Chapter 2 - Seventy-Four Days Earlier
Elena woke with a metallic taste in her mouth and no memory of falling asleep.
Morning light filtered through the cream curtains. Her head felt heavy, and her arms were too weak to lift from the sheets.
Garrett stood near the bedroom window, already dressed for work.
“You missed breakfast,” he said without turning around.
“What time is it?”
“Almost eleven.”
Elena tried to sit up.
A wave of dizziness forced her back onto the pillow.
She had been diagnosed with a heart rhythm condition six months earlier. Her prescription kept it controlled, but the dosage required careful monitoring.
“My medication,” she murmured.
Garrett approached the bedside table and opened the drawer.
It was empty.
“You must have misplaced it.”
“It was here last night.”
“You’ve been confused lately.”
The sentence sounded gentle, but Garrett’s eyes were cold.
Elena had heard that tone before.
He used it when speaking to employees he planned to fire and relatives he intended to embarrass.
Garrett brought her a glass of water.
“You should rest.”
“Call Dr. Harris.”
“I already did. He said you need sleep.”
Elena reached for her phone.
It was not on the table.
Garrett smiled faintly.
“You dropped it in the bath yesterday. Remember?”
No, she did not remember.
That frightened her more than the missing medication.
For the next three days, Garrett controlled everything.
He brought her meals. He answered the penthouse telephone. He told the housekeeper that Elena had requested privacy.
Whenever Elena asked for her medicine, he produced a bottle with her name printed on the label.
The tablets looked slightly different.
Garrett claimed the pharmacy had changed manufacturers.
After each dose, Elena became weaker.
Her memories blurred.
At night, she heard voices beyond the bedroom door.
Brenda complained about waiting.
Tiffany asked how long the process would take.
Garrett repeatedly mentioned a trust, a transfer date and Elena’s signature.
On the fourth night, Elena pretended to swallow the tablet.
She kept it hidden beneath her tongue until Garrett left.
Then she wrapped it in tissue and placed it inside the hollow base of a jewelry box.
Within an hour, her mind began clearing.
Elena understood that her illness was not progressing.
Someone was keeping her weak.
She searched the bedroom after midnight and found her real medicine locked inside Garrett’s private safe.
Beside it was a copy of her will.
A new paragraph had been added.
If Elena died, disappeared or became mentally incapacitated, control of the Whitmore family trust would pass temporarily to Garrett.
Temporarily meant until he had transferred every dollar.
Elena closed the safe quietly.
She did not confront him.
Garrett believed he had trapped a sick woman.
He had forgotten that Elena had spent twelve years managing the legal and financial affairs of one of New York’s oldest family foundations.
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She knew how to follow money.
More importantly, she knew how to wait.
