Chapter Eighteen #3
“Each one of those five patients had died within three weeks of their completed cancer treatment at the clinic. Cancer patients do die, so it wasn’t necessarily strange that so many patients had died within a small timeframe.
But my friend noted that the types of cancer each one of these people had were pretty treatable.
Most patients who were diagnosed with them were treated and remained cancer free for the rest of their lives. ”
Colton’s stomach began to sink as she continued her story. In his experience, when shit didn’t add up, there was usually a very human and often intentional reason behind it. And the places Seneca’s story had his naturally suspicious mind traveling filled him with dread.
“My friend also noted something else that didn’t sit right with her.
With cancers like these, the standard practice was to treat them hard and fast. Be aggressive out the gate and irradiate them before they had a chance to worsen.
However, what these charts indicated was that the therapy was aggressive for an excessive, almost continual amount of time that went well beyond what most would consider the therapeutic protocol.
When I asked her what that meant she said one of three things.
The doctor was either being overly zealous in their treatment of these patients, they were negligent and didn’t know what they were doing, or they knew exactly what they were doing and over-treating on purpose to commit insurance fraud. ”
She stood up, walking behind the armchair, and paced back and forth as she continued.
“I went back into the clinic’s network to get more evidence.
And more and more, it appeared that my friend was right.
This was intentional. The head of the clinic was intentionally over-treating patients and bilking insurance companies.
Between what the clinic pulled in from the insurance fraud, research grants and donations, and professional opportunities that were all based on false data crafted to inflate success rates, the head of the trial was bringing in an average of five million dollars per patient. ”
“Shit.” His response drew a humorless smile from her. “After being in combat and coming back stateside to work in the rangers, I thought I’d seen the worst of what humanity had to offer.”
“No,” she added dryly. “People are still trash.”
He couldn’t disagree with her. Especially after listening to her story.
“If you had this proof, why not send it to the authorities? Even if they couldn’t have used those specific case files because they were collected without a warrant, they certainly would’ve been enough to start an investigation and get you immunity.
Why wait until you were caught to try to bring these things to light? ”
She laughed, thick and full as if he’d said something amusing.
“I wasn’t caught, Colton. I was sold out.
” She shook her head, as if she were mentally chastising herself.
“I was dating a man named Travis at the time.” The mention of another man in her life made him cringe inside.
He wasn’t arrogant enough to believe no other man had come before him or that no other man should’ve come before him.
But knowing that didn’t mean he wanted to hear about it.
“You know that TLC song ‘No Scrubs’?” He nodded and she continued.
“As far as I’m concerned, they wrote that song about Travis.
He’d made a career of getting women to take care of him.
And since I was young enough to believe good sex and chemistry was enough to keep a relationship going, I didn’t have as much of a problem with his scrub mentality as I should have. ”
She shrugged before continuing. “Neither the clinic nor the authorities ever knew I was in the clinic’s network.
I covered my tracks too well. Travis wanted me to keep some of the money I’d reallocated, and I refused.
Consequently, he went to the head of the clinic, offering him info on his stolen cash for a finder’s fee.
That tip allowed this shady oncologist to get to the authorities before I could and press charges against me.
Even still, I could’ve walked, by simply putting the money back without anyone’s notice and making it look like a computer glitch. ”
He scratched his beard, letting his fingers settle on his chin as he tried to process her statement. “Why didn’t you?”
She locked gazes with him, certainty and bravery brightening her brown eyes and straightening her shoulders. “Because giving the money back wouldn’t have helped those families who’d lost people because of someone else’s greed.”
He stood then, walking slowly toward her as understanding dawned on him. He cupped her cheek and used his thumb to stroke the soft surface of her skin. “You gave that money to the victims’ families, didn’t you?”
She stepped back and shrugged a shoulder. “Did I say that?”
“You didn’t have to.” It was written all over her face with the lifted brow and the satisfied smile gracing her lips. “But if you went to prison, whatever happened to the doctor at the clinic? Is he still in practice?”
She waved a finger back and forth. “I anonymously sent the files to the state medical board who was duty-bound to present it to the FBI. His license was revoked and he’s still serving time in connection with his crimes.”
He chuckled at those just deserts. “As much as I hate you were caught up in all this mess, I’m not mad that charlatan got what was coming to him. You really are amazing.”
He went to reach for her again. He needed her closer, needed to touch her after learning all she’d sacrificed.
But just as his fingers were about to wrap around her arms to pull her to him, she stepped out of his grasp.
He narrowed his gaze and saw sadness creeping onto her face, drawing her mouth into a flat line.
“Yes, I am amazing. And if you could see past my conviction for once, you would’ve recognized a long time ago that there’s more to me than my rap sheet.”
“Seneca—”
She held up her hand, silencing him. “I’ll admit I fucked up by getting involved with Holden, even after you told me not to.
But the reason we are standing here arguing isn’t because I made a bad choice.
It’s because to you, it’s just one more bad decision in a long line of many.
And since you didn’t know squat about me before you were assigned the Restoration Ranch case nearly two months ago, the only thing you could’ve based that assumption on is my arrest and conviction record. ”
Scrubbing a hand down his face, he breathed a heavy sigh as he tried to expel the regret he could swear was clogging up his lungs, making his chest tight.
“I’m sorry, Seneca. I never meant to judge you. I was wrong and I can admit that. But even though I was wrong about all of this, I was still right about Hastings and Holden. And no matter how mad you get at me, I will never apologize for trying to protect you.”
She threw up a hand in the air. “You know that’s not really an apology when you add a justification on to the end of it, right?”
He stepped closer to her, hoping like hell she wouldn’t run away from him again. “I know that, and I’ll accept the consequences of that once you’re safe. But right now, I need to protect you. I just need you to trust me so I can help you.”
Her chuckle was dry and rigid, and she shook her head. “You’ve got a lot of fucking nerve asking me that.”
She moved to turn away and he grabbed her arm to keep her in front of him.
“I know I haven’t earned it, but please,” he begged.
“I need you to trust me.” The stiffness in her arm relaxed and she turned to face him again.
“I promised I’d help with Hastings. If everything goes well, you’ll never have to deal with him or Holden again. ”
“How? How are you going to help?”
His phone vibrated, pulling his attention away to see a text from Jackson telling him to get to the main house ASAP.
“I don’t have time to explain any of this, Seneca. There’s a lot of shit happening right now and I gotta get back to the main house. Please,” he reiterated, “trust me.”
She snatched her arm from his hand as a deep scowl etched itself on her face.
“Colton, I will not put my faith in a man who can’t place the slightest bit of trust in me.
I didn’t make this choice; I was forced into this.
But none of that even matters. Because just like before, I’m going to do what’s right to protect the people I care about, even if the law says it’s wrong. ”
She stormed off to the back of the house.
The loud clack of a door slamming shut cracked the air.
Relief began to settle into his bones until he heard the engine of her car turning over and realized she’d gone out the back entrance instead of into her bedroom.
By the time he made it to the front porch, he was looking at her red taillights illuminating the dark path that led to the front gates of the ranch.
“Shit!” he barked into the quiet night. “Can this night get any fucking worse?”