Chapter 5: Blacklisted
311 words
The scalpel had saved her life, but it had taken another chunk of her dignity. Elena sat on a stained mattress in a studio apartment the size of a closet, the only place she could afford with the cash she’d pawned her engagement ring for. A taped-up bandage covered the crater in her cheek where the county doctor had carved out the rot. She was alive, but she was disfigured, destitute, and furious.
She spent the morning dialing every major law firm in the city. Her fingers ached from gripping the cheap prepaid phone.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Vance," the receptionist at unparalleled firm monumental Law said, her voice icy. "Dr. Thorne is a valued client. We have a conflict of interest."
Click.
She tried another. "Medical malpractice lawyer needed," she had typed into the search bar, desperate. But the result was the same. "Conflict of interest." "We don't take cases against the Thorne Clinic." "He’s a donor to our partner’s charity."
Thorne wasn't just a doctor; he was an institution. He had bought the city’s legal system with the same money he’d stolen from patients like her. Elena threw the phone onto the thin blanket. She was blacklisted. She had no money for a retainer, and no one would take a contingency case against a giant.
A knock at the door made her jump. She pulled her scarf up, hiding the bandage. "Who is it?"
A courier slid a thick envelope under the door. No return address.
Elena tore it open. It wasn't an offer of settlement. It was a formal legal document, heavy on bond paper.
CEASE AND DESIST.
Dr. Thorne was suing her. The letter claimed she was spreading "malicious falsehoods" regarding his practice and demanded $5 million in damages for defamation. He was trying to crush her before she could even stand up.
End of Chapter 5
