Chapter 2 - The Silent Treatment
I stared at the blinking red light, my heart pounding violently against my ribs.
I slowly backed away from the smoke detector and casually turned off the bedside lamp.
In the darkness, I leaned down to Garrett's ear and whispered about the hidden camera watching us from the ceiling.
I felt his body tense under the blankets, but he was smart enough not to look up.
We realized that whoever installed it must have seen us locking the door earlier.
Fortunately, the angle of the camera could not see the actual physical therapy exercises we had done near the floor.
The next morning, I devised a plan to neutralize the camera without raising any immediate suspicion.
I brought a large, steaming humidifier into the room under the guise of helping Garrett's dry cough.
I positioned it perfectly so the thick steam flowed directly upward, fogging the lens of the hidden camera completely.
With our privacy temporarily restored, Garrett pushed himself harder during our secret exercise sessions.
He was now able to stand on his own two feet for nearly ten seconds before his muscles gave out.
While he rested, he told me that his company was on the verge of a massive medical tech merger.
If Douglas managed to get Garrett declared legally incompetent, Douglas would inherit full voting power over the board of directors.
I realized I was caught in the middle of a multi-million dollar corporate coup.
Later that afternoon, the doorbell rang and Douglas welcomed a stranger into the grand foyer.
I watched from the top of the stairs as Douglas handed the man a thick envelope of cash.
Douglas told the man that his brother was rapidly declining and needed a formal psychological evaluation today.
The stranger was a corrupt doctor hired to sign the exact papers needed to strip Garrett of his rights.
I rushed back to Garrett's room to warn him that they were coming upstairs right now.
Garrett closed his eyes, his fists clenched tight in absolute rage.
He told me to go into his private bathroom and search the medicine cabinet for a specific blue bottle.
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I found it hidden behind some shaving cream and read the label in absolute horror.
It was a heavy, illegal sedative that Gertrude had secretly been giving him for months.
