36. Levi
Levi was quiet as they drove away from the meeting. Alexis kept shooting worried glances at him, but he wasn’t ready to say anything yet. He needed to sort it out in his brain first.
Valentina had basically said that if he did anything to help Nikki, he would expose the clinic and their fraud. It would be unavoidable. If that happened, they would be audited, and that meant all their misdeeds would be exposed, or at least all the ones his mother hadn’t been clever enough to hide. She’d left him with a choice; keep ignoring what they were doing—compromising his beliefs—and get out as soon as he could, or open the door and let all the skeletons out.
The fact that Levi didn’t know exactly how many skeletons were in that closet was what made him hesitate. It sounded more akin to opening Pandora’s box, and he didn’t know if he had the stomach for it. His entire adult life had been about keeping the fraying threads of his family together. He didn’t know who he was without them. He didn’t know who he was if he wasn’t the glue holding them all together.
Alexis reached over and took his hand in hers. He wove his fingers through hers and released a long breath.
‘I don’t know what to do,’ he said.
‘I know,’ she replied softly.
‘I know what I should do. I know what the right thing is to do. I know what to do to keep my sanity and my integrity intact, but…’
‘But they’re your family,’ she said. ‘And believe me, I understand. I know what it’s like to find out that everything you knew about a person was a lie. I know what it’s like to have the person you trusted the most turn out to be someone completely different.’
Levi glanced at her. ‘Is that what happened with your dad?’
She nodded and squeezed his hand. ‘But this isn’t about me. This is about you. I just wanted you to know that I understand what you’re feeling right now, and I know you probably feel guilty as hell on top of it.’
He did, but probably not for the reason she thought. He’d never really trusted his family. He’d suspected for a long time that not everything was above board at the clinic, but in an attempt to keep the peace, he’d turned a blind eye to it. He’d been wilfully ignorant, and that’s why he felt guilty. He should have done something sooner. His mother was right, in a twisted way. If he hadn’t ignored what was going on, maybe Nikki wouldn’t have ended up the way she had. Levi knew Jonah was a terrible doctor, and not for the first time he wondered how he’d passed med school. He didn’t think his mother and father had that much reach, but it did make him wonder about the integrity of the university system.
‘Don’t,’ Alexis said.
‘Don’t what?’
‘Don’t blame yourself. You haven’t done anything wrong.’
‘Haven’t I?’ he asked, wanting her to reassure him, but also wanting her to be honest with him. ‘I could have prevented this.’
‘Maybe,’ she agreed. ‘But they could have decided to behave ethically and legally.’
‘I stood by and did nothing.’
‘And now you have the chance to right that wrong, before someone gets seriously hurt.’
‘Fuck,’ he breathed quietly, pulling his hand away from hers.
She tightened her grip on it, not letting him break the connection. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t have said that. I’m not trying to guilt you into doing anything. I just…’
‘You’re just telling me how you really feel,’ he said with a resigned sigh. ‘I get it. And I know you’re right.’
Someone had already gotten hurt because he hadn’t spoken up. Not because of his brother, but still. He’d known Sophie was being abused by her husband, and he’d done nothing. Now she was dead, and her husband… her husband was free to do it to someone else. Deaths in plastic surgery were rare, but they did happen. Disfigurement and life-altering injuries were more possible, and just as devastating. With Jonah’s lack of care and skill, it was amazing the clinic hadn’t already been involved with something that severe… although, would he even know if it had happened?
‘I’ll just drop you off,’ Levi said, pulling up in front of their building.
‘Where are you going?’
‘I need to go to work.’
‘I thought you had the day off.’
‘Something just came up.’
Alexis glared at him for a moment before sighing. ‘Fine.’
He squeezed her hand before she could pull away. ‘I’m sorry. I need… I need to find out what is really going on in the clinic. After speaking to Valentina, I need to know just how deep the rot goes.’
She searched his eyes for a long moment before leaning forward to kiss him. ‘Do what you need to do. You know where I am when you’re ready to talk.’
