Chapter 7 - THE RED LIGHT
The officers pulled Derek away from Madison.
He continued shouting until the examination-room door closed between them.
“She stole medical evidence!”
Officer Grant ignored him.
“You entered a restricted treatment area after staff told you to leave.”
“She is my sister.”
“Stepsister,” Madison said from the floor. “And I told him no.”
Derek turned toward her.
The hatred in his expression was no longer hidden.
“You have no idea what you are destroying.”
Naomi knelt beside Madison.
“Do not answer him.”
Nina placed a blanket over Madison’s shoulders.
At the front desk, police reviewed the camera footage.
The video contained sound.
Derek’s words were clear.
Sign the voting proxy, or the police can learn you stole prescription drugs.
The threat turned the incident from a family argument into suspected witness intimidation and coercion.
Officers searched Derek before placing him in the patrol car.
They found the Meridian contract that had fallen from his coat.
They also found a folded inventory report showing that he planned to remove all remaining Meridian products from Vale facilities that night.
“Remove,” Naomi said. “Or destroy?”
Derek’s attorney arrived before he answered.
Samantha immediately requested an emergency preservation order covering medical records, purchasing files, pharmacy inventories, and security systems across the Vale network.
A judge approved it within hours.
No document related to Meridian could legally be altered or destroyed.
Derek was charged with trespassing, intimidation, violating medical privacy restrictions, and assault connected to Madison’s injuries.
Because the full investigation was still beginning, he was released the next afternoon under strict conditions.
He could not contact Madison or Naomi.
He could not enter Vale facilities without board authorization.
He could not access company servers.
Derek violated the spirit of the order before leaving the courthouse.
His public-relations team released a statement describing Madison as emotionally unstable.
It accused her of stealing confidential patient information and attacking a company executive.
Anonymous sources told reporters she had a history of self-harm.
The story spread quickly.
Madison saw her photograph on television beneath the words:
HEIRESS ACCUSED OF MEDICAL DATA THEFT
She turned off the screen.
Samantha sat beside her in the protected apartment where she was recovering.
“They want you defending yourself publicly instead of examining the evidence.”
“I can’t let people believe I hurt myself.”
“You do not have to prove the truth in one day.”
Madison touched the bandage beneath her shirt.
“That is what Derek counts on. He tells the lie first, then waits for everyone to become tired before the truth catches up.”
Her phone rang.
It was Robert’s rehabilitation center.
A speech therapist had found something hidden beneath his wheelchair cushion.
A second therapy card.
On it, Robert had written:
May you like
Derek changed Claire’s medicine. Ask Martin why.
👉 Madison had survived Derek’s attack, but Robert’s message suggested Martin Cole knew exactly how Claire’s final medication entered Room 417.
