Chapter 45
Harrison burst into the nursery, his heart pounding. Dames was sprawled on the bed, his skin erupting in angry red welts–a full–blown allergic reaction.
“Call the family doctor,” Harrison barked, worry etched across his face.
One of the housekeepers hesitated, her voice trembling. “Sir, he’s in bad shape. I don’t think he’ll last until the doctor gets here.”
Without another word, Harrison scooped Dames into his arms and raced for the
garage.
By the time Harrison arrived at the hospital, clutching Dames tightly, the hospital director and a pediatrician were already waiting at the entrance.
“Mr. Vaughn!” The director greeted him with utmost respect.
Harrison gently laid Dames on a gurney. Nurses whisked the boy away toward the elevators, the pediatrician quickly loosening Dames’s collar to check his pulse.
“Does your son have any known drug allergies?” the doctor asked urgently.
Harrison turned to Nadine.
“I don’t know!” Nadine stammered, her head bowed. “His mother would know.”
Harrison’s voice was clipped. “Call Selene.”
Nadine’s face clouded with anxiety. “She’s blocked my number.”
Harrison turned to a nurse. “Give me your phone.”
He looked at Nadine. “What’s Selene’s number?”
The nurse stared in disbelief. How could a man not know his own wife’s phone
number?
Nadine recited the number. Harrison punched it in and waited.
After a few rings, a cold, mechanical voice answered: “The number you have dialed is currently unavailable.”
Silence fell over the elevator, thick and stifling.
Eventually, Nadine returned with Dames’s recent medical records from the mily physician,
The pediatrician scanned the file, his eyes widening. “He’s had four allergic
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reactions in the past ten days? Mr. Vaughn, are you sure this is your son?”
Harrison’s frown deepened. “I wasn’t aware his allergies had gotten this bad…”
The doctor sighed, clearly frustrated but trying to remain professional. “Does this boy have any history of drug allergies?”
Again, Harrison looked to Nadine.
Her hands shook as she fumbled for words. “Only his mother would know…”
Selene was jolted awake by relentless knocking at her door.
She opened it to find the building manager standing outside, holding out a cell phone.
“Miss Thompson, this is a call from Mr. Vaughn. Please, you need to answer.”
He handed her the phone, speaker on. Harrison’s voice came through, cold and sharp:
“Dames is in the hospital with an allergic reaction. The doctors need to know what medications he can’t have.”
Selene stood in the doorway, wrapping her scarf tighter against the chill.
“Every medical record Dames has ever had, I compiled into a file and gave it to Nadine,” she replied calmly.
Harrison’s glare cut across the room, landing on Nadine.
Nadine gripped the fabric of her skirt, visibly nervous.
“Even if I go searching the storage room now, I’ll never find it in time! Please, ma’am, just tell the doctor directly what Dames is allergic to, so they can treat him!”
Harrison echoed her plea. “Just tell the doctor yourself.”
Selene’s voice drifted through the phone, cool as ice. “One million.”
“What did you just say?!”
“Before I left the Vaughn family, I handed over every file and record about Dames to Nadine. I did everything a mother should do. I even told Nadine to show you the file, Mr. Vaughn. Did you ever bother to look at it?”
L
Harrison was speechless. If he’d read his son’s medical records, he wou be making this call in the middle of the night.
Selene continued, “You had your manager wake me up in the dead of night, forcing
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me to talk to you. If you want access to your son’s medical history, then pay me for my trouble.”
Harrison’s anger crackled on the line, sharp enough to cut.
Everyone in the examination room fell silent, no one daring to speak.
“Selene! Dames is your son!”
“Shouldn’t he know by now what he can or can’t eat?” Selene shot back. “He ended up in the hospital because he’s never really seen me as his mother.”
