THE DOUBLE

CHAPTER 3

AURORA

In two weeks of knowing Ivy, I shared basically everything with her.

It was as though she had been in my life all these while and I am forever grateful to Ryder for finding her.

After much persuasion from me, I was able to convince her to come over to New York for some days, and I was hoping to introduce her to Damien when she comes.

I really can’t wait to see the reaction on his face when he sees her.

My phone chimed and I glanced down at it, chuckling at Ivy’s response to my message.

YOU ARE BASICALLY CALLING ME SINGLE IN MANY LANGUAGES. HE IS CUTE THOUGH, I CAN CLEARLY SEE WHY YOU FELL FOR HIM.

Rolling my eyes at her teasing, I zoomed in on the picture of Damien that I sent to her, my thumb caressing his face for a moment before I typed out my response.

I CAN’T WAIT TO HAVE YOU HERE IN NEW YORK IN THREE DAYS.

Dropping the phone, I returned to the dozens of files on the table that I needed to sign and stamp. Quickly signing the ones I needed to, and stamping the ones that I needed to, I paused when I got to one document that needed to be scanned and sent to a client in Europe tonight, but it needs Damien’s stamp as the vice president of HALES.

I should have done this earlier, but of course, I forgot about it, thanks to whatever is going on with me.

My eyes moved to the digital clock on the wall which made me wonder what was keeping Damien. He should be home by now.

“I guess I am doing this myself then,” I mumbled, getting off my chair to search Damein’s home office for his seal stamp.

I know it will be in his safe… and yes, I know his passcode.

Damien didn’t tell me the passcode to his safe, and I never expected him to, but somehow, by chance, I managed to know it, and it’s been over a year, I didn’t tell him about it, and I've never ever used it before tonight.

I hurried to his office, walked straight to the safe, and unlocked it.

3-7-3-3-5-1-0.

It beeped and opened. I reached for the seal, quickly stamped the papers I needed to stamp, then turned to return the stamp when something caught my eye.

A drug container.

Damien isn’t sick, to the best of knowledge, and the drugs I am taking don’t come in containers.

I reached for it and flipped it over, trying to read what the drug was all about.

“Verapamil?” Is he really sick?

Quickly reaching for my phone, I typed the name of the drug, and what I saw made my blood run cold.

“A calcium channel blocker used to treat a heart-related condition?” I mumbled. “Is Damien suffering from heart conditions?”

Cocking the bottle open, I poured some pills into my palm. Red pills dropped into my palm and my eyes narrowed, hands shaking as I brought the pills closer to my face.

They looked exactly like one of the pills I've been taking.

My heart rammed against my ribs as I reached into the safe and brought out more pill bottles. Bisoprolol, Pyridostigmine.

I browsed the function of the drugs and the more I read, the more I broke out in cold sweat.

I poured out some of the pills in the new bottles into my palm and they also looked the same as the pills I've been taking.

I know for a fact these are the pills I am taking and I can’t even confirm it because Damien is the only one holding the drugs.

In his words, he doesn’t want me overdosing, so he will give me one dose every day. It didn't seem suspicious to me back then, but it does now.

Maybe I will find it in the safe too.

Pouring the pills back into the bottle, I searched the safe for the daily dosage wraps and of course, I found them.

My fingers trembled as I stared at the drugs, confirming that they were indeed the same as the ones from the bottle.

“Is…” my heart rammed against my chest, my lungs constricting. “Is Damien… poisioning me?” he can’t… he wouldn’t…

Dumping the drugs on the table, I wondered what else I would find in the safe. I searched through, finding file upon file. Out of curiosity, I opened the files.

My eyes doubled in size when I saw the signed documents, documents of money moved from the company account to an offshore account with Damien’s signature underneath it.

“What the f**k is going on??” Some of the documents slipped out of my trembling fingers. “How did I miss this?”

I reached for the brown envelope in the safe and pulled it out. The heading read St. Andrews Hospital.

My father was their patient right until his death from cardiac arrest, the same hospital where Thomas worked.

What is this doing in his safe?

Reaching into the already opened file, I pulled out what seemed to be my father’s medical report.

DIED FROM ASPHYXIA RESULTING FROM NECK COMPRESSION.

The report Damein gave me from the hospital said he died from cardiac arrest. “What the f**k is this?”

My eyes stung, slowly getting clouded with tears that immediately rolled down my cheeks. A sharp stabbing pain pierced through my heart, causing me to bend over, hand on my knees as I silently cried my heart out.

