At exactly nine o’clock, the door opened with confidence. Fast heels. Expensive perfume. A designer bracelet. Alexander recognized Vanessa before he even heard her voice.
She walked in talking on speakerphone.
“Yes, sweetheart, I’m here,” she said in a sugary tone Alexander had never heard from her before. “He’s the same… basically a vegetable.”
A shiver ran down his spine.
The male voice on the other end was unmistakable.
Grant Mercer.
His partner. His friend. The man he had trusted with contracts, strategies, signatures, and business secrets for years.
“I’m so tired of this act, Grant,” Vanessa continued. “Coming here, pretending to care, talking to doctors… I’m sick of it.”
Alexander felt his jaw tighten.
Vanessa lowered her voice, slipping into that poisonous intimacy of people who share both a bed and a plan.
“And the brakes were done perfectly. No one is going to look too closely. I told you you were the best man for the job.”
Grant let out a short laugh.
“If he doesn’t wake up, everything gets easier,” he said. “The insurance, control of the company… we’ll finally have what we deserve.”
Alexander’s heart slammed against his bandaged ribs.
There it was.
The confirmation.