Chapter 4 - THE DIAGNOSIS SHE NEVER RECEIVED
Dr. Bellamy greeted Skylar as if they had arranged the meeting.
He was a thin man with silver-rimmed glasses and a calm voice designed to make every concern sound reasonable.
“Skylar, Derek mentioned you had a distressing evening.”
Derek closed the mansion doors behind them.
Patricia approached and placed both hands around Skylar’s cold fingers.
“We were worried.”
“You were waiting inside my house,” Skylar said.
“Our house,” Derek corrected quietly.
Skylar looked at him.
Vale House belonged solely to her under the trust created by her father.
Derek knew that.
Patricia gestured toward the consent form.
“Dr. Bellamy believes a short period of observation may help.”
“Observation where?”
“At Blackridge Behavioral Institute,” Bellamy said. “Only for a few days.”
Skylar laughed once.
Nobody else did.
“You want to place me in a psychiatric clinic because I visited an empty house?”
Derek removed his jacket.
“You have not slept. You have become suspicious of everyone around you.”
“I am suspicious because you lied to me.”
Patricia exchanged a look with Bellamy.
It was subtle.
It was also rehearsed.
Bellamy spoke gently. “Paranoid thinking can feel completely rational to the person experiencing it.”
Skylar understood the trap.
Any denial could be classified as resistance.
Any anger could become instability.
Any attempt to accuse them would prove the diagnosis they had already chosen.
She forced herself to breathe slowly.
“I will consider voluntary treatment after the anniversary dinner.”
Derek’s expression softened.
Patricia smiled.
Bellamy nodded. “That is a sensible decision.”
Skylar took the pen and held it above the consent form.
Then she set it down.
“After the dinner.”
No one pushed further.
That worried her more.
Later, Skylar locked herself in the bathroom and inserted Elise’s flash drive into an old laptop disconnected from the mansion network.
The drive contained encrypted folders.
Only one file opened without a password.
It was a scanned invoice from Saint Orison Recovery Services.
The company had received twelve million dollars from Meridian Crown.
The stated purpose was aircraft salvage consultation.
At the bottom, an authorization code appeared.
EV-1127.
Her father’s initials and birthday.
Skylar searched the company name using her phone.
Saint Orison Recovery Services did not exist.
She tried the authorization code as the password for the encrypted folders.
The first folder opened.
It contained medical documents.
Her medical documents.
The files went back two years, beginning before she had ever met Dr. Bellamy.
They described symptoms Skylar had never experienced.
Blackouts.
Aggressive behavior.
Delusions.
Episodes of self-harm.
One report claimed Skylar had attempted to enter the river at night.
Another alleged she had threatened a household employee with a kitchen knife.
Each report contained a witness statement.
Most had been signed by Patricia.
Several were signed by Derek.
The final document was titled POSTMORTEM BEHAVIORAL SUMMARY.
Skylar stared at the word postmortem.
She opened it.
The report was written as if she were already dead.
It described a prolonged decline following her father’s crash. It mentioned obsessive suspicions, medication refusal, marital conflict, and repeated statements that she wanted to join her father.
At the bottom was a blank section reserved for the date and circumstances of death.
Skylar covered her mouth.
Derek was not merely planning to remove her from the company.
He was preparing an explanation for what would happen afterward.
The second encrypted folder contained property records.
A deed transferred Vale House to Northstar Continuity Group.
Skylar’s signature appeared on the last page.
She had never signed it.
The document was scheduled for registration on Monday, two days after the anniversary dinner.
The third folder required another password.
Skylar tried Derek’s birthday.
Patricia’s birthday.
Their wedding date.
Nothing worked.
Then she remembered Elise’s warning.
Your father created an emergency continuity order.
Skylar entered the date of Elias Vale’s death.
The folder opened.
Inside was a photograph of the hidden room behind Derek’s office.
The image showed shelves of documents, medical supplies, recording equipment, and several labeled boxes.
One box carried Skylar’s name.
Another carried Elise Morgan’s.
A third box was labeled ELIAS VALE.
Skylar enlarged the photograph.
On a table in the corner sat her father’s missing silver voice recorder.
A message appeared on her phone.
It came from Derek.
Where are you?
Skylar closed the laptop.
She looked at the bathroom door.
The handle moved.
“Skylar?” Derek called. “Open the door.”
She removed the flash drive and hid it inside the lining of her slipper.
“I am taking a bath.”
“The water is not running.”
Skylar stared at the silent faucet.
Derek tried the handle again.
May you like
Then his voice changed.
“Open the door now.”
