The Clinic on Route Nine
Chapter 09 - The Clinic on Route Nine
Northbridge Genetics was not the only clinic in the records.
Payments from the Bennett Foundation led Sarah to a private facility on Route Nine called Hawthorne Maternal Consulting. It advertised discreet prenatal support for wealthy families.
In reality, it specialized in making inconvenient medical narratives look official.
A former nurse named Dana Brooks agreed to speak after learning about Emily’s assault.
Dana described an appointment Victoria attended three months earlier. Victoria brought copied samples, false authorization forms, and a request for a prenatal report excluding Noah as the father.
The clinic director refused to falsify the result.
Calvin offered him money.
When he still refused, Victoria asked for blank letterhead and old report numbers.
Dana secretly photographed the meeting notes.
She also revealed something worse.
Victoria requested information about medications that could create confusion, emotional volatility, and memory gaps during late pregnancy without causing obvious harm.
“She wanted you to look unstable,” Dana told Emily.
Emily remembered the herbal tea Victoria insisted she drink during family dinners. She had stopped after it made her dizzy.
A toxicology test found traces of a prescription sedative in a sealed tea tin June retrieved from the estate.
The amount was low, but repeated exposure could impair judgment.
Victoria’s plan became clear.
Forge the paternity report.
Drug Emily.
Provoke a public outburst.
Use Noah’s copied signature to establish guardianship.
Control the baby’s legal interests and delay Emily’s DNA verification until Victoria and Calvin could invalidate the codicil.
The slap had not been the plan.
Victoria expected Emily to strike first.
When Emily remained calm, Victoria lost control and hit her instead.
The hidden camera turned the failed provocation into evidence.
Dana handed Sarah a flash drive.
It contained clinic security footage of Calvin discussing the strategy.
“The girl doesn’t need to be permanently harmed,” he said. “She needs to be temporarily unbelievable.”
Emily watched the recording twice.
The phrase stayed with her.
Temporarily unbelievable.
It described how power often operated. A lie did not need to survive forever. It needed to survive long enough to move money, sign an order, remove a child, or destroy a reputation.
Noah asked Dana why she had kept the footage.
“Because I knew one day someone would say the meeting never happened.”
Emily looked at her.
“That is why they fear witnesses more than enemies.”
Dana smiled nervously. “I can be both.”
Sarah prepared subpoenas.
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The district attorney prepared warrants.
Calvin prepared a board meeting designed to remove Emily before any of them could act.
