Chapter 4 - THE WRONG BOTTLE
Two days later, the opportunity Dean and Madeline had been waiting for finally arrived. Gabriel was called away to Manhattan for an emergency sit-down with a rival family. He would be gone until midnight.
Claire knew they would make their move. The wedding was only weeks away. Madeline was getting impatient, and Dean needed Gabriel out of the picture to seize control of the organization. But what were they planning?
At 2:00 PM, Abigail went down for her afternoon nap. Lucy was playing quietly in Claire’s bedroom. Claire went to the kitchen to prepare the girls’ 3:00 PM medication.
She walked into the pantry to grab a fresh box of juice boxes. When she returned to the kitchen, Madeline was standing by the counter, casually wiping a nonexistent spill with a paper towel.
“Oh, Claire,” Madeline said breezily. “I was just looking for some sparkling water.”
“In the fridge, Ms. Shaw,” Claire said, her eyes immediately darting to the medicine bottles on the counter.
The blue bottle—Abigail’s heart medication.
The yellow bottle—Lucy’s.
They looked untouched. They were sitting exactly where she had left them, right next to their respective colored cards.
Madeline smiled, grabbed a bottle of water, and walked out.
Claire hurried to the counter. She picked up the blue bottle. It felt normal. She checked the label. It said Abigail Mercer. She checked the liquid inside. It was clear, just like always.
But Claire’s maternal instincts were screaming at her. She remembered Madeline’s questions about the timing. She remembered Dean’s cold stare.
Claire opened the blue bottle and sniffed it. It smelled faintly of almonds. Abigail’s medicine was supposed to smell like cherry.
Ice flooded Claire’s veins. It wasn't Abigail’s medicine. Madeline had swapped the liquid inside the bottle with something else. Something lethal. If Claire gave this to Abigail at 3:00 PM, the little girl would go into cardiac arrest, and it would look like a tragic, natural failure of her defective heart. Gabriel would be devastated, leaving Dean the perfect opening to take over while the boss grieved.
Claire panicked. She couldn't just throw it away—if Madeline realized the poison hadn't been administered, she would know Claire was onto her, and Dean would kill them all.
She needed to secure the poisoned bottle as evidence, but where could she hide it where Dean’s men wouldn't search?
She ran to her quarters. Lucy’s bright pink and yellow backpack was sitting on the floor. Claire unzipped it, shoved the poisoned blue bottle deep inside the front pocket, and zipped it shut.
Then, she grabbed an empty, spare blue bottle she kept for emergencies, filled it with Lucy’s cherry-flavored cough syrup (which was harmless to Abigail), and placed it back on the kitchen counter.
At 3:00 PM, Claire gave Abigail the fake medicine.
At 3:15 PM, Madeline walked past the playroom. She glanced inside, expecting to see Abigail collapsing. Instead, she saw Abigail giggling, tossing a plush ball to Lucy.
Madeline’s eyes narrowed into slits. She looked at Claire, and in that moment, the mask slipped. Madeline knew Claire had intervened.
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The war had silently begun.
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