Chapter 3 - The Gathering of the Vultures
By the time the private ambulance arrived, Clara was entirely unresponsive. She was rushed through the restricted underground entrance of St. Jude’s Memorial Hospital, bypassed the chaotic public emergency room, and taken straight to the heavily guarded VIP surgical suite on the seventh floor.
Eleanor arrived shortly after in her chauffeured town car. She didn't look like a woman whose daughter-in-law was fighting for her life; she looked like an executive arriving for a corporate merger. She took her seat in the private waiting area—a lavishly decorated room with leather armchairs, a private espresso bar, and frosted glass windows that shielded her from the rest of the hospital.
Within an hour, Eleanor's sister, Beatrice, and the family attorney, Richard Vance, arrived.
"Eleanor, darling, we came as soon as we heard," Beatrice said, smoothing her designer coat as she sat down across from her sister. "What a mess. Is the child going to survive? Caleb will be utterly broken if something happens to his heir."
"The child is a Sterling, he will be fine," Eleanor dismissed with a wave of her manicured hand. "But Clara’s negligence is exactly what I’ve been warning Caleb about for years. The girl is fragile, clumsy, and clearly unfit for the demands of our family. This little 'accident' only proves my point."
Richard Vance opened his leather briefcase, pulling out a legal notepad. "Eleanor, we need to ensure the hospital staff signs the standard non-disclosure agreements regarding the nature of the admission. We don't want any disgruntled nurses leaking rumors of a family dispute to the press."
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"Already taken care of, Richard," Eleanor smiled confidently, sipping a cup of black coffee. "Dr. Harrison is overseeing the triage. The official medical record will state it was an idiopathic syncopal episode resulting in an accidental fall. Clara's family is halfway across the country, and Caleb is a gentle, simple boy. He will believe whatever I tell him. Once the baby is delivered, I will convince him that Clara’s health is too compromised to handle motherhood. We will quietly file for custody, place the child in proper nannies' care, and phase her out entirely."
She sat back, completely relaxed, convinced that she had successfully spun a near-fatal tragedy into the ultimate victory. She had no doubt that her authority was absolute, completely unaware that the gears of her undoing had already been set in motion.
