Melissa described the attorney she had met through Charles’s office.
Rachel asked for the engagement letter and a complete copy of the contract.
No one in the room had them.
Grant felt anger rise, but Rachel stopped him before he spoke.
“We need records, not assumptions,” she said.
Melissa authorized requests for her documents and asked the billing office not to treat her as agreeing to charges she disputed.
Rachel explained that the enforceability of particular provisions would depend on state law, the agreement, and the facts.
She refused to promise Melissa that everything would be resolved quickly.
That honesty made Melissa trust her more than the confident assurances she had received before pregnancy.
Charles’s assistant called twice while they were meeting.
Melissa let the phone ring.
After the meeting, Rachel advised her to preserve messages, employment records, and medical invoices.
She also suggested that Melissa speak with an employment lawyer about the timing of the scheduling review.
Grant asked what he could do.
Rachel said the most helpful thing was to support access to counsel and avoid acting as the person making Melissa’s choices.
He accepted the correction.
He had spent months believing that if he could explain the danger clearly enough, he could prevent it.
The dangerous situation had arrived anyway, and what Melissa needed now was agency rather than another person directing her.
She asked him to help sort bills by date because she was too tired to concentrate.
He sat beside her bed and quietly organized the papers.
One statement showed a deposit from the Whitmore family account followed by a deduction labeled administrative reconciliation.
Melissa did not recognize the deduction.
A second document showed that the promised payment had been divided into installments, with the final installment conditioned on completion of an undefined review.
Grant passed the documents to Rachel without making accusations.
Rachel asked who conducted the review.
Melissa said she did not know.
That question became the first thread in a much larger problem.
Outside the hospital, reporters had begun asking about the Whitmores’ new baby.
Charles had released a brief statement announcing the child’s arrival.
It thanked an unnamed woman for her generosity and said nothing about her medical complications.
Vivien read the statement and told Charles that it should never have gone out.
For the first time, he did not respond with charm.
He responded by saying the public story belonged to the family.
Vivien asked which family he meant.
