No need for the police to puzzle how it got into her system—Austin had already given them a credible answer. Chloe had taken it herself, by mistake.
Like hell she had.
I continued to stare at the bottles, something needling my brain. What if this wasn’t a first?
I remembered her unfocused and groggy when we’d arrived at the townhouse the previous morning, then improving as theday wore on. I thought of the memory loss. The confusion. The wandering. Austin warning the neighbours about his concerns. Calling Chloe’s doctor. Worried about her. Getting her driver’s licence revoked. Isolating her. The bank papers Chloe couldn’t remember signing. Her quick deterioration. Maybe too quick.
And just like that, the pieces fell into place.
This wasn’t a one-time thing. This was part of a carefully crafted scheme to gaslight not just Chloe, but her doctor, friends, neighbours, everyone. Chloe’s lawyer was likely next. Austin would use what had happened as evidence to back his claim for getting Chloe’s power of attorney. Giving him control of all her financesandher health decisions. The best hope he had to repay the Crow brothers before they tired of his delays and came for his house or just sent their enforcers to teach him a lesson.
Austin had spent months building his evidence, gathering his allies, and readying his legal push. But then Mads and I appeared and fucked everything up. Austin had been forced to pivot fast and bring his plan forward before Chloe turned from him to me. And he’d almost fucking got there.
I smothered a laugh because the idea was so damn outrageous. And yet it was the only thing that made sense. Austin might not have known Chloe had already asked me to handle her affairs, but he knew it was coming the second he’d read that letter. And once that happened, his scheme would be dead in the water.
And yet something still wasn’t sitting right.
Because the second I showed up, his scheme was already dead. I would never have allowed Austin to get power of attorney. I would’ve fought him all the way. Our few heated interactions would surely have told him that much about me. Plus, power of attorney wouldn’t give Austin carte blanche to spend her money like he wanted. He could be audited. He waslegally accountable to ensure her best interests were put first. Paying off the Crow brothers was only the first step.
The realisation hit me like a truck.
In Austin’s eyes, there was only one solution that ticked all his boxes.
Chloe had to be taken out of the picture. Permanently.
To hell with power of attorney. What Austin was really after, and maybe what he’d planned all along, was Chloe, dead. Not wasting away in his granny flat, eating up all that money he was so desperate to get his hands on. With Chloe dead, Austin’s father’s money reverted to his control with zero strings attached. He could do whatever he liked with it.
Austin needed Chloe dead, but especially after I entered the picture. The sooner the better, before I did anything to get her out from under his control, like move her to Auckland, for example. And right this second, he was up to his armpits in hell trying to make that happen.
I scowled at the relaxed way he slouched in his chair, feet up on the lower bunk as he chewed on his sandwich, oblivious to how close he was to having it all taken away.
Anger boiled my blood.How dare he? How fucking dare he?The slimy two-faced selfish little twat. I was going to punch his fucking lights out, and that was just to start. But before I ruined his day, I had to know where he’d stashed Chloe. She had to be in there somewhere. He’d been talking to her.
I scanned the surrounding bush, looking for any outbuildings, anything big enough to hide a person, just in case, but there was nothing. Then a soft moan grabbed my attention, and I spun back to the window.
Austin was still in the chair, but his feet had dropped to the floor, and his right hand reached toward what I’d thought was nothing more than a pile of rubbish on the bottom bunk. I heldmy breath, every cell zeroing in on the bunk as he lifted the newspapers aside.
And there she was. Eyes closed. A ghostlike pallor painting her face. Lips tinged a ghastly blue. And a line of dried spittle running from the corner of her mouth down to what looked like a tarp beneath her.
Chloe.
My mother.
Motionless.
Lifeless.
A tiny fragile shell of the vibrant woman I’d been chatting with only a day before.
My entire world shrank to a single venomous thought.
Austin bloody Pattinson.
Hedid this to my mother.
He didthistomymother.
Drugged her. Brought her here. Covered her in newspapers like she was a piece of trash. Left her to freeze. And was planning to take her life.
