Chapter 5 - The Other Password
Bennett denied it for exactly forty seconds.
First he said Margot had no access.
Then he said she only had access to travel accounts.
Then he admitted he had given her temporary authorization to communicate with his assistant.
By the time Nolan demanded everyone stop talking, even Bennett realized how bad it sounded.
I left anyway.
Gabriel drove me to his house in Paradise Valley.
His wife Claire opened the door before we reached it.
She hugged me carefully.
No questions.
No lectures.
Just arms around my shoulders and the smell of vanilla hand cream I remembered from childhood Christmases.
“You’re staying.”
It was not a question.
“For tonight.”
Claire looked at Gabriel.
“For as long as you need.”
I smiled despite myself.
“Thank you.”
My attorney arrived ninety minutes later.
Her name was Rachel Kim.
Forty-two.
Calm.
Precise.
The kind of woman who listened to ten minutes of chaos and somehow extracted the three facts that mattered.
She spread documents across Gabriel’s dining table.
“The good news is Bennett made several mistakes.”
Gabriel sat opposite her.
“The bad news?”
“He made them because he assumed Tessa wouldn’t fight him.”
Rachel turned toward me.
“Your cards were not simply frozen.”
“What does that mean?”
“The family office placed you under a financial restriction protocol.”
I frowned.
“I didn’t know that existed.”
“It usually applies when an authorized user is suspected of fraud, addiction, coercion, or serious incapacity.”
Gabriel sat upright.
“They classified her as incapacitated?”
“Not officially.”
Rachel slid a document toward me.
“But someone initiated a review.”
I read it.
REQUEST FOR TEMPORARY HOUSEHOLD FINANCIAL CONTROL.
Applicant.
Bennett Halloway.
Supporting contact.
Margot Vale.
My fingers tightened around the page.
Rachel continued.
“The justification says you were exhibiting unstable behavior related to pregnancy and marital stress.”
I stared at her.
“He said I was unstable?”
“In writing.”
Gabriel swore quietly.
Claire placed a hand over his.
Rachel continued.
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
“Bennett’s family office began preparing a temporary residence plan.”
“Sedona.”
She nodded.
“The house is staffed.”
“By whom?”
“A private security contractor owned by a Halloway subsidiary.”
My stomach dropped.
Gabriel stood.
“They were going to put her in a guarded house?”
Rachel chose her words carefully.
“The documents describe it as privacy protection.”
“I call it confinement.”
“So would I.”
I looked at the paperwork.
A planned departure date.
Monday.
Two days from now.
Medical support arrangements.
Transportation restrictions.
Visitor approval.
I read that section twice.
“What is this?”
Rachel leaned closer.
“Visitor access would have required approval from Bennett or his mother.”
Claire’s face went pale.
Gabriel looked ready to drive back to Bennett’s house immediately.
I stopped him.
“No.”
“Tessa.”
“No.”
I looked at Rachel.
“Can they legally force me there?”
“No.”
“Could they have convinced me they could?”
“Yes.”
That answer mattered.
Because Bennett knew how tired I was.
How isolated pregnancy had made me.
How often he told me I was overreacting.
If the hospital incident had not happened, he might have brought me home, surrounded me with attorneys and private doctors, and told me Sedona was “for my own good.”
Maybe I would have believed him.
That possibility frightened me more than I wanted to admit.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I opened the message.
A photograph appeared.
Margot.
She stood inside my bedroom.
Wearing my cream silk robe.
The caption contained six words.
YOU ALREADY LOST THIS LIFE.
Claire saw my face.
“What?”
I handed the phone to Rachel.
She studied it.
“When was this taken?”
“I don’t know.”
Gabriel looked.
The fury in his expression sharpened.
“That’s your bedroom?”
“Yes.”
Another message arrived.
THIS HOUSE WAS NEVER YOURS.
Then another.
NEITHER IS BENNETT.
Rachel took screenshots.
“Do not respond.”
I almost laughed.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
Then a fourth message appeared.
But this one was different.
A photo of a document.
My eyes moved across the page.
Hospital letterhead.
St. Jude’s.
A prenatal summary.
My prenatal summary.
Blood type.
Due date.
Medical notes.
I stood so quickly the chair scraped backward.
Gabriel took the phone.
His face went white.
“How did she get this?”
“I don’t know.”
Rachel leaned over.
“Is that confidential medical information?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel was already dialing.
Within minutes, the hospital compliance officer was on speakerphone.
Gabriel did not raise his voice.
That made it worse.
“I want an access audit on Tessa Avery Halloway’s entire medical file.”
He listened.
“Every login.”
Another pause.
“Starting six months ago.”
He ended the call.
I looked at him.
“How bad is this?”
“If Margot accessed your chart without authorization, very.”
Rachel looked toward me.
“Do you know anyone who works at St. Jude’s and has a relationship with her?”
“No.”
Gabriel’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed almost immediately.
“When?”
He looked at me.
“Who logged in?”
Silence.
Then his eyes hardened.
“Send it to me.”
He ended the call.
Claire whispered.
“What?”
Gabriel stared at the screen.
“The chart was accessed twelve times from an administrative account.”
Rachel asked, “Whose?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Not Margot’s.”
He turned the phone around.
May you like
The account belonged to Dr. Simon Halloway.
Bennett’s older brother.
