Chapter 9 - The Therapist Had Been Told Grant Refused Treatment
Grant called Melissa Hart again.
This time he asked her to bring every message Derek sent.
There were more than he expected.
Monday:
Grant is too fatigued today.
Tuesday:
He does not want to repeat the ankle test. It upset him.
Wednesday:
Hold sessions until further notice.
Thursday:
He is frustrated by false hope.
Grant stared at the messages.
“I never said any of this.”
Melissa looked sick.
“I thought they came from you through him.”
That was the problem.
Derek had never forged Grant’s signature.
Never pretended to be Grant in writing.
He simply wrote:
Grant wants.
Grant prefers.
Grant says.
And because Derek was family and primary caregiver, everyone accepted it.
Grant read another message.
Do not mention minor involuntary movement unless clinically significant. He is fixating on it.
He looked up.
“When did you see involuntary movement?”
“Twice.”
Before the sensor was installed.
That mattered.
Derek knew Grant’s leg had begun moving before he hid the device.
The sensor was not placed to discover whether recovery started.
It was placed to track how quickly it progressed.
Grant felt anger rise.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Melissa answered quietly.
“I thought Derek had.”
The entire recovery had been filtered through one person.
Grant had always considered himself difficult to control.
That made the discovery humiliating.
He had not been controlled by chains.
He had been controlled by information.
Derek knew what doctors said.
Then summarized it.
Derek knew what therapists saw.
Then decided whether Grant heard it.
Derek knew when Grant’s appointments occurred.
Then canceled them.
Grant had accepted it because he was in pain.
Embarrassed.
Furious at his own body.
He did not want to discuss every small failure.
Derek made himself useful.
Then indispensable.
Grant returned to Dr. Moore with the messages.
She read them.
“This would have changed how aggressively we evaluated your recovery.”
Grant’s jaw tightened.
“Could delayed therapy permanently hurt me?”
“Not enough information to say.”
No exaggeration.
Good.
Grant wanted facts now.
Dr. Moore continued.
“But you should have been informed about every change in movement.”
Grant nodded.
Then asked:
“If my memory of the fall returns, does physical recovery cause that?”
“Not necessarily.”
“So Derek was wrong.”
“About the medical connection? Yes.”
Grant almost laughed.
Derek had been monitoring his legs because he believed they were connected to Grant’s memory.
The assumption itself might be medically wrong.
But fear does not need scientific accuracy.
Derek had acted on it anyway.
That made the hidden device even more revealing.
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He was not treating Grant.
He was watching him.
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