A VOW FOR VENGEANCE

Chapter Ten: When Doubt Creeps In

Hanna's POV

The house was still asleep when I got home. I went straight to my father's room, the way I always did, and found a nurse already there, taking his blood pressure and writing on her clipboard.

She looked up fast when she heard the door, then relaxed when she saw it was me.

"I did not mean to disturb you," I said. "Please, keep going."

"You are not disturbing anything, Miss Lawson." She went back to the monitor beside his bed, adjusting a dial.

I stood at the foot of the bed and watched her work. Numbers rose and fell on the little screen. He looked exactly the way he always looked. Still, and quiet.

"Do you think he will ever get better?" I asked.

She paused, her hand hovering over the clipboard. "Honestly, Miss Lawson, with the care he is receiving, he should have shown improvement by now. His numbers are stable and his body is responding to treatment the way it should."

"Yet, he has not improved."

"No." She hesitated, choosing her next words with care. "Medically, everything checks out. There is nothing on paper explaining why he is not recovering. He simply is not, and I do not have an answer for you. I have seen patients in far worse condition wake up faster than this."

"What medication is he currently on?" I asked. "The full list, if you have it memorized."

She wrote out four names, none of which meant anything to me on their own, and one that made me pause. A sedative, dosed higher than I would have expected for someone already this unresponsive.

"Why that one, at that dose?" I pointed to it.

"It is standard for his chart. I did not set the dosage, Miss Lawson. That comes from the attending doctor."

"Who else has access to his medication chart? Besides you and the doctor."

"Mrs. Lawson, since she is listed as his primary guardian." She glanced at me, uncertain whether the question was ordinary curiosity or something else. "Is there a concern I should know about?"

"No, no concern," I said. "I am just trying to understand his care better."

"Of course." She went back to the monitor.

"Has anyone else come to see him this week?" I asked. "Besides family."

The nurse thought for a second. "Mr. Whitfield stopped by twice. Once with Mrs. Lawson… and a man from the board came by yesterday afternoon, though he did not stay long."

"Did he give a name?"

"I did not get it. Mrs. Lawson met him at the door and walked him out to his car herself."

“Mmm.” I nodded.

"Thank you," I said after a while, and left her to finish.

I went to my own room and called Victoria.

"You are up early," she said.

"I need you to find something for me." I sat on the edge of my bed. "My father had a doctor before Isla brought in the one he has now.

His name is Dr. Kessler. I want to know where he is, where he lives, and how to reach him. Do it quietly, Victoria. Nobody can know he is being looked for."

"I remember the name. He left rather abruptly, did he not?"

"That is what I want to find out. Nobody ever gave me a real reason, and I never asked hard enough at the time."

"I will start with the hospital records and the staff who worked under him. Someone always remembers more than they are supposed to."

"Understood,” I said. “One more thing before you start. If anyone asks why you are digging into hospital records, tell them it is for the wedding insurance. Nobody questions paperwork that sounds boring enough."

"Smart." She actually laughed under her breath. "I will call you the moment I have anything."

I almost hung up. My thumb hovered over the screen.

"Victoria," I said instead. "Are you still there?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"One more thing. I need you to look into Stefan again."

"I already did a full background check before you went to meet him."

"Not that kind." I stood and started pacing, tapping my phone against my palm as I walked. "I mean anything bad. A scandal, a lawsuit, anything with his name attached that could embarrass us later."

"Is this about the engagement?"

"I am making it public soon." I stopped at the window, looking down at the garden. "I do not want one detail to catch me off guard once reporters start digging. If there is something out there, I need to know before they do."

"I will get started on both today."

"Thank you, Victoria."

I ended the call and kept pacing, tapping the phone against my palm without meaning to, until it rang again in my own fingers. Isla's name lit up the screen.

"Hanna, come downstairs. Now."

"I am not even dressed."

"Then get dressed." Her voice was clipped, giving nothing away. "I need you down here."

She hung up before I could ask anything.

I made myself take thirty minutes to get ready anyway, patiently taking my time.

When I finally came down, Isla was standing by the window, arms crossed. Mia sat on the sofa, quietly and Lucas stood near the fireplace, hands in his pockets.

"What is this?" I asked, stopping in the doorway.

"Sit down, Hanna," Isla said.

"I would rather stand."

"Suit yourself." She did not move from the window. "Do you know why I called you down here?"

"I have no idea."

"No idea at all."

"None," I said.

"Interesting." She tilted her head slightly. "Because I have had a very strange week, Hanna. Phone calls I did not expect. Questions from people who should not have anything to ask."

I kept my face still. "What kind of questions?"

"The kind that makes a mother wonder what her daughter has been doing with her nights. A woman from the club called the house yesterday, asking to confirm a name in their records. Very odd thing to receive, on a random Tuesday."

"I have been doing exactly what I told you. Errands."

"Errands." She repeated the word slowly. "In a club? You disappear for hours at a time. You come home whenever you want and end an engagement to a man your whole family adored, in front of the guests."

"That was my decision to make."

"It was. Though I have to wonder what changed your mind so quickly, after years of being so certain about Lucas."

"People change their minds, Mom." I was already shaking a bit.

"Do they? Or do they get pushed." She crossed her arms tighter. "There is always a reason underneath the reason, Hanna."

"If you have a question, ask it directly."

Isla studied me for a long moment, the kind of look that used to make me confess to things I had not even done, back when I still flinched under it and for one second, I could not breathe.

"I know you have been keeping something from us," she said finally. "You did not think I would find out, did you?"