Chapter 1 - The Screen of Ruin
Twenty feet below the glass walkway, Jack Vance looked as though he had just been struck by lightning. The phone in his hand trembled so violently he almost dropped it onto the polished airport floor. Beside him, the blonde woman—whose name was Vanessa, the newly appointed pharmaceutical rep at his clinic—put a hand on his arm, her perfect smile faltering.
"Jack? Honey, what's wrong?" Vanessa asked, her voice carrying up toward the terminal rafters.
Jack didn't answer. He couldn't. His eyes were glued to the screen, which was rapidly cascading with legal notifications, bank alerts, and asset freeze confirmations.
Before Jack had met Megan ten years ago, he was a struggling resident drowning in medical school debt. Megan had introduced herself as a simple freelance accountant. What Jack, his mother Carol, and his sister Ashley never bothered to discover was that Megan’s maiden name was Megan Sterling, the sole heiress to Sterling Medical Holdings—the multi-billion-dollar conglomerate that funded the very hospital network Jack worked for, and the outright owner of the private practice he operated.
"Jack?" Carol stepped forward, pulling down her designer sunglasses, her brow furrowing. "The board is calling for Zone 2. What's taking so long?"
"Mom..." Jack’s voice was a strangled wheeze. He showed her the screen.
An email from the Chief Medical Officer of Dallas Memorial read: Dr. Vance, effective immediately, your medical license and surgical privileges are suspended pending a forensic investigation into corporate embezzlement and unauthorized pharmaceutical kickbacks.
Right below it was a text from his private bank: Your access to the corporate lines of credit has been revoked by the primary guarantor, Sterling Holdings. Balance due: $1.4 Million.
"What is this?!" Carol hissed, her face contorting in instant panic. "This has to be a glitch! Call the bank!"
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"It's not a glitch, Carol," a voice echoed from the top of the escalator.
They all turned. Walking down the steps with absolute elegance, wearing a tailored trench coat and dark sunglasses, was Megan. She wasn't crying. She wasn't shouting. She radiated the terrifying, unshakeable aura of a woman who owned the ground they were standing on.
