“You lied to me. You touched my child. If you ever come near him again, I’ll bury you in lawsuits.”
He hung up.
The Doubt
But the days that followed felt wrong.
Timothy’s progress stalled. The light faded from his eyes.
And Marcus couldn’t reconcile the woman in those documents with the woman he had seen kneel on a gym floor, celebrating every inch of progress.
His business instincts told him something didn’t add up.
He hired his top private investigator.
“Find the truth,” Marcus ordered. “Not headlines. Facts.”
Forty-eight hours later, the investigator returned pale.
“The anonymous email?” he said. “It came from Dr. Patricia Hendrix’s office. Emma’s former supervisor.”
“And?”
“She was framed.”
The real story was ugly.
Emma had developed a groundbreaking neurological treatment. Her superior wanted the patent—and the credit. When Emma refused, Hendrix sabotaged a patient’s treatment and falsified records to pin the catastrophe on her.
Emma lost her license. Her reputation. Everything.
Marcus felt sick.
He had destroyed her all over again.
The Bus Station
By the time he tracked her down, Emma was boarding a bus out of the city.
“Emma!” he shouted across the terminal.