A Pregnant Heiress Collapsed at the Manor—Then One Silver Injector Exposed a Hidden Heir

Chapter 02 - The Dosage That Never Existed

Nora woke at St. Catherine’s Hospital with Adrian beside her and a fetal monitor pulsing softly in the dark. The baby was safe, but blood tests revealed that Nora had received a drug never approved for pregnancy. In small amounts it caused dizziness and confusion. Continued use could have created a medical emergency serious enough for someone else to take control of her shares and her child’s future.

Adrian was furious with Evelyn, but his mother arrived carrying the forged documents and the injector sealed inside an evidence bag. She admitted that she had found both hidden in Nora’s guest room. Instead of confronting the family publicly, she had arranged the meeting in the hall because the manor’s old security cameras still recorded locally. She wanted the culprit to panic and reveal themselves.

The plan had worked. The balcony camera captured a man leaving the upper floor seconds after Nora collapsed.

It was Dr. Simon Vale, Nora’s private physician—and Adrian’s oldest friend.

Simon had overseen her pregnancy from the beginning. He had attended family dinners, reassured Adrian during every scare, and insisted that Nora use medication produced by Blackwood Medical. When detectives questioned him, he claimed he had visited the manor to check on Evelyn’s blood pressure. He denied changing Nora’s treatment.

Then the hospital pharmacist made a discovery. The serial number on the silver injector belonged to a clinical trial discontinued three years earlier. Only six devices had been produced. Five were destroyed. The sixth had been assigned to a research program supervised by Adrian’s younger brother, Lucas.

Lucas had disappeared from company life after a bitter argument with Adrian over their father’s will. Under that will, control of Blackwood Medical would pass to Nora’s unborn child if Adrian died or became legally incapacitated. Until the child turned twenty-five, Nora would hold the voting power.

Evelyn believed Lucas and Simon were trying to make Nora appear mentally and physically unfit, allowing them to challenge the trust.

But there was a problem. Lucas had been living in Europe for nearly a year, and passport records showed no return to the country.

That evening, Nora received a video call from an unknown number. A man stood in darkness, his face hidden.

“You are blaming the wrong brother,” he said.

The image shifted, revealing Lucas tied to a chair in an abandoned office.

Nora covered her mouth.

The caller continued, “Sign the transfer by midnight tomorrow, or the Blackwood family will lose more than a company.”