Chapter 4 - Chapter 4 - ROOM 120Emily arrived at St. Anne’s without warning the following afternoon.
Michael had told her Margaret was undergoing tests and could not receive visitors. Emily called the nurses’ station and learned that no tests were scheduled.For the first time, she understood that Michael was not merely hiding financial problems.He was keeping her away from Margaret.The elevator doors opened on the cardiac floor.Emily stepped into the corridor and saw Nurse Claire standing beside a medication cart. Claire recognized her immediately from the photograph Margaret kept in her bedside drawer.“Emily Carter?”“Yes. I’m here to see Margaret.”Claire looked toward Room 120.“Is your husband with you?”“No.”Relief crossed the nurse’s face.“Come with me.”Margaret was sleeping when Emily entered.She looked smaller than she had three weeks earlier. Her skin was pale, and there were shadows beneath her eyes. The emergency call button rested on the floor beneath the bed.Emily picked it up.“Why is this down here?”Claire closed the door.“That is one of the things I need to discuss with you.”Margaret opened her eyes.When she saw Emily, she began to cry.“You came.”Emily rushed to the bed.“Of course I came. Michael said you didn’t want visitors.”“I never said that.”The answer struck Emily harder than she expected.Margaret gripped her hand.“He told me you were too busy. He said you were tired of paying for me.”“That isn’t true.”“I know that now.”Emily sat on the edge of the chair.“What has he done?”Margaret glanced toward the door.“He took my phone. He brings papers for me to sign. He says they’re hospital forms, but they’re about my house and my trust.”“Your trust?”“I refused. Then he said the doctors would believe him if he told them I was losing my mind.”Claire stepped closer.“Margaret has repeatedly reported that her call button was removed. We documented the incidents.”Emily felt cold.“Why wasn’t I contacted?”“Your husband is listed as her primary medical representative.”“I’m also on the contact list.”“Several messages were marked as delivered.”Emily looked at Margaret.“I never received them.”Claire’s expression darkened.“Then someone may have changed the communication settings.”Footsteps passed outside the door.Margaret’s entire body tensed.“Is that him?”“No,” Claire said. “You’re safe.”Margaret looked at Emily.“He isn’t the man you think he is.”Emily remembered the transfers, the restaurant receipt, Serena’s property company, and every question Michael had avoided.“Tell me everything.”Margaret took a long breath.Before she could speak, an announcement summoned Claire to another room.Claire hesitated at the door.“I’ll return as soon as I can.”Margaret waited until the nurse left.“Michael believes I kept something from him,” she said.“What?”“His father left money.”Emily frowned. Michael had always said his father abandoned them without providing anything.“He contacted me before he died,” Margaret continued. “He left an investment account for Michael, but there were conditions. Michael was twenty-two and already gambling. I placed the money in a protected trust.”“How much money?”“It grew over the years. It’s worth almost four million dollars now.”Emily stared at her.“Does Michael know?”“He discovered it six months ago.”The same time his behavior had begun to change.“He wants control,” Margaret said. “And he thinks my illness gives him the perfect opportunity.”
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