CHAPTER 13 — THE MISCARRIAGE
The street noise faded around me.
“What are you talking about?”
Amanda began crying.
“Chloe told me your miscarriage might not have been natural.”
My father stepped forward.
“Explain.”
Amanda said that Chloe had once overheard Eleanor and Dominic arguing about medication.
They mentioned pills placed inside a vitamin bottle.
My hand moved instinctively to my stomach.
During my first pregnancy, Eleanor had given me prenatal supplements from a private wellness clinic.
She had insisted they were better than anything sold in stores.
Weeks later, I lost the baby.
I looked toward the police car.
Eleanor was watching me through the window.
Smiling.
The detective immediately ordered the remains of my old medication collected from storage.
I had kept everything from the pregnancy in a box I could never bring myself to open.
The bottles were tested.
One contained a drug that could cause severe complications during pregnancy.
Dominic had known Eleanor replaced my vitamins.
He claimed he discovered it only after the miscarriage.
He had said nothing because Eleanor threatened to expose his forged trust documents.
I visited him again.
This time, there were no tears in me.
“Did you know?”
He looked at the police officer beside the door.
“Vivienne…”
“Did you know your mother tampered with my vitamins?”
“Not until afterward.”
“And you protected her.”
“I was scared.”
“Our baby died, and you were scared?”
“I thought if I exposed her, everything would come out.”
“Everything did come out.”
He looked broken.
But broken was not the same as innocent.
“You held me at night while I blamed myself,” I said.
His face crumpled.
“I’m sorry.”
“You watched me wonder whether my body had failed our child.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You knew the truth.”
“I’m sorry!”
I stepped back.
His apologies had become meaningless sounds.
The district attorney later added charges against Eleanor for poisoning, reckless endangerment, and obstruction.
Dominic accepted a cooperation deal regarding the financial crimes, but prosecutors refused to give him immunity for covering up the medication tampering.
Chloe was charged with theft, fraud, conspiracy, and making a false accusation.
Amanda received reduced charges after turning over messages and agreeing to testify.
Ryan filed for annulment.
Marissa recovered and became a key witness.
It seemed finished.
Then the laboratory called.
The medication in my old vitamin bottle contained Eleanor’s fingerprints.
But another set of fingerprints had also been found.
They belonged to Chloe.
When confronted, Chloe laughed.
“Eleanor didn’t tell me what the pills would do.”
The detective asked why she had handled them.
Chloe answered,
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“She said Vivienne needed to lose something before she learned her place.”
End of Chapter 13…
