Chapter 2 - The Poisoned Truth
The silence in the bedroom was so heavy it felt like it could crush the walls.
Julian slowly lowered the barrel of his pistol, though he did not holster the weapon.
His eyes darted from Clara's pale face to the clear medical bag hanging above Silas’s fragile arm.
"Explain yourself, Clara," Julian commanded, his voice vibrating with a terrifying calmness.
"And if I find out you are lying to save your own skin, you will not leave this estate alive."
Clara did not flinch at the threat, proving exactly why Julian had hired a woman who had already lost everything.
"I was in the adjoining bathroom, cleaning Silas's physical therapy equipment," she explained, her voice steadying.
"The door was cracked open just an inch, and the lights were off."
"I heard the bedroom door open, and I assumed it was you coming in to say goodnight."
Julian stepped further into the room, his eyes scanning every dark corner for any sign of Victoria.
"But it wasn't me," Julian said, prompting her to continue.
"No, it was Ms. Frost," Clara confirmed, stepping slightly away from the bed.
"She didn't turn on the main lights, she just walked straight over to the IV stand."
"She pulled a small glass vial from her designer clutch and injected it straight into the saline port."
Julian felt a cold sweat break out across the back of his neck.
Victoria had no medical training, no reason to touch the equipment, and absolutely no business sneaking into the west wing.
"Why didn't you stop her right then?" Julian demanded, his anger flaring back up.
"Because if I confronted her without proof, it would be the word of a disgraced, unlicensed nurse against a billionaire's fiancée," Clara answered bluntly.
"You would have fired me on the spot, and Silas would have been left completely unprotected."
Julian hated how perfectly logical her reasoning was.
He looked down at his son, who was staring up at the ceiling, his heart monitor beeping at a steady, rhythmic pace.
"So what is in the syringe in your hand?" Julian asked, gesturing to the needle she still held.
"It is a chemical reagent testing kit I smuggled in from my old hospital," Clara confessed.
"I locked the door because I needed exactly two uninterrupted minutes to extract a sample from the IV bag."
"I needed to prove to you that she was poisoning him before you threw me out."
Julian walked over to the IV stand, his mind racing through all of his recent interactions with Victoria.
She had been the one to suggest a long-term care facility for Silas just last week.
She had claimed the boy needed professional, clinical surroundings, away from the gloom of the mansion.
Julian had firmly refused, and Victoria had smiled sweetly, dropping the subject without an argument.
Now, her gentle patience looked terrifyingly like a calculated murder plot.
"Test it," Julian ordered, stepping back to give Clara room to work.
Clara nodded quickly, inserting the needle into the rubber port of the IV bag.
She drew a small amount of the clear saline solution into the syringe, mixing it with the chemical reagent already inside the barrel.
Julian held his breath, watching the liquid slosh gently inside the plastic tube.
For ten agonizing seconds, nothing happened at all.
Julian felt a surge of fury rising, believing he had just been played by a hysterical, paranoid nurse.
"It's clear," Julian stated coldly.
"No, look closer," Clara whispered, holding the syringe up to the light of the bedside lamp.
Slowly, the clear liquid inside the barrel began to turn a sickly, cloudy shade of pale yellow.
"It is a heavy, untraceable muscle relaxant," Clara explained, her voice shaking slightly.
"Over time, it causes the respiratory system to simply stop functioning in paralyzed patients."
"The coroner would look at Silas and rule it as a tragic, natural complication from his existing spinal injuries."
Julian stared at the yellow liquid, the horrifying reality finally setting in.
Victoria was trying to quietly murder his son so she could have Julian, and his massive empire, entirely to herself.
Julian holstered his gun and pulled his cell phone from his pocket.
He bypassed the police entirely, pressing the speed dial for Marcus, his ruthless chief of security.
"Marcus," Julian said into the phone, his voice devoid of any human emotion.
May you like
"Lock down the entire estate, jam all outgoing cellular signals, and close the iron gates."
"Victoria Frost is somewhere on this property, and she belongs to me tonight."
