Chapter 6 - The Lobby Becomes a Boardroom
Apex’s lobby had hosted donors, governors, grieving families, medical breakthroughs, and press conferences. That morning, it became something sharper: a witness room.
The head of security arrived first. Then the chief nursing officer. Then legal counsel, summoned by a nurse who had quietly recorded the incident from the reception desk after Tiffany began filming patients. No one yelled. No one needed to. The institution Katherine’s father built had procedures for contamination, privacy violations, staff abuse, workplace misconduct, and executive ethics.
Tiffany had just triggered several.
“Her phone,” David said to security. “She was filming in the lobby during active patient care.”
Tiffany clutched it to her chest. “You can’t take my property.”
Legal counsel stepped forward. “We can require preservation of material related to a privacy violation and workplace incident.”
Tiffany looked at Mark. “Do something.”
Mark did not.
Katherine turned to Henry. “Did Miss Jones threaten you?”
Henry’s voice shook. “She said Mr. Thompson would have me removed if I complained.”
The words landed heavily.
Katherine looked at Mark.
He rubbed his forehead. “I never authorized that.”
“No,” Katherine said. “You only created the impression that she could say it.”
Tiffany began crying then, but even her tears seemed strategic, appearing exactly when power moved away from her. “Mark told me you two were separated.”
A murmur moved through the staff.
Katherine’s expression did not change.
“Did he?”
Tiffany nodded, wiping her face. “He said you were only chairwoman on paper. That he was the real authority.”
Mark closed his eyes.
There it was.
Not just an affair.
Not just a spoiled intern.
A narrative.
May you like
A little throne Mark had built for himself while Katherine was overseas.
And Tiffany had been foolish enough to announce it in the lobby.
