Chapter 11
June
A phone call.
How could a single phone call make me feel both blessed and cursed at the same time?
Liam picked up within two rings—just before I could chicken out and hang up.
His face didn’t appear yet, but I could already imagine his neat hair, the thin-rimmed glasses that made him look ten years older than he actually was.
My chest tightened. Relief and anxiety tangled together as he answered so quickly.
“Sorry, did I wake you?” It was the first thing that tumbled out, the safest line before diving into what I really needed to say.
“Are you okay?” His voice came through clear, edged with concern. “Are you… in trouble?” The second question was softer—like he already feared the answer.
“No, Liam, I’m not in trouble.”
A faint sigh of relief seemed to slip through the speaker. Or maybe it was just my imagination—wishful thinking that he still cared enough to worry.
“What do you need?” he asked, straight to business. Typical Liam.
“How do I treat someone in a Malaysian hospital?”
“Government or privately owned?”
“Private.”
“It could take a few months,” he said. “But I can ask someone I know to fast-track it for you.”
“Like now?” My voice lifted, betraying a flicker of desperate hope.
He chuckled faintly. “No, not that fast. A few weeks at best.”
“Oh…” The word fell out of me like deflation.
“Who is it?”
“What?”
“Put your video on,” he said. ”Let me see you.”
Hesitation gripped me. No bruises, no tears—still, my thumb hovered over the camera button. When his face appeared on the screen, I saw the faint lines of worry around his eyes.
“There you are.”
“Hi, brother.”
“Hey.” He tilted his head, studying me through the grainy camera. “Is that someone you care about?”
“Yes,” I said slowly. “And he saved my life.” I prayed silently he wouldn’t press for details. That part of the story was one I wasn’t ready to uncover.
“I see,” he murmured. “And now you feel the need to save him.”
“Yes.” The word was small but heavy.
He leaned back slightly, thinking. “Can you tell me more about his case? And where exactly you are?”
So I did. I told him about Dannie—what happened, what I’d discovered in his chart, how he’d collapsed, and how powerless I felt in a system that wasn’t mine.
“Are you sure it’s wise to intervene?” He asked quietly. “It sounds like you might be too close to him.”
“He’s just a friend.” The lie felt hollow even to me, but I didn’t know how else to define what Dannie had become.
A moment of silence before I burst into a reckless question, “Is there any way we could… get control of a hospital in Malaysia?”
He blinked, clearly taken aback.
“You mean… buy the hospital?”
A head shake came first, followed by a conflicted nod. “Maybe. Can we afford it?”
“Well, the group’s always looking for expansion opportunities.”
“Yes, that’s right.” I leaned back, remembering those endless boardroom meetings—coffee gone cold, powerpoint slides that blurred together, heated discussions about markets we’d never enter.
“The Asian project,” I murmured. “Wasn’t there talk about working with the Chinese?
But it didn’t happen. Covid ruined it, right? ”
“Yes, but uhh…” He paused. Once. Twice. Like he was stalling for time.
“It was Covid that ruined it, right?” I pressed. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“I killed the project.”
“You?” My brows knitted so tightly I saw the line between them in the screen reflection. “Why?”
“I found out who was behind it.”
“Who?” My patience thinned. “Liam, please don’t do that thing again—half-telling me something like it’s a riddle. Just say it.”
He exhaled sharply. “Lincoln’s friend. The one who gave a bag of cash for your birthday.”
“Kai?”
“Yes, that’s who.”
“So what? Why does that matter?”
“Honestly, June—you really don’t remember the terms of that deal?
” His tone sharpened, frustration mixing with disbelief.
“Didn’t you think it was odd that they named you specifically to head their Chinese headquarters?
We offered them other doctors—just as good, more experienced—but no, they wanted you. ”
I snorted softly. “Because I was the best.” The words came out proud, defensive—and the moment I heard myself, I cringed. I sounded like the woman the media painted me to be: confident to the point of arrogance.
“Yes,” Liam said flatly, “but he wanted you for himself.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Gosh, June, you have no idea how men think, do you?”
I scoffed. The irony wasn’t lost on me—my brother, who’d never even been on a date, lecturing me about men.
“Oh please,” I shot back, “what would you know about men?”
“Come on,” he groaned. “You should’ve seen the first time he met you. He practically drooled. And that cash? What the hell was that? Did he think he could buy your affection?”
He leaned closer to the camera, his expression hardening. “Maybe he did.”
I pressed on, refusing to let him change the subject. “What exactly did Kai have to do with the Asian project, Liam?”
He hesitated, gaze darting away from the camera. “It’s complicated.”
