Chapter 9 - The Blood Never Lies
Within forty minutes, the private medical team arrived at the estate.
Dr. David Morrison, our family physician and a lifelong friend of my late wife Elena, walked into the sunny garden pavilion with two pediatric nurses.
Valeria and Sofia were sitting on the lounge chairs, wrapped in blankets, coloring in sketchbooks while Marisol kept watch over them.
When Dr. Morrison knelt beside Sofia, his gentle, grandfatherly demeanor helped calm the little girl’s rising anxiety.
“Just a tiny pinch, little bird,” Dr. Morrison whispered soothingly as the nurse swabbed Sofia’s tiny arm with alcohol.
Sofia winced, squeezing Valeria’s hand tightly, but she didn’t cry.
She had endured so much emotional cruelty over the past eight months that a small needle prick seemed like nothing to her.
Once the blood samples were secured for both girls, Dr. Morrison led me into my private study and closed the heavy oak door.
His face was grim, devoid of its usual warm smile.
“Alexander, what on earth is going on here?” David asked, setting his medical bag on my desk.
“Hector briefed me on the way up the canyon, but I need to hear it from you.”
I pushed the unmarked prescription bottles and Chloe’s handwritten journal across the desk toward him.
David picked up the bottles, reading the chemical names.
His eyes darkened with immediate professional alarm.
He flipped through Chloe’s journal, his jaw dropping lower with every passing sentence.
“God in heaven, Alexander,” David breathed, horrified.
“Lorazepam? In an unmeasured liquid dosage administered to a six-year-old child without pediatric supervision? Do you realize how catastrophic this could have been?”
“What could have happened to her, David?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper, bracing myself for the truth.
“Respiratory depression, permanent cognitive developmental delays, cardiac arrest,” David stated bluntly, looking me straight in the eye.
“If she had miscalculated the dosage by even half a milligram, Sofia might never have woken up from one of those 'peaceful sleeps' Chloe wrote about.”
The room seemed to spin around me.
The realization that my daughter had survived Russian roulette with a chemical sedater inside my own mansion made my knees buckle.
I gripped the edge of my mahogany desk to keep myself upright.
“I failed them, David,” I choked out, the tears finally breaking through my stoic facade.
“I spent eighty hours a week analyzing corporate balance sheets, flying across the globe to make another hundred million dollars, while a demon was poisoning my little girl in her own bedroom. What kind of father does that make me?”
David walked around the desk, placing a firm, heavy hand on my shoulder.
“You didn’t know, Alexander. Sociopaths like Chloe Montgomery spend their entire lives perfecting the art of deceit. She chose you precisely because your grief over Elena made you vulnerable to someone offering to bring order back into your home.”
David squeezed my shoulder hard.
“You didn't fail them today. You caught her. You set the trap, you protected them, and you saved Sofia’s life before it was too late.”
A knock sounded at the study door.
Hector entered, his face taut with tension.
“Boss, the preliminary lab results from the expedited toxicology mobile unit just pinged through on the encrypted terminal.”
Dr. Morrison stepped over to the screen, adjusting his glasses as he read the rapid blood serum analysis.
After a long, agonizing minute of silence, David let out a long, heavy breath.
“The results are positive for trace levels of benzodiazepines in Sofia’s system,” David announced, pointing to the digital readout.
“The concentration indicates a dose was administered within the last forty-eight hours—likely the night before you pretended to leave for Canada.”
“Is there organ damage?” I demanded, panic rising in my throat.
“Her liver and kidney function markers are slightly elevated, but the pediatric team caught it in time,” David assured me.
“With proper hydration, a clean diet, and complete detox supervision over the next two weeks, her young body will flush the toxins out completely without permanent physical impairment.”
I sank into my chair, letting out a breath I felt like I had been holding for three months.
“And Valeria?” I asked.
“Valeria’s panel is completely clean of pharmaceuticals,” David replied.
“It appears Chloe only targeted Sofia because Sofia was more openly emotional and vocal about missing her mother.”
“Valeria was targeted psychologically,” I said, thinking back to the terror in my older daughter’s eyes.
“She knew something was happening to her sister, but she was threatened into silence.”
“She will need counseling, Alexander,” David said gently.
“They both will. But the most important medicine they need right now is the unwavering presence of their father.”
I looked up at David, my mind crystal clear, the path forward illuminated with absolute certainty.
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“They will have it,” I said.
“I am stepping down as CEO of Vance Enterprises on Monday morning. I am naming my brother Marcus interim chairman. From this moment on, my only job is being their father.”
