Chapter 2 - The Woman Wearing Her Coat
The woman from the SUV walked toward the mansion without hesitation.
She was tall, elegant, and perhaps ten years older than Rachel. Her dark hair was pulled back tightly, and Rachel’s cream cashmere coat fit her perfectly.
Daniel unlocked the door before she reached it.
“What are you doing here?” he hissed.
The woman looked past him.
Her eyes settled on Rachel.
“So she knows.”
Rachel raised her phone.
“I know he poisoned my pillow.”
The woman did not look surprised.
Daniel stepped between them.
“Rachel is having another episode.”
The lie came so easily that Rachel almost admired it.
The woman entered and closed the door behind her.
“My name is Vanessa Cole,” she said. “I work for Daniel.”
“No, you don’t,” Rachel replied.
Vanessa’s expression sharpened.
Rachel had seen her before.
Not in person.
In a framed photograph inside Daniel’s locked desk drawer. Vanessa had been standing beside him at a medical conference twelve years earlier.
Their hands had been touching.
Daniel reached for Rachel’s phone.
She moved away.
“The alarm company will call the police.”
“I canceled their response service last month,” he said.
Rachel’s stomach dropped.
Daniel had been preparing for this.
Vanessa glanced toward the stairs.
“Where is the bottle?”
“Under the bed,” Daniel said.
Rachel stared at him.
“You’re discussing this in front of me?”
Vanessa took a slow breath.
“This was never supposed to become violent.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“She hid in the wardrobe.”
“Because she suspected you.”
“She wasn’t supposed to be strong enough to move around tonight.”
Rachel felt cold.
The substance on her pillow was only part of what they had been giving her.
“What else did you do to me?”
Neither answered.
Rachel’s phone vibrated.
The screen showed an incoming call from Dr. Elaine Porter, the private physician Daniel had chosen for her.
Vanessa saw the name.
“Don’t answer that.”
Rachel pressed the call button and put it on speaker.
Dr. Porter’s frightened voice filled the foyer.
“Rachel, listen carefully. Do not stay in that house. I tested your blood again, and Daniel lied about your medication.”
Daniel ripped the phone from her hand and threw it against the wall.
It shattered.
Then Vanessa looked toward the dark staircase.
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“We need to leave now,” she said. “The doctor found the compound.”
👉 Rachel had finally heard proof that her illness was manufactured, but Daniel’s next move showed he had never planned to let her leave alive.
