Chapter 3 - The Nest of Vipers
I stared at Olivia, the woman I had shared a bed with for over a decade. We had never had children—she had always claimed her career at Gilbert Pharma made pregnancy impossible. Now, looking at her motionless, unbothered expression, a terrifying truth began to settle in my chest.
“You knew about Sawyer,” I whispered, rising slowly from the floor.
Olivia walked gracefully into the room, her high heels clicking rhythmically against the hardwood floor. She poured herself a glass of sherry from the crystal decanter on the sideboard.
“Of course I knew, Alistair,” Olivia said smoothly, taking a small sip. “My father’s intelligence team conducted a thorough background check on you before we signed the merger contracts. We discovered Nellie’s pregnancy three weeks before our wedding.”
“And you didn't tell me?”
“Why would I?” Olivia laughed—a sharp, tinkling sound that made my skin crawl. “To let a penniless, uneducated girl ruin a three-hundred-million-dollar pharmaceutical deal? Do you think my father would have invested eighty million dollars into Crestview Clinic if he knew you had a secret bastard living in a trailer park in St. Paul?”
“He was my son, Olivia!”
“He was an obstacle!” Olivia spat, dropping her polite tone, her eyes burning with cold ambition. “Your mother and I handled it. We ensured the boy remained legally unattached to you. When he had that unfortunate accident at the expansion site, my family’s legal team personally ensured the story never touched the press. You owe us your career, Alistair. If we hadn't cleaned up your past, you would be working at a walk-in urgent care clinic in the suburbs right now.”
I looked between the two women—my mother, who had carried me in her womb, and my wife, who had pledged her life to me. They stood together like two vultures picking over the bones of a tragedy they had orchestrated.
“You’re monsters,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “Both of you.”
Katie stood up, straightening her tweed skirt. “We are practical, Alistair. We did what was necessary to preserve this family. You have enjoyed fifteen years of prestige, wealth, and power because we had the courage to do what you were too soft to do.”
“I am going to the police,” I said, pulling out my phone. “I am going to report the cover-up of Sawyer’s death. I am going to expose every bribe, every altered document, and every single cent you used to hide his body.”
Olivia set her glass down with a heavy thud.
“Go ahead,” Olivia said calmly. “Call them. But remember this, Alistair: every contract for Crestview Clinic bears your signature. Every financial report for that construction site was signed by you as Medical Director. If my father’s legal team gets involved, we will ensure that you take the fall for the safety violations that killed that boy.”
She took a step closer, tapping her manicured finger against my chest.
“You will be stripped of your medical license, your assets will be seized, and you will spend the rest of your life in a federal penitentiary for corporate manslaughter. While Katie and I walk away completely untouched.”
My blood ran cold. They had framed the legal structure of the clinic so tightly over the last decade that every executive decision traced back to my office desk. I had trusted them blindly, signing stacks of legal documents every month without reading the fine print, believing my mother was protecting my interests.
I was trapped in a cage built by my own family.
“Now,” Katie said, reaching out to pat my cheek with a cold, dry hand, “put on your tuxedo, Alistair. The reporters are waiting at the gala. You are going to smile, you are going to hold your wife’s hand, and you are going to pretend this conversation never happened.”
I looked at her hand on my face. The absolute revulsion I felt made me push her arm away violently.
“Touch me again, and I’ll burn this entire house to the ground,” I hissed.
I turned on my heel and walked out of the mansion, ignoring my mother’s sharp calls echoing down the hall.
As I stepped out into the freezing night air, I pulled out my phone and dialed Thomas.
“Doctor?” Thomas answered on the first ring.
“Thomas,” I said, getting into the back of my Suburban. “Where is Nellie Fields right now?”
May you like
“She was taken to the city shelter on 4th Street after the reporters left, sir,” Thomas replied. “But… Doctor, there’s something else. Two men in unmarked black sedans were seen scouting the shelter an hour ago. I think your mother’s security detail is trying to move her out of the state.”
“Not on my watch,” I snarled. “Get our private security team from the hospital. The ones who answer directly to me. Meet me at the 4th Street shelter in ten minutes. If anyone touches Nellie, use whatever force is necessary.”
