Chapter 17 - BRENNA'S REAL PLAN
The handwriting on the ultrasound photograph belonged to Brenna.
There was no longer any question about whether she had been manipulated into the conspiracy.
She had been one of its architects.
Police tracked her vehicle south.
It was abandoned near an interstate rest stop.
A second car had been waiting.
Meanwhile, Dr. Keller regained enough strength to speak.
His story dismantled Brenna's final lies.
She had approached him months earlier.
She asked him to create psychological reports describing Elena as unstable.
He refused at first.
Then North Crown paid him.
Victor supplied private recordings gathered from Elena's bedroom.
Keller used those recordings to create convincing reports.
The medication had also come through Keller.
He claimed Brenna asked for something that would make a person dizzy and confused without leaving an obvious trace.
“She said it was for her son.”
Claire stared at him.
“For Diego?”
Keller shook his head.
“She said her son needed his wife to have an episode.”
The words were horrifyingly clinical.
Elena listened to the recorded interview without blinking.
Brenna had known.
Not merely the paperwork.
Not merely the pressure.
The medication.
The false medical evidence.
The surveillance.
Everything.
But Keller added one final detail.
“Brenna did not want Elena dead.”
Claire asked, “How do you know?”
“Because she specifically said death would complicate the plan.”
“What did she want?”
“Incapacity.”
“How long?”
“Seventy-two hours.”
That matched a clause hidden deep inside the proposed agreement.
If two physicians certified Elena as temporarily incapable of managing her affairs, Diego could exercise proxy control immediately.
The outdoor assault had not been planned as a murder.
It had been planned as a crisis.
A frightened pregnant woman.
Medication in her system.
A fall.
Hypothermia.
Hospitalization.
Then Dr. Keller would appear with a prepared history of emotional instability.
Another physician connected to Victor would support temporary incapacity.
Diego would gain the proxy.
Victor would force the board vote.
By the time Elena recovered, billions of dollars in control rights could already have moved.
The plan was horrifying because it did not require her death.
Only her helplessness.
Diego had simply pushed the violence further than planned.
But when Elena collapsed, he had not saved her.
He had waited.
That choice remained his alone.
At 5:30 the next morning, Brenna called Elena.
The call came through an encrypted number.
Police began tracing it immediately.
“Elena.”
“Where are you?”
“Doesn't matter.”
“You wrote on my ultrasound.”
“I was angry.”
“You drugged me.”
Silence.
Then Brenna spoke.
“I gave you enough to make you tired.”
“You could have hurt my baby.”
“I calculated the dose.”
Elena almost screamed.
Instead, she became very calm.
“You calculated a dose for your pregnant daughter-in-law so your son could steal her assets.”
“Diego was supposed to control the company.”
“For Victor?”
“No.”
There was hatred in Brenna's voice.
“For himself.”
Elena frowned.
“Victor thought Diego was his puppet.”
“He was wrong.”
For the first time, another possibility appeared.
Brenna had never intended Victor to keep control either.
She planned to use Victor to remove Alvin.
Use Diego to control Elena's shares.
Then eliminate Victor from the company.
Three betrayals stacked inside one conspiracy.
“Where is the metal case?”
Elena asked.
Brenna laughed quietly.
“Ask your husband.”
The call ended.
Police traced it to a moving vehicle outside Colorado Springs.
They found the car abandoned.
Brenna was gone again.
But Elena no longer cared where Brenna was headed.
One sentence mattered.
May you like
Ask your husband.
Diego had the birth file.
