Chapter 2

Sebastian crossed straight to Lily and pulled her into his side.

"What happened, baby? Who made you cry like this?"

Lily tucked herself against him, pitching her voice just right.

"Don't bother, Sebastian. I'm just not good enough — can't compete with someone who's well-connected..."

Sebastian's expression darkened in an instant. He looked at me like I was something he'd scraped off his shoe.

He didn't waste words. He reached over and ripped the phone from my hand — the one I'd just started recording with.

He swung.

The phone hit the floor with a crack. The screen shattered, components scattering across the tile.

The hallway went quiet for a beat.

Sebastian pointed at me.

"Who the hell do you think you are, putting your hands on someone in my circle?"

"Some nobody who got in through the back door — do you know which family funds every MRI machine in this hospital?"

The doctors and nurses who'd been watching took one look at Sebastian's fury and pivoted without hesitation. Margaret sidled close, all warmth and deference.

"Please don't upset yourself over someone who doesn't know her place, Mr. Forsythe."

Calloway chimed in with a practiced smile.

"Don't worry, I've already decided to terminate her. Lily won't have to deal with this again."

The patients' families — sensing which way the wind blew — fell over themselves to stay in Sebastian's good graces. The insults got louder.

I didn't react to any of it.

I was staring at my shattered phone on the floor.

It had contained classified surgical research I'd brought back from a fellowship at Harvard Medical Research Institute. A cardiovascular breakthrough. The kind of data that couldn't be reconstructed overnight.

Now it was gone.

I raised my eyes. They were cold.

Sebastian mistook my stillness for shock. He reached into a jacket pocket and pulled out a thick roll of hundred-dollar bills.

He threw them at my face.

Pink bills fluttered to the floor.

"Consider that your walking papers from me personally. Take the money, get out of this city, and don't let me look at your face again."

Lily pulled away from him with practiced grace, bent down, and picked two bills from the floor with two fingers, as if handling something distasteful. She held them out to me.

"Take them. Maybe it'll help your family get a decent meal. And please — don't do things like this anymore."

The moment she finished speaking, I raised my hand.

With everything I had.

The slap landed clean and sharp across Sebastian Forsythe's face.

The sound rang through the entire corridor.

Every voice in the hallway cut off. Nobody breathed.

Sebastian's head snapped to one side. A red handprint bloomed across his cheek.

He turned back slowly. Eyes wide. Murderous.

"You filthy— you actually hit me? I'll destroy you right now."

Sebastian's fist was already cocked when Lily threw herself at his arm and held on.

"Don't, Sebastian — don't dirty your hands over someone like her. It isn't worth a lawsuit!"

She pulled at him, and in the same motion, her free hand dove into the pocket of her white coat and came out with a photograph.

She held it high so everyone in the hallway could see.

It was a blurry candid shot. In it, I was stepping into a custom-plated Rolls-Royce. Beside the open car door stood the partial silhouette of a man in a suit, head slightly bowed as he held the door for me.

"Everyone get a good look at this!"

Lily's voice cut sharp and high.

"She's not some legitimate medical professional. She's a kept woman — someone's expensive mistress!"

"I saw it myself yesterday. She got into this car with some older man. She's been bought and paid for!"

The hallway exploded.

Every gaze swung toward me, thick with undisguised contempt.

Sebastian clutched his swollen cheek and laughed.

He looked me up and down.

"No wonder you're so bold. That's sugar-daddy money giving you nerve."

"So what's the going rate? I'm guessing low — eight hundred a night, tops, for that face."

Margaret recoiled two steps in exaggerated revulsion.

"Disgusting. I thought she had a look about her — now I understand why. Someone call the health board."

"Dr. Calloway — can we have her removed? She's contaminating the floor."

The patients' families stoked the fire. Someone called for police. Another person threw a half-empty water bottle in my direction.

I stepped aside. The bottle hit the wall.

My attention had gone to the photograph in Lily's hand.

The absurdity of it was almost impressive.

That Rolls-Royce was the cheapest car in my family's garage. The man she'd labeled a "sugar daddy" was my father's driver, who'd met me at the airport when I flew in from overseas yesterday.

The partial silhouette she was pointing to as evidence?

My own father.

I had had enough.

I walked toward Lily until she stepped back.

"Fabricated photographs. A manufactured record."

My voice was flat.

"Lily. What you just told everyone in this hallway constitutes criminal defamation."

"The screenshots and shares alone are enough to put you away for years."

Her face blanched — but only for a second. With Sebastian and Calloway right beside her, she gathered herself and lifted her chin.

"Go ahead and sue me then. Can you even afford a lawyer? Would your 'benefactor' show up in court to vouch for you?"

"Look at her — trying to act righteous after everything she's done!"

At that moment, the security guards Calloway had called finally arrived.

The head of security led twelve officers, all carrying black rubber batons, at a jog.

Acting on Calloway's standing orders, they spread out and locked me in a ring at the center of the hallway.

The temperature dropped.

Calloway retreated behind the wall of security officers, coffee mug in hand, and pointed at me.

"Remove her from the premises. If she resists, I authorize whatever force is necessary. Mr. Forsythe will cover you."

The head of security pulled his baton from his belt.

Twelve guards advanced, weapons raised, closing the circle.

I stood still and looked at Calloway.

"I'm going to count to three."

"Three."

Sebastian threw his head back and laughed.

"Look at this. Cornered and still playing tough. Who do you think you are?"

"Hit her. Break whatever you need to — I'll pay for it."

"Two."

The head of security bellowed, raised his baton, and swung it hard toward my knee.

Then —

The elevator at the far end of the corridor gave a soft chime.

And a voice — authoritative, cracking at the edges with urgency — detonated down the hall.

"Everyone freeze! Right now!"