Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO WOULD NOT SEE A DOCTORNathan had never attended one of Vanessa’s medical appointments.
Every time he offered to accompany her, she found a reason to refuse.
The doctor allowed only one visitor.
The clinic had changed its schedule.
The ultrasound machine was being repaired.
The pregnancy was considered sensitive.
Nathan accepted every excuse because guilt made him easy to control.
Ethan did not.
He asked Nathan for the doctor’s name.
Nathan showed him a printed report from Lakeview Women’s Health Center.
The report appeared official.
It listed Vanessa Reed as the patient and confirmed a pregnancy of fourteen weeks.
There was even an ultrasound image attached.
Ethan studied the document.
The clinic’s address was correct.
The telephone number was correct.
But the physician’s signature looked uneven.
Some letters were darker than others, as though they had been assembled from different documents.
Ethan called the clinic and asked whether Dr. Helen Warren still practiced there.
The receptionist paused.
Dr. Warren had retired eight months earlier.
Ethan thanked her and ended the call.
The report in Nathan’s hand was dated three weeks ago.
Ethan drove directly to Caroline’s temporary apartment.
She opened the door but did not invite him inside.
Her face looked tired.
Boxes remained unopened behind her.
“I’m not going back to Nathan,” she said.
“I didn’t come here to ask you to.”
Caroline folded her arms.
“Then why are you here?”
Ethan showed her the medical report.
He explained the retired doctor’s signature.
He showed her the photograph of the strange strap beneath Vanessa’s dress.
Finally, he placed the small pin inside its envelope on the table.
Caroline stared at it.
“You think she invented the pregnancy?”
“I think there’s a serious possibility.”
Caroline turned toward the window.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she gave a bitter laugh.
“Even if she did, Nathan still betrayed me.”
“I know.”
“This doesn’t erase what he did.”
“I know that too.”
Caroline looked back at him.
“Then what are you trying to save?”
Ethan answered honestly.
“The truth.”
Caroline’s anger softened slightly.
She walked to a desk and opened a locked drawer.
From it, she removed a folder.
“Vanessa sent this to my attorney,” she said.
Inside was a proposed separation agreement.
The agreement required Nathan to create an immediate trust for his unborn child.
It also required him to transfer twelve percent of Cole International into that trust before the birth.
Ethan read the document twice.
Twelve percent would make the child one of the company’s largest individual shareholders.
Until the child turned eighteen, the legal guardian would control the voting rights.
Vanessa would be that guardian.
“This isn’t only about taking Nathan from you,” Ethan said.
Caroline nodded.
“She’s trying to take control of the company.”
For the first time, Ethan saw the full shape of Vanessa’s plan.
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The fake pregnancy was not designed merely to destroy a marriage.
It was designed to steal an empire.
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