Chapter 2 - The Stolen Truth
I turned my back to Vivienne and helped Sarah sit up on the edge of the mattress. She was trembling violently, her breathing shallow.
"Sarah, I am so sorry," I said, grabbing a clean towel to wrap around her bleeding wrists. "I am calling the police right now, and then I am driving you to the hospital to see your son."
"No, wait!" Sarah gasped, grabbing my sleeve with surprising strength. Her eyes darted toward Vivienne, who was glaring at us with absolute venom. "Mr. Sterling... before you call them... you need to know the rest. You need to know what she did."
"She’s a liar!" Vivienne shrieked, suddenly lunging forward, trying to grab Sarah’s hair. "Shut your mouth, you pathetic piece of trash!"
I intercepted Vivienne, grabbing her by the shoulders and shoving her hard out into the hallway. I slammed the heavy wooden door shut, locking the deadbolt. Vivienne began to pound furiously on the wood, screaming obscenities, but I ignored her.
I knelt in front of Sarah. "Tell me. Whatever it is, you are safe now. Tell me the truth."
Sarah swallowed hard, tears spilling over her bruised cheeks. "My son... Tommy. He didn't just get sick, Mr. Sterling. He was poisoned."
My blood ran completely cold. "Poisoned?"
"Vivienne... she confessed it to me right before you walked in," Sarah sobbed, her voice breaking. "She’s been slipping heavy metals into Tommy’s lunchbox when I brought him here on weekends. She wanted him sick. She wanted him in the hospital so I would be desperate for money, so I would never quit this job."
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I stared at her, my mind entirely unable to process the sheer evil of the words. But Sarah wasn't finished.
"And that’s not all," she whispered, looking over at the cribs where Liam and Emma were sleeping peacefully. "She needed me to stay because of the twins. She told me the truth, David. She isn't their mother. During the IVF process... she bribed the clinic. She swapped her embryos out because she didn't want to ruin her body. She used mine. I was an egg donor at that clinic three years ago. David... they are my biological children."
