Behind the Blinds

PART 3 — THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH

At 2:17 a.m., I heard a crash from Liam’s bedroom.

I rushed inside.

He was trying to reach the wheelchair beside his bed. His injured leg had shifted, and sweat covered his face.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting up.”

“You’re going to tear your stitches!”

“Give me my phone.”

“You don’t have one.”

His expression darkened.

“Then find Leo.”

I checked his blood pressure and adjusted his medication.

“You’re not going anywhere tonight.”

He grabbed my hand.

“Clara, listen to me. Victoria knows you’re here now. You’re in danger.”

I gently pulled my hand free.

“Then perhaps you should stop keeping secrets from the person responsible for keeping you alive.”

He stared at me.

For a moment, the terrifying Liam Mercer disappeared.

All I saw was an exhausted man who had lost everything he trusted.

“Her name wasn’t always Victoria,” he finally said.

I frowned.

“What?”

“She used another identity when I met her. Her real name was Elizabeth Shaw.”

I remembered the photograph.

“Why did you marry her?”

“Because I loved her.”

His voice became painfully quiet.

“Five years ago, I met her at a charity event. She told me she had no family and worked for a small investment company. We married a year later.”

He paused.

“Three months before the accident, I discovered that someone had been transferring money from my private accounts. I investigated. Every transaction led back to her.”

“And you confronted her?”

“Yes. She cried, denied everything, and told me she was pregnant.”

I looked at him.

“Was she?”

He shook his head.

“I later discovered the medical records were forged.”

I couldn’t imagine how devastating that must have been.

“Why did you keep her picture?”

Liam looked toward the covered windows.

“Because I wanted to remember the woman I thought I married. Before I learned she never existed.”

I lowered my eyes.

Then I remembered something.

“The necklace.”

He turned toward me.

“What about it?”

“It was listed as recovered from the accident scene. If Victoria is wearing it now, someone must have removed it before the police arrived.”

His expression changed.

“You’re right.”

He immediately called for Leo.

But before Leo could enter, my phone—which had been locked away when I arrived—suddenly rang on the bedside table.

I froze.

That phone wasn’t supposed to be there.

The screen displayed an unknown number.

Liam stared at it.

“Don’t answer.”

But a message appeared.

I picked it up.

There were only two sentences.

Clara, your brother’s treatment has been paid for. Stop asking questions about Liam Mercer.

My blood turned cold.

A second message followed.

If you tell him what happened at the hospital, Tommy won’t survive the week.

I couldn’t breathe.

Liam noticed my expression.

“Clara? What is it?”

I tried to hide the screen.

He reached for my wrist.

“Show me.”

I hesitated before handing him the phone.

He read the messages.

For several seconds, he didn’t speak.

Then his face changed in a way I had never seen before.

It wasn’t anger.

It was something much more dangerous.

“Leo!”

The door opened immediately.

“Yes, boss?”

“Find out who paid for Tommy Bennett’s treatment. Freeze every account connected to that payment. And get someone to County General immediately.”

Leo nodded and left.

I stared at Liam.

“How do you know where my brother is?”

He looked at me.

“Because I never hired you by accident, Clara.”

My heart sank.

“What?”

He took a slow breath.

“Three months ago, I discovered that Victoria and Richard were using a hospital charity foundation to move stolen money. Tommy’s treatment was connected to one of those accounts.”

I stepped backward.

“So you hired me because of my brother?”

“At first, yes.”

I felt sick.

“You used him to bring me here.”

“I wanted to protect you both.”

“You should have told me!”

He didn’t argue.

For once, Liam Mercer had no answer.

Then Leo returned, holding a tablet.

“Boss, we found something.”

Liam looked up.

“What?”

Leo placed the tablet on the bed.

“Victoria didn’t come here alone tonight. One of the security cameras caught her meeting someone outside the east gate.”

He enlarged the image.

A man stood beside Victoria.

Even through the blurry footage, I recognized his face.

My blood ran cold.

It was Dr. Samuel Reed.

Tommy’s oncologist.

The man who had promised my brother he would do everything possible to save his life.

Liam looked at me.

“Do you know him?”

I couldn’t speak.

Then my phone vibrated again.

Another message appeared.

Your brother is awake, Clara. And he wants to know why his doctor told him you sold yourself to a monster.

I looked at Liam.

For the first time since entering the Mercer mansion, I was no longer afraid of him.

I was afraid of what had already happened to my family.

And Liam Mercer was about to discover that the people who had tried to destroy him had chosen the wrong nurse to threaten.