Chapter 5 No.5

The silence in the room was suffocating, broken only by the faint, rhythmic ticking of the Patek Philippe watch on Jakobe's left wrist.

Less than five minutes later, Dr. Holloway, the vice director of the clinic, rushed into the room, sweating profusely. A.C. Rowe stood right behind him. The doctor looked at the Wall Street predator sitting in the chair, his hands actually shaking as he opened a medical file.

Audra sat up straight, panic rising in her throat. "Doctor! Under the HIPAA privacy rule, you cannot disclose my medical records to anyone without my explicit consent!"

A dark, humorless smirk touched Jakobe's lips, his jaw tightening as he processed the doctor's pathetic attempt to hide behind policy. He turned his head slowly, his eyes cutting into the doctor like surgical steel.

"I am her legal husband," Jakobe said softly. "I am also the majority shareholder of the firm currently buying your parent company. What do you think, Doctor?"

Faced with absolute capitalist power, Dr. Holloway folded instantly. He read the entire surgical report out loud: Retina tear. Successful repair. Seven days of mandatory blindness.

When Jakobe heard that Audra had checked herself in completely alone, with zero emergency contacts listed, his thick eyebrows pulled together. His logical brain hit a massive error. She was a Mcgowan, heir to a massive grocery empire. Why was she discarded here like trash?

He didn't ask her. He just gave orders.

"Move her to the penthouse VIP suite immediately," Jakobe commanded. "Maximum security."

"I don't need an upgrade!" Audra yelled, gripping the sheets. "I am discharging myself tomorrow!"

Jakobe stood up and looked down at her bandaged face. "You can't even walk to the sink without falling over. I won't have my name attached to this embarrassment."

Half an hour later, Audra was forcibly relocated. The new VIP suite was massive, the air smelling of expensive lavender diffusers instead of bleach. The nurses carefully placed her belongings on the bedside table, including her phone.

Jakobe ordered everyone out. The heavy door clicked shut. They were alone again.

He walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, put his hands in his pockets, and stared out at the Manhattan skyline, trying to figure out why he was wasting his time here.

At that exact moment, Audra's phone screen lit up, a loud chime announcing a new voicemail.

Audra reached out, her fingers trembling, wanting to unlock the phone to delete it. But her thumb slipped, and she accidentally double-tapped the accessibility shortcut.

The phone's VoiceOver feature activated, immediately playing the voicemail on maximum speaker volume. Herminia's shrill, toxic voice exploded into the quiet room.

"You are completely useless, Audra!" Herminia's voice screamed from the speaker. "You can't even keep a man's attention!"

Audra gasped. She clawed at the phone, trying to press the power button, but her hands were shaking too badly.

"When you get out of that clinic, you put on a dress and you go to his bed," Herminia's voice continued, dripping with venom. "Use your body. Do whatever it takes to get Jakobe to inject capital into Homestead! You are a tool for this family. If you can't get his money, you are worth nothing!"

The audio cut off. Audra finally managed to crush the power button, and the phone went dead. But the words had already poisoned the air.

Her face turned completely ashen, the blood draining from her cheeks. A wave of humiliation so massive it felt like a physical crushing weight slammed into her chest. She wanted to throw herself out the window. She wanted to die.

By the window, Jakobe slowly turned around. His eyes were pitch black as he stared at the woman sitting frozen on the bed.

He finally understood. He understood why she was alone, why she acted like a cornered animal every time he got near her.

He didn't mock her. He didn't use the moment to humiliate her further. He just stood there in absolute silence, watching her chest heave as she silently broke apart.

Deep inside his chest, beneath layers of data and profit margins, a strange, irrational ache began to bloom.