Chapter 3 - The Conspiracy Unravels
By noon, the Hawthorne Memorial administration was in full rebellion against its own disgraced golden boy.
When Vanessa Cole arrived for her morning shift in the labor and delivery unit, she expected to slip quietly into her routine. Instead, she was intercepted at the employee entrance by two security guards and escorted directly to the executive boardroom on the tenth floor.
Waiting for her wasn't just security. It was Richard Prescott, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Vance, and two local police detectives.
Vanessa tossed her head back, trying to project a cool, unbothered facade. “What is the meaning of this? I’m on duty in ten minutes. If this is about Dr. Prescott, his personal life has nothing to do with—hmpf!”
She stopped as Richard slid a printed stack of text messages and financial wire receipts across the polished mahogany table.
“Let’s talk about your personal life, Nurse Cole,” Richard said coldly. “Specifically, the twenty-five thousand dollars wired from an offshore account controlled by Owen Prescott into your personal savings last month. Or perhaps we can discuss the text messages where you and Dr. Prescott discussed how to acquire pharmaceutical-grade herbal compounds without triggering hospital audits.”
Vanessa’s face drained of color. Her bravado shattered instantly.
“That’s—that’s circumstantial—!” she stammered, her hands shaking as she gripped the edge of her lab coat.
“It’s wire fraud, conspiracy to commit assault, and professional malpractice,” Detective Miller from the Pittsburgh Police Department added calmly, standing up and pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from his belt. “Stand up, Ms. Cole. You have the right to remain silent.”
As Vanessa was led out of the boardroom in tears, the doors opened to reveal Owen standing in the hallway, looking like a ghost. He had tried to sneak into the building, hoping to salvage his career, only to watch his partner in crime hauled away by the police.
Owen stared at his father through the glass partition.
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Richard didn't even flinch. He stood up, walked to the glass door, and looked at his son with absolute, unforgiving disgust.
“It’s over, Owen,” Richard said through the intercom. “The police have the lab reports. They have the financial records. And your wife has retained the finest litigators in Pennsylvania. You aren't just fired from this hospital. You’re going to spend the next twenty years behind bars.”
