Chapter 9: Late Regrets
The hidden partition required a second password.
Vanessa provided it.
Not Grant.
NeverAgain29.
Twenty-nine was the number of weeks I had been pregnant when the placental abruption occurred.
I did not understand the connection until the files opened.
Grant had searched my medical records from a company computer.
He knew premature delivery was possible three weeks before I was hospitalized.
He knew our twins might require neonatal devices supplied by Keller Medical.
He shipped the expired sensors anyway.
The hidden folder contained fifty-eight incident reports.
Eleven infants had suffered serious complications.
Two had died.
Their deaths had been attributed to underlying medical conditions.
The device failures had been removed from the official reports by Calvin’s team.
My grandfather read every name.
He refused to let an assistant do it for him.
When he reached the final page, he stood and walked out of the room.
I found him alone in the family consultation area.
He was staring at a wall covered with photographs of children who had survived the NICU.
“This happened in my hospitals,” he said.
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have known.”
“Calvin hid it.”
“I trusted him to protect patients.”
He turned toward me.
“Trust does not excuse failure.”
That afternoon, Grandfather called an emergency press conference.
His board begged him to wait.
His public relations team warned that admitting the failures could destroy the network’s reputation.
He ignored them.
Standing beneath the Beacon Crest logo, Arthur Hawthorne disclosed the investigation.
He announced that affected families would receive full access to their medical records.
He established an independent compensation fund.
He invited federal authorities to review every facility.
He did not mention my name.
This was no longer only about our family.
Grant responded through an online statement.
He accused Grandfather of creating a false scandal to punish him over the divorce.
He claimed I was emotionally unstable after childbirth.
He announced his intention to seek full custody of Noah and Elise.
His attorney filed an emergency petition that evening.
The hearing was scheduled for the next morning.
I was still unable to walk without help.
May you like
Grant was missing.
Yet he intended to prove that I was the dangerous parent.