He nodded and kissed her again before letting go of her hand. He watched until she was inside the building before driving away. Tessa might be a terrible spy, but she was the only one he could really trust. The other staff told her things, so maybe she had a better idea of what was going on in the office than he did.
‘I’m in,’Tessa said, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.
‘You don’t even know what I need you to do yet,’ Levi replied, watching his assistant.
They were in his office with the door closed. Levi sat behind his desk, and Tessa was perched on the chair opposite. She looked far too eager to participate in… whatever the hell it was he was trying to do.
‘I don’t care,’ she said. ‘Whatever you want, I’ll do it.’
‘If something goes wrong, you and I will both be out of work.’
Tessa shrugged. ‘Do you think I do this job because I like it?’
His eyebrows popped up at that. ‘What?’
‘I like working for you,’ she said. ‘But this clinic? I can take it or leave it. Besides, if we lose our jobs, then I know you will easily get a job elsewhere, and I also know you would not leave me behind.’
‘That’s a lot of trust you’re putting in me,’ he said, not sure he deserved it. He didn’t care about losing his position in the clinic. It had felt like a wrong fit for him for a while now. He’d just never acknowledged it. Now that he had, he couldn’t go back to ignoring it. But Tessa? Could he in good conscience jeopardise her career?
‘How long have we been working together?’ she asked.
‘Uh… since I started here.’
‘Right.’ She nodded. ‘And before you started here, I was working for about a year. I was going to quit, and then I got assigned to you. I stayed because I knew you were different.’
‘You don’t find me… arrogant? Demanding? Exacting?’
‘Oh, I do,’ she said. ‘And you have a terrible temper, and you’re grumpy all the time, but…’ She shrugged. ‘That’s what I like about you. Your brother? He’s far too friendly. I don’t trust him or that smile he uses to get his own way. And your mother? I’m sorry if this offends you, but she’s a bitch, and not even in a way I can respect.’
‘You like me because I’m irritable?’
‘Well, no. What I like is that you’re no-nonsense. You know exactly what you’re doing, and you’re professional. You never cut corners and don’t do any of the sketchy stuff that the others do.’
‘The others?’
‘It’s not just your brother who’s sketchy,’ she said. ‘You know that new doctor, the one who started six months ago?’
Levi nodded, although he’d never even spoken to the doctor in question.
‘I think he graduated with the lowest possible score, and it shows. He’s already fucked up three procedures. Four if you count the one he did on himself.’
‘What?’
‘Oh yeah, I know all the good shit. Just ask me.’
‘I thought… I thought you were terrible at all this espionage stuff.’ Levi was looking at his assistant with new eyes.
‘That’s what I wanted you to think,’ she said, dusting a piece of non-existent lint off her skirt. ‘It makes everyone underestimate me.’
Levi didn’t know what to say.
‘Just how much have you been keeping from me?’ he asked and then swiped his hand through the air. ‘No. Don’t tell me… or at least, don’t tell me yet.’
Tessa grinned. ‘So, what do you need me to do?’
This could all be a ruse. Tessa could be in tight with his mother, and this was all an act so that he would trust her but… but he didn’t think so. Besides, there was no way for him to find out the information he needed without trusting someone. He wanted to believe that Tessa was on his side. He didn’t have a choice.
‘Okay,’ he said, leaning forward and resting his arms on his desk. ‘I need to know the damage.’
Tessa frowned. ‘The damage?’
Levi nodded. ‘How many times are the billing codes misrepresented? How many times has the clinic covered up botched procedures? And who. Who are the doctors, and who are the clients?’ The last bit was hard to say. He valued the doctor-patient confidentiality, and asking Tessa to find out client details went against that, but if he wanted to get to the bottom of what was happening, then he needed to know everything. He still hadn’t decided what he would do with the information when he had it. All he knew was he needed it. When the complete picture was in front of him, he might finally be able to make sense of it. Then he would know what to do. He hoped.