Chapter 3 - THE SECOND ATTEMPTMarcus saw the fake nurse first.
Not because she looked suspicious.
Because she looked too calm.
In Alexander Parker’s world, everyone reacted to him. Nurses became nervous. Doctors became careful. Administrators became overly polite. Even police officers measured their words.
But this nurse kept walking toward Room 914 as if she had rehearsed the path in her sleep.
Marcus stepped in front of her.
“Can I help you?”
She lifted her face. Pretty. Young. Tired eyes. Badge clipped to her chest.
“Medication check for Mrs. Parker.”
Marcus glanced at the badge.
“Name?”
“Clara Benson.”
Marcus smiled politely.
“Funny. Dr. Reed said Mrs. Parker wasn’t scheduled for medication for another hour.”
The nurse’s hand tightened on the cart.
Only a fraction.
But Marcus saw it.
“Doctor must have updated it,” she said.
“Then you won’t mind waiting while I confirm.”
Her eyes flicked toward the door.
That was enough.
Marcus grabbed her wrist.
The syringe dropped from the towels and rolled across the polished hospital floor.
For one second, everything froze.
Then the woman twisted with shocking speed, slammed her elbow into Marcus’s ribs, and ran.
Marcus stumbled but did not fall.
“Security!” he roared.
Alexander came out of the family room just as the fake nurse sprinted toward the elevators.
Their eyes met.
She looked terrified now.
Alexander moved.
He crossed the hall and blocked her path before she reached the elevator doors. She tried to turn, but two hospital security guards appeared from the stairwell.
Trapped, she backed against the wall.
Alexander looked down at her.
“Who sent you?”
She said nothing.
Marcus picked up the syringe with a napkin and handed it to hospital security.
“Get that tested.”
The woman’s face crumpled.
“I don’t know anything.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“You walked into a private hospital floor with a syringe meant for my mother. That is a very bad time to know nothing.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“They said it wouldn’t hurt her.”
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“They?”
She pressed her lips together.
Alexander lowered his voice.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“My mother is seventy-two years old. She raised me alone after my father died. Tonight someone threw her down a staircase. Then someone sent you to finish what they started.”
The woman began to shake.
“They said she was already dying,” she whispered.
Alexander’s jaw clenched.
“Who?”
Before she could answer, her phone rang.
Everyone looked at the sound.
The name on the screen showed only one word.
V.
Marcus took the phone and answered it on speaker.
A woman’s voice hissed, “Is it done?”
Alexander’s eyes turned black with fury.
The fake nurse sobbed.
Victoria’s voice sharpened.
“Clara? Answer me.”
Alexander leaned close to the phone.
“No,” he said. “It isn’t done.”
Silence.
Then Victoria laughed softly.
“Alexander.”
“You sent someone to my mother’s hospital room.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You just called her.”
“Did I?” Victoria’s tone became sweet. “You sound exhausted. Maybe grief is making you irrational.”
Alexander glanced at Marcus.
Marcus was already recording.
Victoria continued, “You should be careful. Powerful men look weak when they cry over old women.”
The hallway went silent.
Alexander spoke very slowly.
“You had one chance to run.”
Victoria’s voice cooled.
“And you had one chance to marry me before your mother ruined everything.”
The line clicked dead.
The fake nurse slid down the wall, crying into her hands.
Naomi Reed arrived moments later, breathless and furious.
“What happened?”
Alexander turned to her.
“Someone tried to kill my mother in your hospital.”
Naomi’s face drained of color.
“I’ll move her to a secure room.”
“No,” Alexander said.
Naomi blinked.
“No?”
“If we move her, they’ll know we’re reacting. I want this floor locked down, staff verified, and every camera copied. But publicly, nothing changes.”
Marcus looked at him.
“You want them to think the attempt failed quietly.”
“I want them to panic,” Alexander said.
The fake nurse looked up at him.
“They’ll kill me.”
Alexander crouched in front of her.
“Then tell me who they are.”
She shook her head.
“I only know Victoria. She paid me through a man. Older. Gray hair. He had a scar on his hand.”
Marcus stiffened.
Alexander noticed.
“What?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Sir, that sounds like Edmund Vale.”
Alexander stared.
“Victoria’s father?”
Marcus nodded.
“Former private banker. Disappeared from public records eight years ago.”
Alexander stood.
Victoria was not just a greedy fiancée.
She was part of something older.
A family operation.
A trap.
Naomi moved into Evelyn’s room to check on her. Alexander watched through the glass as his mother slept peacefully, unaware that death had walked within feet of her bed for the second time that night.
Then Marcus’s phone buzzed.
He read the message and his face changed.
“What is it?” Alexander asked.
Marcus handed him the phone.
A file had just arrived from an anonymous sender.
Attached was one scanned page.
The top read:
PARKER FAMILY TRUST — ORIGINAL SHARE TRANSFER LEDGER.
Below it were three signatures.
Daniel Parker.
Evelyn Parker.
And a name Alexander had never seen before.
Victoria Vale.
May you like
Dated twelve years ago.
The same week Alexander’s father died.
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