“Try me,” my tone was sharper than I meant it to be. “You said you killed the project because of him. Why?”
“Because he was the silent investor.” He exhaled, long and tight. “The one funding the hospital in China.”
I froze. “What?”
“Yeah. Through a few shell companies and offshore accounts, but the trail led back to him.”
“Kai? Are you sure?”
“I double-checked everything myself.” He leaned closer to the screen, voice low. “He was pouring money into that hospital like it was a personal mission. And guess what? The board only agreed to move forward after he requested you to lead it.”
My heart pounded, slow and heavy. “So all that talk about me being the best—”
“Wasn’t entirely wrong,” Liam cut in softly, “but it wasn’t the only reason.”
Why did he do that?
Was Kai trying to own me in some way?
A deep breath rushed out, my head shaking as though it could dislodge the shock clinging to my chest. Now wasn’t the time to think about him.
Not again.
“No,” I said quickly, forcing a weak smile, “you just reminded me we took a detour from why I called in the first place.”
A muttered curse slipped out under my breath. How did I let Kai snake his way back into my life again and again, even when he wasn’t here?
He adjusted his glasses, guilt flickering in his eyes. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have told you that.”
But I wasn’t sorry. Not even close. Some part of me was relieved to finally know the truth—about the project, about what Liam thought of Kai. At last, the pieces fit together.
“Can you put Malaysia on the radar? Can we actually buy a hospital here? This one, specifically. Can you make it happen? Can you—”
“June—” he cut in, tone weary, “you’re asking a lot.”
“I know,” I said quickly, softening. “I know, I just—”
“You know what time it is here?” he asked, stifling a yawn.
A frown tugged at my brow as I realized I had no idea what time it was on his end.
His yawn wasn’t just exhaustion—it was his polite way of saying this conversation ends here. He was going to bed, and whether he’d actually help me or not was anyone’s guess.
It sounded like he needed persuasion. And I could give him that.
“Liam,” I said, leaning closer to the screen, “I’m… we’re doing this for Dannie. He’s the one who broke all the rules and sold the PPE to us when no one else would. Without him, maybe we wouldn’t have made it through. You, me, Dad… we all could’ve died.”
That caught his attention. His glasses slipped slightly down his nose, and for a moment, the brother in him surfaced—the one who still carried guilt from the early pandemic years.
“If Dad’s not on board,” I added, voice low and steady, “then tell him it’s for Dannie Wu. He’s spoken to him before. He’ll remember.”
“June…” His tone softened, but there was a warning buried in it. “Do you realize that your sabbatical would be over if Dad got involved?”
He studied me quietly, searching for cracks in my resolve. There were none. Not when it came to this.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he finally answered, his voice subdued.
Relief flooded me, heavy and warm. “Thank you, Liam.”
“On one condition…”
A groan escaped me. “Please, not you too. You sound just like Link.”
“Well,” he said, adjusting his tone, serious now, “Link asked me to tell you to call him if you ever reached out to me.”
“I’d rather not,” I muttered, though a sliver of doubt snaked its way in. “Any idea what it’s about?”
His sigh stretched through the line, long and loaded.
My stomach flipped with it.
“So you do know,” I said sharply. “Can you please just tell me? I’m not in the mood for another life lesson from Link.”
“I hate to do this,” he murmured, his gaze drifting. Both of us knew that whatever he was holding back, I’d find out eventually. I waited, pulse tight in my throat.
“Okay,” he said finally. “You ready?”
“Yes. Since yesterday,” I deadpanned.
He rolled his eyes. “Listen, I don’t really get what you see in him. I hated him the first time I met him—sleazy, cocky, full of himself—”
“Liam, get to the point!” I snapped, patience fraying. The Malaysian sun beat down on me, making my skin sting. I hadn’t even put on sunscreen this morning.
“Lincoln’s best friend—Kai—he’s in some kind of trouble. Missing, or maybe held captive. You know, the kind of mess rich billionaire guys find themselves in.”
My breath caught. “What?”
He looked almost sheepish. “Yeah. That.”
“Wait—why didn’t you start with that when I called?”
“Your thing sounded more urgent.”
“Yes,” I said, nodding too fast. “Maybe. But no.” A conflicted motion pulled through me—first a refusal, then a reluctant nod.
Dannie’s life was important—he’d saved mine. But Kai’s? That hit differently. Deeply.
Did Liam know? About Kai and me? Did he disapprove?
“Besides,” Liam continued, “you don’t handle emotions well. I wasn’t sure how to tell you.”
So he did know.
His words echoed, heavy in the silence between us.
“I know I cry over silly movies,” I said, voice cracking, “but don’t you think I deserve to know something like this? About him?”