Chapter 2 - THE BOARDROOM SHAKEDOWN
"I Own This Hospital, and as of This Second, You Own Nothing!"Within exactly three minutes, the heavy oak double doors of the executive elevators burst open.
Out ran Dr. Arthur Vance, the Chief Executive Officer of St. Aurelia Medical Center. He was sweating profusely, his tie crooked, panting as he sprinted across the polished marble lobby. Behind him was a trail of five board members, all of them looking like they were marching to their own execution.
"Mr. Hale!" Dr. Vance gasped, skidding to a halt. "I received your text. I—we had no idea you were arriving today! Please, let us escort you to the VIP boardroom immediately. We can discuss any matters in private—"
"Private?" Evan turned his head slowly, a chilling smile playing on his lips. "Why private, Dr. Vance? Were you planning on keeping the abuse of elderly patients a secret? Is that why you wanted to hide in your air-conditioned boardroom?"
"A-Abuse?" Dr. Vance’s eyes darted to Brenda, who was now weeping silently, clutching her own hands together in desperate prayer. "What is the meaning of this? Brenda, what did you do?"
"She slapped my mother," Evan said.
The words fell like lead weights. Dr. Vance looked as if he might faint right then and there. One of the female board members let out a sharp gasp, covering her mouth in sheer horror.
"She didn't just slap her," a voice suddenly chimed in from the crowd.
It was one of the junior nurses, a young woman named Sarah, who had been hiding behind the reception desk. Emboldened by Evan's presence, Sarah stepped forward, her eyes bright with unshed tears.
"Brenda has been doing this for years, Dr. Vance!" Sarah cried out. "She targets the elderly patients who don't have family visiting them. She calls them 'leeches' and 'garbage.' She forces them to sign discharge papers even when they are too sick to walk, just to keep her department's 'efficiency' metrics high!"
"Is this true?" Dr. Vance whispered, his voice trembling.
"She... she's lying!" Brenda screamed, her voice cracking in desperation. "Dr. Vance, you know me! I’ve been the head nurse here for fifteen years! I was just protecting the hospital's financial interests! Clara Hale’s account has a fifteen-thousand-dollar deficit! We are a business!"
Evan stepped forward, pulling a gold-plated fountain pen and a checkbook from his breast pocket. With swift, elegant strokes, he wrote out a check and ripped it from the book.
He didn't hand it to Brenda. He dropped it onto the floor, right onto the spot where his mother's blood had dripped onto the marble.
"There is your fifteen thousand dollars," Evan said, his voice dripping with absolute disgust. "Plus a five-million-dollar bonus to the hospital's charity fund, under one condition."
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Dr. Vance swallowed hard. "A-Anything, Mr. Hale. Name it."
"I want Brenda fired. Not suspended. Fired. And I want her medical license permanently revoked for physical assault on a patient."
