Chapter 8 - The Exposure of Julianna
The next morning,
the medical board convened an emergency session in the main conference room of the hospital.
The atmosphere was tense,
the heavy oak table surrounded by the senior chiefs of medicine,
the legal counsel,
and the hospital director.
I sat at the head of the table,
my posture perfect,
wearing a new,
pristine white coat that had never been touched by anyone else.
Across from me sat Julianna,
her eyes red from crying,
accompanied by a public defender who looked entirely out of his depth.
Bennett was not there,
his access to the hospital had been officially revoked at midnight,
leaving him to watch his world crumble from a distance.
"Doctor Morrow,"
the hospital director began,
clearing his throat,
"we have reviewed the security logs and the forensic IT report."
"And what are your findings,
Director?"
I asked,
my voice steady and professional.
"It appears that Julianna Vance,"
he said,
looking at her with deep disapproval,
"has been accessing restricted clinical trials using cloned credentials for over ninety days."
"She was doing it under the instruction of Bennett Cross,"
her lawyer spoke up quickly,
"my client was misled into believing she was acting as an authorized liaison."
"Misled?"
I asked,
looking directly at Julianna,
"were you also misled when you signed your name to my research papers as a co-author?"
Julianna looked down,
unable to meet my gaze,
her fingers nervously tearing at a tissue in her lap.
"The academic fraud is clear,"
the director continued,
"and the hospital will be filing formal charges for identity theft and corporate espionage."
"I didn't mean to hurt anyone,"
Julianna whispered,
a single tear escaping her eye,
"Bennett told me that Vivienne was retiring,
and that the technology would belong to us anyway."
"I am thirty-eight years old,
Julianna,"
I said,
my voice cold as ice,
"I am at the peak of my surgical career,
and I have never once mentioned retirement."
"He lied to me,"
she sobbed,
"about everything."
"He lied to both of us,"
I agreed,
"but you chose to help him steal from the patients who depend on this research."
The board voted unanimously to terminate her employment immediately,
and to refer her case to the state medical licensing board to ensure she would never work in healthcare again.
As she was escorted out of the room by security,
she looked at me,
her face filled with a mixture of anger and deep regret.
"You think you've won,
Vivienne?"
she spat,
her tears turning to venom,
"Bennett will never let you go,
he will destroy you before he lets you walk away with his money."
"He has no money left,
Julianna,"
I said,
"and as for me,
I was never his to keep."
The heavy doors closed,
May you like
and the room fell silent once more,
the air finally clearing of the deceit that had poisoned it for so long.
