Chapter 11 - The Clinic of False Deaths
Dr. Reeves’s clinic had closed officially three months earlier.
Unofficially, the basement remained active.
Federal agents found locked cabinets filled with unregistered medications, forged death certificates, and patient files with altered causes of death.
Victoria’s payments appeared throughout the records.
Richard Carter’s file was there.
So was Elena’s.
Her death certificate had already been completed.
Cause of death: childbirth complications.
Hope had a separate certificate.
Stillbirth.
Both were signed before Elena was sedated.
Daniel read the dates twice.
Victoria had planned their deaths at least nine days in advance.
Agents also found a scheduled cremation order.
Elena and Hope were supposed to be cremated the morning after Daniel returned.
There would have been no bodies left for another examination.
Daniel sat beside Elena’s hospital bed and struggled to tell her.
She listened silently.
“They were going to burn us,” she whispered.
Daniel held her hand.
“I won’t let her near you again.”
Elena looked toward Hope.
“She didn’t see us as people.”
“No. She saw you as obstacles.”
Marcus survived surgery.
His wound came from one of Victoria’s hired men, who attacked the cabin where Samuel was hiding.
Marcus managed to drive Samuel to safety before collapsing.
When he regained consciousness, he asked to speak to Elena.
Daniel warned him.
“She owes you nothing.”
“I know.”
Marcus entered in a wheelchair under police guard.
He could not look directly at Elena.
“I helped carry you downstairs.”
Elena said nothing.
“I told myself you were already gone. I told myself I was protecting my son.”
Marcus’s voice cracked.
“But I was protecting my fear.”
Elena looked at the man who had stood beside her coffin holding whiskey.
“You heard me breathing.”
Marcus covered his face.
“Yes.”
“You watched your mother dress me for burial.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you call an ambulance?”
“I was a coward.”
Elena did not offer forgiveness.
“Then tell the truth in court.”
“I will.”
“And protect your son by becoming someone he won’t be ashamed to know.”
Marcus nodded through tears.
“I will.”
Before officers took him away, Marcus gave Daniel the key to a private bank box.
“Mother kept emergency files there.”
“What kind of files?”
“Blackmail on everyone connected to the company.”
Inside that box, investigators found the final version of Richard’s will.
It did not leave Victoria twenty percent.
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It removed her from the company entirely.
👉 Richard’s true will proved Victoria had controlled the Carter empire through a forgery for seven years.
