Chapter 4

My phone started ringing like crazy.

It was Alex.

I answered the call.

Alex's voice exploded through the phone, furious and unhinged. "Charlotte, did you investigate me? How dare you? Did you go to the hospital? What did you do to Carson?

"I'm warning you, don't push me. I'll cut off your mother's medication right now. I'll make sure she pays for what you've done."

I didn't say a word. I let him talk.

I waited until he had exhausted himself, breathing heavily on the other end. Only then did I speak, my voice calm. "Alex, look behind you."

Alex was still losing it, ranting like a madman. "Charlotte, are you listening? Do you think I'm messing around with you?"

With my phone in hand, I walked over to the window, watching the hospital parking lot below.

Alex was standing beside his car, phone in one hand and the other waving wildly as he shouted. He looked like a lunatic.

My voice came through loud and clear over the phone. "Alex, you really need to look behind you."

He froze for a second, like he didn't get what I was saying.

Right then, two black cars pulled up behind him and blocked his car from both sides.

The doors swung open, and four big men in black suits and sunglasses got out and surrounded him.

I knew the man leading them. He was Michael's head of security, Felix.

The smug look disappeared from Alex's face. He finally realized what was happening and turned around, terrified, as the men came toward him.

"Who are you? What do you want?" His voice was shaking.

I hadn't hung up. I spoke softly into the phone. "Those guys? They're with me. Alex, you threatened to stop my mom's medication.

"Well, I'm giving you the chance now. Go ahead. Let's see if you can get past them before they break your neck."

Alex's phone slipped from his hand and hit the pavement. His legs gave out, and he collapsed against the car door, cold sweat soaking through his shirt.

Felix picked up the phone, bowed his head a little, and said, "Ms. Quinn, we've got him."

"Keep an eye on him," I said.

"Got it."

I hung up, feeling drained.

Michael caught me as I swayed. "Leave the rest to me."

I nodded.

*****

By dawn, the team of medical specialists Michael had flown in from Lorenca arrived. They were led by Max, one of the world's foremost authorities in cardiac surgery.

Diego had been waiting at the hospital all night, and when he finally saw the legendary Max, he was so overwhelmed that he nearly fell.

The specialists wasted no time. They immediately took over my mother's examinations and treatment.

When Carson was brought in by two security guards, he still looked half-asleep. However, the moment he saw Diego, Michael, me, and a group of foreign specialists gathered outside my mother's room, he went still.

"Mr. Parker, what's going on?" he muttered.

Diego wiped the cold sweat from his brow, scrambling for words.

I walked over. "Morning, Dr. Wright."

"Mrs. Carter," Carson stammered, his eyes darting away. "Didn't expect you here this early."

"My mom wasn't doing well last night, so we brought in a team of top international specialists for a second opinion," I said, my voice steady and flat.

"A second opinion?" Carson's face went pale. "Th-there's no need for that. I know Mrs. Quinn's condition better than anyone. She's been stable this whole time."

"Really?" I sneered. "Stable enough to need the highest doses of imported medication? Stable enough for you to tell Alex that increasing the dosage any further would kill her?"

Carson's legs buckled, and he nearly collapsed right there. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't?" I tossed the notebook at his face. "Then you should recognize this, right?"

When Carson saw his diary, his eyes widened in horror, and he went pale.

"And this." I threw a copy of his fake medical license at his chest. "Dr. Wright? No. I think I should call you a fraud. When you got someone killed at that cosmetic surgery clinic, did you ever think you'd get caught like this?"

The doctors and nurses around us erupted in shocked whispers.

Diego looked like he was about to pass out right then and there.

Carson broke down. He collapsed to the ground and started crying. "Mrs. Carter, please, it was Alex. He forced me to do it.

"He threatened me with what happened in my past and forced me to falsify Mrs. Quinn's medical records and take advantage of you. He promised me a fortune if I did what he said. I didn't have a choice."

"Was it his idea to crank up the dosage?" I asked coldly.

"Yes," Carson sobbed, tears streaming down his face. "He said that as long as Mrs. Quinn remained sick, you'd have to keep doing whatever he told you. He said that if it ever came to it, we could—"

"Could what?" Michael's voice was cold enough to freeze the air.

Carson shuddered, too terrified to say another word.

Right then, Max and his team came out of the room.

He took off his mask and looked at me seriously. "Mrs. Carter, we have the preliminary results.

"Your mother does have a heart problem, but it's relatively minor. It's nowhere near as serious as the earlier records made it seem.

"She never needed treatment this aggressive, and she certainly didn't need all those medications. Her body has been dealing with years of unnecessary medication."

Max's words hit me hard. They were also devastating for Carson and Diego.

Max continued, "To put it simply, if we hadn't caught this in time, she might not have died from her illness. She might have been killed by her treatment."

The whole hallway went dead silent. I looked down at Carson on the ground, feeling nothing but fury toward him.

"Call the police," I told Felix.

Carson slumped to the floor like a man whose entire world had collapsed.

After everything was finally over, I was about to catch my breath when a sharp, vicious voice I knew all too well came from the elevator. "Charlotte, you little bitch. What did you do to my son?"

It was Alex's mother, my mother-in-law, Avery Carter. She came charging toward me like a storm.

Her face was twisted with rage as she lunged at me, trying to grab my hair. "Are you crazy? How dare you lay a finger on my son? I'll beat you up. You're nothing but a useless wife who can't give him a child."