Chapter 6 - The Hospital Visit-6
The next morning, Wednesday, the sun rose behind a thick bank of gray clouds.
At seven o'clock, I left the house before Margaret and Paige were even awake. I drove straight to St. Jude’s Private Medical Center, my leather briefcase resting securely on the passenger seat beside me.
When I stepped into Gwen’s room on the fourth floor, the transformation was already astounding.
She was sitting up in bed, wearing a soft lavender cardigan. The dark, hollow circles under her eyes had softened, and her skin had regained a healthy, hydrated glow thanks to the continuous IV nutrients. A gentle female nurse was sitting beside her, carefully cleaning the small razor cuts on her scalp with an antiseptic solution and applying a soothing healing ointment.
"Gavin!" Gwen’s face lit up with a genuine, beautiful smile the moment she saw me walk through the door.
I walked over, kissed her cheek, and pulled a chair up right beside her bed. "How are you feeling today, sweetheart?"
"Better," she whispered, reaching out to hold my hand. "Much better. The doctors say my blood work is stabilizing. Dr. Harrison came in earlier and said we are on track for my first chemotherapy session tomorrow morning."
"That's wonderful news," I said, squeezing her hand softly.
The nurse finished applying the ointment, packed up her supplies, and gave me a polite nod before stepping out of the room, closing the door behind her to give us privacy.
Gwen looked at the heavy leather briefcase sitting on my lap. "Did... did you go back to the house last night?"
"I did," I replied, opening the briefcase and pulling out the notarized contracts. "And it’s done, Gwen. Margaret signed over the house. Paige signed over the truck. And both of them unknowingly signed a legal admission of financial fraud that acknowledges the eighty-five thousand dollars they stole from us while I was away."
Gwen’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. "They... they actually signed it? Without reading it?"
"Greed blinds people, Gwen," I said coldly. "They were so obsessed with the fake four-hundred-thousand-dollar payout that they signed whatever I put in front of them. On paper, as of six o'clock last night, I am the sole owner of 1044 Birchwood Lane. They are now legally classified as unauthorized occupants."
Gwen looked at the papers, a deep shadow of worry crossing her face. "Gavin... what are you going to do to them? Your mother... she is still your mother."
I looked at my wife—the woman who had been starved, beaten, humiliated, and left to rot in a pantry while selling her own hair just to afford a cancer biopsy—and felt an overwhelming sense of protective fury.
"She stopped being my mother the moment she locked you in that pantry, Gwen," I said, my voice steady and unyielding. "A mother protects her family. A mother doesn't starve a dying woman to buy gold bracelets and silk dresses. She chose her path four years ago when she decided my suffering in Canada was nothing more than her personal funding source."
"What happens on Friday?" Gwen asked softly.
"On Friday morning, while you are safely recovering from your first chemo round here in the hospital, Detective Robert from the Financial Crimes Division and a team of county sheriffs will arrive at Birchwood Lane," I revealed. "They will serve Margaret and Paige with an immediate, forty-eight-hour eviction notice under Section 4 of the contract they signed. Simultaneously, Robert will present the state prosecutor with the embezzlement evidence to freeze all their personal bank accounts."
Gwen took a deep breath, resting her head back against the plush pillows. "It feels like a dream... I thought I was going to die alone in that dark room, Gavin."
"It’s not a dream, sweetheart," I promised her, lifting her hand to my lips. "It’s justice."
Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw Paige’s name flashing across the screen.
I signaled for Gwen to stay quiet and swiped the screen to answer, placing it on speakerphone.
"Gavin!" Paige’s shrill, excited voice burst through the speaker. "Where are you?! Mom and I just woke up! Did the Toronto corporate board approve the trust paperwork yet?! Did they send the wire confirmation?!"
I smiled darkly, keeping my tone perfectly calm and professional.
"The board meeting is currently in session, Paige," I lied smoothly. "The legal team reviewed the signed documents this morning and said everything looks flawless. They are queuing the transaction for final authorization."
"OMG, yes!" Paige screamed with delight in the background. "Mom, did you hear that?! It’s happening! Gavin, listen, we are going to the high-end mall downtown right now to reserve a new designer couch for the living room! We're putting it on Mom's credit card since the wire will clear on Friday anyway!"
"Go right ahead, Paige," I said, a lethal edge hidden beneath my pleasant tone. "Buy whatever you want. Make sure you get the most expensive one in the store."
"You're the best brother ever!" Paige squealed before hanging up the phone.
I set the phone back on the nightstand. Beside me, Gwen let out a soft, sad breath, shaking her head at the sheer, unbridled madness of my family.
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"They really have no idea, do they?" she whispered.
"None at all," I replied, looking out the hospital window as the grey clouds finally broke, allowing a ray of brilliant morning sunlight to illuminate the room. "And that is precisely why the fall is going to be so glorious."
