Chapter 5 - THE HOSPITAL CONFRONTATION
The smell of antiseptic and rubbing alcohol filled the pediatric oncology floor of Jacksonville Memorial Hospital.
I walked swiftly down the long, quiet hallway, holding Mason’s small hand in my left and Leo’s in my right. Maya walked closely behind us, her face filled with anxiety.
When we reached the Intensive Care Unit, Attorney Pendelton was pacing outside the glass doors, looking visibly shaken.
"Miss Brooks," Pendelton said, rushing toward us. "Thank God you're here. Dr. Vance is inside preparing the protocol."
"How is he?" I asked, my heart pounding against my ribs.
"Not good," Pendelton whispered grimly. "His fever spiked to 104 degrees last night. His blasts count has escalated rapidly. Dr. Vance says if we do not initiate the stem cell transplant preparation within forty-eight hours, his organs will begin shutting down."
I looked down at Mason. My sweet, bright, curly-haired five-year-old boy was holding a small stuffed bear, completely unaware that he held the power of life and death over a multi-billionaire in his small hands.
Before I could answer, the elevator doors at the end of the hallway chimed loudly.
Out stepped two women dressed in high-end designer clothes, accompanied by two menacing, sharp-suited corporate bodyguards.
My blood immediately turned to fire.
It was Olivia Prescott—Grant’s ex-fiancée—and Margaret Hale, Grant’s cold, tyrannical mother.
Despite being in her late sixties and using a walking cane, Margaret Hale moved with the chilling authority of an empress. Her eyes were sharp, bitter, and filled with venom as she spotted me standing outside the ICU.
"You," Margaret hissed, her voice echoing down the hospital corridor as she pointed her cane at me. "What is this trash doing here?"
Olivia stepped forward, wearing a oversized diamond sunglasses atop her head and a tailored coat, her arms crossed in disgust. "Natalie Brooks. I thought Grant’s lawyers warned you to stay away from our family five years ago. Are you so desperate for a payday that you chased a dying man all the way to Florida?"
"Shut your mouth, Olivia," I snapped, stepping directly in front of my sons, shielding them from their view. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"I know exactly what you are," Margaret cold-heartedly declared, marching right up to me, her bodyguards flanking her. "You are an opportunistic gold-digger who tried to ruin my son’s life five years ago! And now that he is lying in an ICU bed, you bring your bastard children here to try and lay claim to the Hale estate!"
"Bastards?!" Maya screamed, stepping up beside me, her fists clenched. "Listen to me, you old vulture! Those boys are Grant’s legitimate sons! The sons you hid from him five years ago by paying off doctors and threatening legal action!"
Margaret’s eyes flicked briefly toward Attorney Pendelton, a tiny sliver of annoyance passing over her face before her expression hardened back into stone.
"I did what was necessary to protect the Hale empire from lower-class parasites," Margaret said coldly, not showing a single drop of remorse. "Grant’s marriage to Olivia was meant to secure a four-billion-dollar merger! You were nothing, Natalie! A temporary distraction!"
"And look where your 'suitable marriage' led him!" I shouted back, my eyes flashing with absolute fury. "You destroyed his happiness! You forced him into a fake life! And while you were busy playing puppet master with his fortune, your son developed lethal leukemia! Where is your four-billion-dollar merger now, Margaret?! Can Olivia’s money save his life?!"
Olivia flinched, her face flushing bright red with embarrassment. "We brought the best private specialists from Boston! We don't need you or your illegitimate children!"
"Your private specialists from Boston couldn't find a single matching donor in the entire world," Attorney Pendelton interrupted firmly, stepping between Margaret and me. "Mrs. Hale, Miss Prescott, I suggest you lower your voices immediately. You are in a restricted ICU wing."
"Pendelton, you work for me!" Margaret barked, leaning on her cane. "I pay your retainer! I order you to have security remove this woman and her children from this hospital immediately!"
"Actually, Mrs. Hale," Pendelton replied with a cold, professional smile, pulling a document from his coat. "Three days ago, Grant officially revoked your power of attorney and transferred all medical and legal decisions exclusively to Miss Natalie Brooks."
Margaret gasped, clutching her pearls in pure, unadulterated outrage. "What?! He wouldn't dare!"
"He already did," Pendelton stated coldly. "Furthermore, the five-year-old boy you just referred to as a 'bastard'... is a one-hundred-percent perfect bone marrow match for your son. He is the only human being on Earth who can save Grant’s life."
Silence crashed over the hallway like a thunderbolt.
Margaret’s face went completely ghost-white. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. She looked down at Mason, who was peeking out from behind my coat, holding his stuffed bear.
Olivia gasped, clutching Margaret’s arm. "A... a match? The boy is a match?"
"Yes," I said, stepping forward, glaring down at the woman who had ruined my life five years ago. "My son—the boy you tried to erase, the boy you called trash—is the only reason Grant Hale will survive the month."
Margaret stared at Mason, her hands shaking violently. For the first time in her life, the proud, ruthless matriarch of the Hale family looked entirely defeated, stripped of her power, forced to face the horrific consequences of her own cruelty.
"Natalie..." Margaret whispered, her voice cracking, a desperate, hollow sound. "Please... you have to let him save my son. Grant is my only child. I will give you anything! Millions! tens of millions! Just save him!"
I looked at Margaret Hale with complete, cold disdain.
"I don't want your money, Margaret," I said, every word dripping with lethal quietness. "I have raised these boys for five years without a single penny from your empire, and I will continue to do so. My son will save Grant because he has a heart—something you clearly lost decades ago."
Before Margaret could respond, the ICU doors opened. Dr. Vance stepped out, wearing full surgical scrubs.
"Miss Brooks," Dr. Vance said urgently. "Grant is conscious. He is requesting to see you and Mason before we begin the pre-transplant conditioning."
"We are going in," Margaret demanded, trying to push past the doctor. "I am his mother!"
"No, Mrs. Hale," Dr. Vance blocked her path firmly. "Grant explicitly stated he does not want to see you or Miss Prescott. If you attempt to enter, I will have hospital security remove you permanently."
"You can't do this!" Olivia shrieked.
May you like
"Watch me," I said coldly.
I took Mason’s hand, looked at Maya to keep Leo safe in the waiting room, and walked through the double doors into the ICU, leaving Margaret Hale and Olivia Prescott crying out in fury and helplessness behind us.