My phone vibrated in my hand and I turned the screen over, my trembling finger quickly answering the call when I saw Ryder’s name on the screen.

“Aurora!” he called out, his voice breathless. “Your blood work is out! Have you taken your dose for the day?!”

I couldn’t even respond. Tears rolled down my cheeks, my knees unable to carry me as I stumbled to the floor.

“Some drugs that can lead to heart failure were found in your bloodstream Aurora and I am certain it’s those drugs you’ve been taking! I am going to need you not to take them anymore until this new doctor confirms it.”

“He doesn’t need to confirm anything…” I whispered, my voice hoarse. “It’s the drugs… Damien and his best friend have been feeding me drugs that might get my heart to stop working any day.”

He hissed under his breath. “How did you know?”

Wiping my tears, I stood on my feet and gathered all the files in the safe. “I am heading to my house in Up Hill, meet me there.” Disconnecting the call, I rushed to the room, grabbed my car key, and headed for the garage.

One of the security guards Damien hired straightened when he saw me. “Heading out Ma’am?”

I forced a relaxed expression. “Yes, I am. Inform my husband that I had to go meet with a client if he asks for me when he gets home.”

He nodded, his eyes slowly roaming my face. “You need a ride? You don’t seem fine.”

“I don’t need a ride.” I countered before getting into the car.

A few hours into the ride, my shaky finger dialed Ivy’s number. At first, she didn’t pick up, so I called her again.

“Hey,” she breathed out when she finally picked up. “I was in the shower. What’s up?”

“Damien has been lying to me!” I blurted out, my breathing coming out in pants, making me sound disoriented. “he has been slowly killing my heart… and… and he killed Papa… he killed my father… and he is trying to kill me… to take the company…”

“Aurora!” she called out sharply, “I am going to need you to calm down and talk to me slowly. What is going on?”

I couldn’t even see the road clearly anymore from my glossy eyes, so I pulled over to the side of the road. “I found out that my husband and his best friend Thomas who happens to be our family doctor, who was promoted after my father died, have been feeding me pills that are slowly killing my heart.”

“That bastard did what?!” she hissed. “Where are you? You need to get away from there.”

“I think he killed my father too.” I cried.

“Jesus!”

“I saw the original doctor's report and it said he died from strangulation, but the report Damien gave me, the report he claimed the hospital left for us said he died of cardiac arrest, and he has been moving company money to an offshore account.”

“Where are you Aurora?”

“I am driving down to my other house. Ryder will meet me there.”

She exhaled with relief. “Please tell me when you are with Ryder. I will come down to New York as fast as I can.”

I shook my head, then realized she couldn’t see me. “I don’t think coming to New York will be safe.” It is going to be a messy fight with Damien.

“I am coming to New York Aurora.”

Before I could respond, a sudden bright light from a headlamp filtered through my car from the back.

“Aurora? Are you listening to me?”

I wasn’t. My attention was on the truck behind my car. I waited to see if it would drive off, but instead of driving off, it started heading for me.

“s**t!” I screamed, scrambling to start my car.

“Aurora! Are you okay?!” Ivy yelled from the speaker. “What is going on?”

“If anything should happen to me…” I cried, “I know it was my husband… Damien!”

I felt the sharp impact of the truck ramming into mine, my glasses shattering and piercing into my skin as my car rolled in the air.

I lost count of how many times it flipped until it landed roof down on the floor, smoke filling the car. I found it difficult to breathe, but through the smoke and dizziness, I was able to see what was happening outside.

I saw black boots approach the car and I wasn’t sure what was happening until he started pouring liquid over the car which made the smoking worse.

couldn't he have poured gasoline… right?

“Help me…” I croaked “…please…”

He turned, walked back to his car, got in, and drove away.

Taking deep breaths, I tried getting out, but my leg got stuck in the compressed part of the dashboard, making it impossible to leave.

The smoke quickly turned to fire in the back seat and I screamed at the top of my voice.

“Help me!” I screamed, thrashing regardless of the pain in my trapped leg. “Please!”

The fire intensified, and when it became obvious that I wasn’t getting out of this alive, I reached for my cracked phone which was lying face down beside me.

I dialed Ivy’s number and she picked up instantly. “Aurora?! Jesus, you scared me!”

“Make him pay…” I whimpered, “Make Damien pay… and tell Ryder I am sorry…”

Those were my last words before the car exploded from the fire.