Chapter 12 - the wife Victor chose next
Victor’s replacement plan contained another woman’s name.
Natalie Pierce.
Thirty-one.
Public-relations consultant.
No children.
Minimal family ties.
Recently hired by Dalton Medical.
Rachel found photographs of Natalie and Luke together at company events.
Caroline stared.
“Is she his mistress?”
Detective Bell did not assume.
He checked.
Hotel records.
Messages.
Private dinners.
One apartment lease paid through a Dalton subsidiary.
Yes.
Luke had been in a relationship with Natalie for at least fourteen months.
Caroline felt oddly calm when she learned.
Compared with everything else, infidelity seemed almost ordinary.
Then she read their messages.
NATALIE:
You said Caroline would be gone before the board vote.
LUKE:
Victor has it handled.
Caroline stopped breathing.
RACHEL:
“Gone” could mean divorced.
Marcus nodded.
They kept reading.
NATALIE:
I won’t be hidden forever.
LUKE:
You won’t.
NATALIE:
And the baby?
Long pause between messages.
LUKE:
There won’t be a baby.
Caroline closed her eyes.
There it was.
Not a medical ambiguity.
Not Thomas acting alone.
Not Victor exceeding instructions.
Luke expected the current pregnancy not to continue.
Natalie knew.
Whether she understood how was another question.
Police brought her in.
She cried almost immediately.
“He told me Caroline was planning an abortion.”
Caroline stared at the interview feed.
Marcus asked:
“Why did he say that?”
“He said she didn’t want children anymore.”
“Did you believe him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know about earlier pregnancy losses?”
“Only that she was infertile.”
“Did you know Caroline was currently pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Male?”
Natalie hesitated.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Luke told me.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
Earlier than Caroline was told.
Again.
Marcus placed the message before her.
“There won’t be a baby.”
Natalie covered her mouth.
“I thought he meant Caroline had decided.”
“Did he ever discuss becoming CEO permanently?”
“Yes.”
“Trust?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That Caroline having a son would create a legal disaster.”
Natalie’s face changed as she finally heard herself.
Marcus asked:
“Were you supposed to marry him?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After the divorce.”
“Was there a divorce filing?”
“No.”
Natalie began crying harder.
Luke had promised one was coming.
Victor drafted something else.
An adoption petition.
If Caroline became medically incapacitated and the baby survived, Natalie would eventually be positioned as stepmother and secondary guardian.
Caroline stared.
“They planned my replacement down to legal custody.”
Rachel nodded.
“Victor did.”
“And Luke?”
“Likely knew at least part.”
Then Marcus opened another document.
Noah was not yet born, so the current pregnancy was listed only as:
MALE FETUS — C4.
Proposed post-birth name:
Ethan Luke Dalton.
Caroline felt nauseated.
She and Luke had not chosen a name.
Yet Victor and Natalie had.
Natalie stared at the form.
“I’ve never seen that.”
The intended adoptive/guardian mother:
NATALIE PIERCE.
Caroline thought of Luke’s sentence.
There won’t be a baby.
Perhaps he meant no baby for Caroline.
Maybe the plan had evolved.
If the child survived, Caroline would be removed instead.
Natalie would raise him.
Luke and Natalie would appear as the intact Dalton family while Victor controlled the legal machinery.
But Rachel noticed a second name beneath Natalie’s.
CONTINGENT MATERNAL SUBSTITUTE:
MARGARET DALTON.
Margaret stared.
“I never agreed.”
Victor had treated every woman as interchangeable.
Caroline.
Natalie.
Margaret.
Whoever best preserved corporate control.
Adrian, now represented separately, petitioned the court to freeze Dalton voting shares.
Granted.
Luke lost temporary executive authority.
Margaret resigned from the board.
Thomas remained jailed.
Victor remained missing.
For the first time, the machine stopped moving smoothly.
That evening, Caroline’s pregnancy ultrasound remained reassuring.
She watched the small heartbeat.
Rebecca smiled.
“Still strong.”
Caroline touched the screen.
For years, each pregnancy had become a source of fear.
This time she wanted the child to enter a different family than the one Luke built around power.
Rachel sat beside her afterward.
“What will you call him?”
Caroline thought.
“Not anything from a Dalton spreadsheet.”
They both laughed.
Then Marcus called.
Victor had contacted Natalie.
The call was recorded.
He told her:
“Luke is finished. You need to decide whether you still want the life we planned.”
Natalie asked:
“What life?”
Victor answered:
“The one where the Dalton heir survives, but Luke does not control him.”
Rachel stared.
Victor was not trying to preserve Luke anymore.
He wanted the unborn child alive.
Why?
Because with Luke removed and Caroline incapacitated, Victor could potentially control the minor trust through a guardian.
But Caroline was alive.
Recovering.
Protected.
Unless Victor had another way to remove her.
Then Rebecca entered holding a new hospital lab report.
Caroline’s IV line had tested positive for a contaminant that should not have been there.
Someone had introduced it after admission.
The dose was tiny.
Not enough to harm her yet.
But the implication was unmistakable.
May you like
Victor’s plan had followed her into the hospital.
👉 Luke’s mistress had been prepared to replace Caroline as mother of the Dalton heir—and someone was still trying to interfere with Caroline’s medical care even after Luke lost control.
