago."
"Then he knows now."
Mara stood.
"We should assume Dominic knows within minutes."
As if summoned by the sentence, my phone rang.
Dominic.
Mara looked at me.
"You do not have to answer."
"I want to."
"Put it on speaker."
I accepted the call.
"Audrey."
His voice was controlled.
Too controlled.
"Dominic."
"Tell your grandfather to stop interfering with my business relationships."
"Which relationship?"
"Do not play games."
"You called me."
There was a pause.
"Peter Lang was just suspended."
Mara's eyebrows lifted.
He had confirmed the connection faster than we could have hoped.
"That sounds like a problem between Peter and the hospital."
"This is exactly what I was warning you about."
"You warned me that you would seek custody if I did not tell my grandfather to back off."
His breathing changed.
He had forgotten that text messages were permanent.
"I was upset."
"So was I when you handed me divorce papers beside our premature children."
"Stop performing."
The words came out sharper now.
"You have always done this."
"Done what?"
"Acted calm so everyone else looks irrational."
I almost smiled.
"Is that what Dr. Lang wrote in my psychiatric consultation?"
Silence.
Mara's eyes locked on mine.
Everett did not move.
Dominic recovered after two seconds.
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing."
"Audrey."
"I should rest."
"Do not hang up."
"Why?"
His voice lowered.
"Because you need to understand what happens if you turn this into a war."
I looked at Mara.
She pointed toward her phone, indicating she was recording the call through a second device.
"Go ahead," I said.
"You are weak right now."
"Thank you for the medical assessment."
"You can barely walk."
"Temporary."
"You do not have a home."
"Debatable."
"You have not worked in months."
"Also temporary."
"And I have documentation showing you are unstable."
There it was.
Mara's expression became almost still.
"What documentation?"
"Doctors saw you."
"Which doctors?"
"You know which ones."
"I was unconscious yesterday."
Another pause.
He had stepped too close to the edge.
"You were awake at times."
"Was I?"
"Yes."
"At 3:42 p.m.?"
Silence.
That timestamp had not been mentioned outside this room.
Dominic's next breath was audible.
"I don't know what time."
"Then why did you say yes?"
"Because the doctors told me."
"Which doctors?"
He snapped.
"I am not doing this with you."
"You called me."
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"You signed the agreement."
"I did."
"That means you walk away from Sterling Axis."
"It says I waive a marital claim to your ownership interest."
Silence again.
"Same thing."
"Not exactly."
I could almost hear him thinking.
"What does that mean?"
"Ask your attorney."
The line went dead.
Mara exhaled slowly.
"That was useful."
"He admitted he knew about the medical documentation."
"And he connected Peter's suspension to your grandfather before we mentioned Peter."
Everett looked at Daniel.
"Preserve the call through legal."
Mara nodded.
"Already doing it."
I closed my eyes for a moment.
My body felt heavy.
"Where is my laptop now?"
Daniel looked down at the tablet.
"We followed Mr. Dominic to the west elevators."
"After that?"
"The camera in the parking garage shows him placing it in his car."
"So he still has it."
"Most likely."
Mara looked at me.
"We should change every password tied to that device."
"Do it."
"Email, banking, cloud storage, everything."
"Yes."
I dictated my recovery email address while she worked.
Then I remembered something that made my skin crawl.
"My photo backup."
Mara looked up.
"What about it?"
"The laptop syncs to my phone photos."
"Any sensitive documents?"
"Ultrasounds."
My voice tightened.
"Scans of my passport."
"Anything else?"
"A picture of the trust letter."
Everett turned sharply.
"Which trust letter?"
"The annual distribution notice."
"Did it name Aster Ridge?"
I thought back.
"Yes."
Mara stopped typing.
"When was the photo taken?"
"January."
"Could Dominic have seen it?"
"If he searched the laptop."
Everett swore again.
That changed everything.
Dominic might not have known the full scale of my family wealth.
But he could have known Aster Ridge belonged to my trust.
If he knew that before moving money out of the company, then the transfer was not merely a desperate attempt to strip assets before divorce.
It could have been targeted theft.
"Can we prove he opened that photo?" I asked.
Daniel shook his head.
"Not from hospital systems."
Mara answered.
"Possibly from cloud access history if the service logs file activity."
"Check it."
She nodded.
My phone vibrated with another unknown number.
This time it was not a text.
It was a photograph.
The image showed Natalie standing inside my apartment bedroom.
She was holding one of my jewelry boxes.
The timestamp embedded in the image was from yesterday morning.
While I was unconscious.
A message appeared beneath it.
SHE WAS NOT JUST TAKING CLOTHES.
I stared at the image.
Then another arrived.
It showed Dominic kneeling beside the floor safe in my closet.
The safe door was open.
The next message contained only six words.
ASK WHAT WAS INSIDE THE SAFE.
My breath caught.
I knew exactly what had been inside.
My grandmother's original trust documents.
May you like
And a sealed envelope Everett had given me years ago with one instruction.
Open this only if someone tries to take control of your money through marriage.
