Chapter 27: The Acquisition
230 words
The limousine ride was smooth, but Elena’s mind was racing with figures. Thorne’s desperate measures in the rain had confirmed he was at the breaking point. She pulled out her tablet. The urgent care center where he was currently hiding out—'SpeedyHealth'—was failing.
She tapped a few icons. The transfer of funds was instantaneous.
The next morning, the fluorescent lights of SpeedyHealth hummed with an annoying buzzing sound. Thorne marched in, shaking his wet umbrella, ready to bark orders at the nurses.
"Get me a coffee," he snapped at the head nurse.
"I don't work for you anymore, Marcus," she said, not looking up. "And neither do you, technically, unless you sign the new contract."
Thorne snatched the paper from her desk. Hostile takeover. The words glared at him. The new owner was 'Vance Holdings.'
Elena stepped out of the back office, the red of her suit cutting through the drab beige of the clinic.
"We're restructuring," she said, her voice echoing in the small space. "I need someone to handle the intake forms. It requires attention to detail. Something you've always lacked."
"You can't be serious," Thorne hissed. "I am a surgeon."
"You're an employee," Elena corrected, pointing to the front desk. "Sit down, answer the phones, and if I hear you were rude to a single patient, you're fired for cause. Welcome to employee demotion."
End of Chapter 27
