Chapter 6 - The Hospital Deposit
Clara turned.
Marcus emerged from behind a parked SUV.
The woman nearly screamed.
“It’s okay,” Clara said. “He’s with me.”
“You were supposed to come alone.”
“I did.”
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
Clara ignored him.
“He followed me.”
“Damian ordered me to.”
“Of course he did.”
The woman introduced herself as Rachel Kim, an administrative coordinator.
She had discovered repeated unauthorized access to Clara’s medical records.
“Someone changed your contact permissions,” Rachel said. “They added an authorization code.”
“Whose?”
“Dr. Leonard Voss.”
Clara frowned.
“I’ve never heard of him.”
“He isn’t your doctor.”
Marcus asked, “Who is he?”
“A hospital board consultant.”
Rachel handed Clara printed logs.
“He accessed your financial information, appointments, emergency contacts—everything.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus looked at the pages.
“Connection to Vincent Hale?”
Rachel swallowed.
“Voss received donations through a foundation.”
“What foundation?”
“Hale Community Trust.”
There it was.
Vincent again.
But Clara sensed something missing.
“Why would a hospital consultant help Vincent harass a chef?”
Rachel looked at her.
“That’s what scared me.”
She produced another document.
“You weren’t the only one.”
Seven names appeared.
Former employees of Damian’s companies.
A driver.
An accountant.
A warehouse manager.
A legal assistant.
People who had resigned or disappeared from Damian’s circle after medical emergencies, family crises, or financial problems.
Someone had systematically identified vulnerable people.
Then pushed them out.
Damian wasn’t simply being robbed.
He was being isolated.
One loyal employee at a time.
Clara’s anger changed shape.
Vincent hadn’t targeted her because she cooked.
He targeted her because Damian trusted her.
Back at the secure apartment, Damian read every document.
“Seven.”
Marcus nodded.
“Possibly more.”
Damian sat silently.
For years, he had believed people left because the work was difficult.
Because his world was demanding.
Because loyalty had limits.
Now he wondered how many departures had been engineered.
Clara watched him.
“You didn’t know.”
“That doesn’t absolve me.”
“No.”
His eyes lifted.
“But it matters.”
He looked almost surprised she had given him even that.
Noah entered carrying an envelope.
“This came downstairs.”
Everyone froze.
“No return address.”
Marcus took it.
Inside was a hospital receipt.
$3,800.
PAID IN FULL.
Clara slowly turned toward Damian.
“I didn’t.”
“Do not lie to me.”
“I’m not.”
“Who else knows the amount?”
They all looked at the documents Rachel had brought.
Someone with access to Clara’s medical records.
Her phone rang.
Dr. Shah.
“Clara, your deposit has been paid.”
“By whom?”
“That’s the strange part.”
“What?”
“The payment came from an account in your name.”
Clara went cold.
“I don’t have $3,800.”
“I assumed not, given our previous conversations.”
Marcus was already typing.
Damian leaned toward the phone.
“Can you identify the bank?”
The doctor hesitated.
“Who is that?”
“My former employer.”
Clara glared at him.
Damian shrugged.
At least he had said former.
The bank was local.
Marcus traced it.
An account had been opened six months earlier.
In Clara’s name.
Money flowed through it every month.
Thousands.
Then tens of thousands.
Clara stared at the screen.
“That isn’t mine.”
Damian understood immediately.
“She’s being framed.”
“For what?” Noah asked.
Marcus opened the transaction details.
Payments from Cross-controlled suppliers.
If investigators found the account, it would appear Clara had been taking kickbacks.
Damian’s trusted chef.
The woman with access to his home.
The woman who overheard conversations.
The perfect scapegoat.
Clara sat down.
Vincent hadn’t simply wanted her fired.
He wanted Damian to believe she had betrayed him.
“Why pay the surgery deposit from it?” she asked.
Marcus’s face darkened.
“To activate the account.”
Damian nodded.
“And create a transaction directly benefiting Clara.”
Evidence.
Fresh evidence.
Damian looked at her.
“You cannot use that money.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Your surgery?”
“I’ll postpone.”
“No.”
“Damian.”
“No.”
“You don’t decide.”
“You’re right.”
He took a breath.
“But postponing because somebody framed you isn’t a decision. It’s coercion.”
Clara hated that he had a point.
Noah sat beside her.
“You need the surgery.”
“I know.”
“I can take the semester off.”
“No.”
“Clara—”
“Noah.”
He looked at her with tears in his eyes.
“You’ve been choosing me since Mom died.”
She swallowed.
“That was my job.”
“No. It wasn’t.”
The room became quiet.
Damian looked away.
This was not his conversation.
For once, he understood that.
Noah continued.
“I’m nineteen. I can work. I can take loans. I can survive one semester. You don’t get to destroy yourself because you promised Mom you’d take care of me.”
Clara’s eyes filled.
“You were sixteen.”
“And now I’m not.”
Her phone buzzed.
An email.
Subject:
ACCOUNT VERIFICATION.
Marcus took the phone.
The message contained a document requiring Clara’s electronic signature.
She had never signed it.
Yet a signature was already there.
Beneath it was the identity of the person who had opened the account.
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE: VINCENT HALE.
Damian stood.
“We have him.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Maybe.”
“What does that mean?”
“This document was generated three minutes ago.”
Everyone went still.
The account was being accessed right now.
Marcus traced the login.
His expression changed.
“Where?”
He looked at Damian.
“The mansion.”
Damian’s phone rang at the same moment.
Mrs. Alvarez.
He answered.
No greeting came.
Only her frightened whisper.
“Mr. Cross, Vincent is inside the house.”
May you like
Then something crashed.
And the line went dead.
