Mark looked at Tiffany.
Then at Katherine.
Then at the brown stain across his wife’s white suit.
Katherine did not speak. She did not have to. She stood in the center of the lobby like a judge waiting for a guilty man to remember he still had a conscience.
Mark yanked his arm out of Tiffany’s grip.
“I don’t know this woman,” he said.
Tiffany froze.
The lobby gasped.
Mark turned to Katherine, hands rising as if he could hold the moment together by force. “Honey, this is obviously some delusional intern. I have no idea why she would say that.”
Tiffany stared at him as if he had slapped her.
“You don’t know me?” she whispered.
Mark’s eyes flashed with warning. “No.”
“You were in my apartment last night.”
“Tiffany,” he hissed.
“You bought me that apartment!” she screamed, her humiliation exploding into rage. “You told me your wife was cold, boring, useless. You said once you got control of her shares, you’d divorce her and marry me!”
Mark lunged toward her. David caught him by the shoulder and shoved him back.
“Touch her again,” David said coldly, “and I’ll make sure security adds assault to the list.”
Katherine opened her purse and removed a folded document. At the same moment, Arthur Vance, her attorney, stepped through the crowd with a thick file in his hand.
“Madam Chairwoman,” Arthur said.
The title rippled through the lobby.
Madam Chairwoman.
Tiffany looked as if the floor had vanished beneath her.
Katherine took the file and threw it at Mark’s feet. Bank statements, transfer records, hotel receipts, and property documents scattered across the marble.
“Two million dollars,” Katherine said. “Transferred from a shell account connected to the MRI procurement budget into an account used to purchase Tiffany’s condo.”
Mark’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.
David lifted a tablet. “The German supplier confirmed this morning that Apex never paid for the MRI system or the ventilators. No shipment is coming. No equipment was ordered. Patients were put at risk because hospital money was used to fund your affair.”
The lobby was no longer a lobby.
It was a courtroom.
Mark sank to his knees.
“Katherine,” he choked. “Please. Ten years. We’ve been married ten years. I made a mistake.”
“A mistake?” Katherine asked. “You stole money meant to save lives.”
“I can fix it.”
“You humiliated our marriage.”
“I was weak.”
“You let your mistress threaten the people who built this hospital.”
“I’ll do anything.”
Katherine looked down at the man she had once defended, promoted, forgiven, and loved. All she felt now was the cold, clean emptiness that comes after a fire burns everything false away.
“Yes,” she said. “You will.”
She turned to the crowd.
“My name is Katherine Hayes. I am the controlling shareholder and chairwoman of Apex Medical Group. Effective immediately, Mark Thompson is terminated as CEO for ethical violations and suspected felony embezzlement. Security will escort him from the premises. Our legal department will cooperate fully with law enforcement.”
Two security guards moved forward. Mark did not resist. His face had collapsed into something small and gray.
Katherine looked at Tiffany next.
“Miss Jones, your internship is terminated for gross misconduct. You will also be required to cooperate with investigators regarding stolen hospital funds used for your benefit.”
Tiffany began sobbing. “Please. Mark manipulated me.”
“You chose to threaten an old man,” Katherine said. “You chose to throw coffee. You chose to brag about power that was never yours.”
Tiffany covered her face as security led her away.
For a moment, the only sound was the distant beeping of medical monitors and the ordinary life of the hospital trying to resume around them.
Then applause began.
A nurse near the cardiology desk. Then another. Then Henry, wiping his eyes with trembling fingers. Soon the whole lobby was clapping—not because a scandal had happened, but because, for once, someone powerful had been forced to answer for it.