Chapter 2: The Recording Beneath the Pillow
Julian spun around.
The pen dropped from his fingers and clicked against the floor.
Victoria took one step backward toward the window.
Eleanor's face went the color of old wax.
Sarah walked in slowly, holding the evidence pouch at her side.
Two men followed her — one in a suit, one in a hospital security uniform.
"Who are you?" Julian said.
His voice had lost its steadiness.
"Genevieve's attorney.
And the woman who has been listening to this conversation for the last eleven minutes." Sarah set the pouch on the bedside table.
"The recording is already uploaded.
Copies are with my office, a second counsel, and a family court judge who is waiting on my call."
Eleanor straightened.
"This is a private family matter."
"You sl@pped a postpartum patient in a hospital bed and demanded she sign over a forty-million-dollar company." Sarah looked at her without blinking.
"There is nothing private about what happens next."
Julian turned to me.
Something shifted in his expression — not guilt, not regret.
Calculation.
"Genevieve." His voice dropped low.
"Think about Hazel.
You want her raised in the middle of a legal war?"
I looked at my daughter in the crib.
Then I looked back at him.
"I want her raised knowing her mother didn't sign away her future because someone was afraid of her."
Julian's jaw tightened.
He glanced at Eleanor.
May you like
A silent message passed between them.
That look told me the recording was not the only thing they were hiding.
