Chapter 21: Send Me Every Usage Record on That Hearing Aid

Nathan's brow furrowed.

If her hearing's simply back, fine. That's manageable.

But if she's been able to hear this whole time and pretending otherwise that's a very different problem.

Melissa lifted her head, voice trembling. "What if she finds out about us and decides to get back at me? What if she marries me off to some awful man out of spite? Brother, I'm scared."

Nathan snapped back to himself, chuckling. "She doesn't have that kind of power. And even if she found out so what? She, her brother, her grandmother, her mother, even her stepfather every one of them survives because of what I provide. She can't afford to make trouble. She wouldn't dare."

Melissa hummed, pleased, leaning into him. "They say money follows love. You spend so much on her you must love her the most, out of all of us."

Nathan's gaze dropped.

He traced a finger along her cheek. "You ungrateful little thing. Do you even know where that money actually comes from?"

"What good is knowing?" she huffed. "I know how hard you work for it. I could never bring myself to spend a cent of yours."

He settled onto the seat beside her, and she curled into his side at once.

"You're always the sensible one," he murmured. "I'll make it up to you."

Lily used to be sensible too.

Lately, though...

Could she really have heard everything?

The thought lodged itself deep, a splinter he couldn't shake.

Melissa lifted her chin, pressing a quick kiss to his jaw. "Make it up to me how?"

He laughed. "Haven't you always wanted to design fireworks? Consider your wish granted."

Nathan sat alone in his car afterward and smoked through four cigarettes back to back, the interior thick with haze.

He pulled out his phone and called Dr. Lee.

"Mr. Pierce, what can I do for you?"

Nathan's voice came out rougher than usual, roughened further by the smoke. "The day my wife brought Toby in for the cochlear consult did you notice anything unusual?"

Dr. Lee thought it over. "Actually yes, now that you mention it."

Nathan tensed. "Go on."

"Mrs. Pierce kept pushing back on the idea that surgery was off the table for her. I had to talk my way around it eventually."

Nathan exhaled, some of the tension bleeding out of him. "You bumped the hearing aid settings up like we discussed, right?"

"I did. She said it felt wrong the second she put it on. I told her she'd adjust but honestly, Mr. Pierce, if this continues much longer, she's not going to be a candidate for the implant at all."

"The frequency alone could damage her eardrum permanently. Keep this up, and even a hearing aid won't help her anymore. She could end up with nothing."

"I know what I'm doing," Nathan said, and hung up.

Still, the unease sat heavy in his chest.

He'd always been the suspicious type the kind who couldn't rest until every loose thread was accounted for.

He fired off a voice message to Dr. Lee. "Send me the complete usage log for my wife's hearing aid every minute of activity for the two hours after she left your office on January 2nd. I want everything."

If there's no usage recorded on her drive home that day

Then Melissa wasn't wrong after all.

Dr. Lee had barely set his phone down when the door opened, and Lily walked in.

He rose quickly, plastering on his warmest smile. "Mrs. Pierce! What brings you by?"

Lily said nothing.

Her expression had gone cold, eyes sharp as frost, as she settled into the consultation chair without a word.

His smile faltered under the silence. "Is there something I can help with?"

She pulled out her phone.

Tapped it a few times.

A voice crackled to life through the speaker.

"Mr. Pierce, you're really putting me in a difficult position. If I increase Mrs. Pierce's hearing aid settings any further, it's going to affect her health..."

"Mr. Pierce, I'm a physician. This isn't about the money."

"Ha well, you're certainly generous, Mr. Pierce. Fine. We have a deal."

Dead silence swallowed the room.

The recording ended.

Dr. Lee lunged for the phone, intent on hurling it into the fish tank behind his desk.

Lily watched his panic with a faint, unbothered smile. "Go ahead and throw it. I've made plenty of copies. One's already sitting with my lawyer. Break my phone, and all you've done is cost yourself a replacement. Not that money seems to be a problem for you these days Nathan's clearly been generous."

Dr. Lee froze, phone clutched in a white-knuckled grip, a tremor working through his jaw. "You can hear?"

Lily's smile gave nothing away, confirming and denying nothing at once. "Toby was playing with my phone one day and accidentally hit record. I found the file when I got home. Played it out of curiosity and stumbled onto quite the secret. One that happens to concern me directly."

Dr. Lee's teeth ground together. "Then take this to Nathan he's the one who ordered all of it!"

"Not yet," Lily said calmly. "First, I need something from you."

He sank into his chair, pupils shrinking as he stared at her.

She continued, even and precise. "I need you to alter the backend logs the usage records, the timestamps, everything about that hearing aid."

"I'm a doctor," he said, voice rising. "I can't do that."

The protest almost made her laugh.

She shook her head slowly. "You've already done far worse than that, Dr. Lee. And now you're finding your conscience? Or is it that you don't believe what I have on you is enough to burn your entire life down?"

"I've done a little digging. Your wife teaches, doesn't she? Two consecutive terms recognized for community service genuinely respected, the kind of woman who values her reputation more than her own life."

"And your daughter fourteen, in middle school, thinks the world of you. Wants to be a doctor herself one day, just like her father. Save lives, just like you claim to."

"Such a beautiful family. Such a promising future for both of them. Why throw all of that away over a recording?"

Dr. Lee's head snapped up, eyes bloodshot. "Mrs. Pierce whatever grudge you have with your husband, it has nothing to do with my wife and daughter. If you want to punish someone, punish me."

Lily rested her hands on the desk and rose slowly. "Dr. Lee. You struck first. I struck back. That's not cruelty that's consequence. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I was the one who got hurt, for no reason at all."

He kept pressing his thumb into the fold of his opposite hand, over and over.

The silence stretched.

Lily waited. The outcome was already decided for a man with a reputation like his, professional ruin was a fate worse than death itself.

Several long minutes passed.

Finally, hoarse: "Fine. I'll do it. I promise."

The moment the words left him, his phone rang.

He glanced at the screen, then up at Lily, apprehensive.

She already knew who it was.

"Answer it," she said.

He picked up and hit speaker at the same time.

"Dr. Lee, why haven't you sent those usage records yet?"

"Mr. Pierce." He shot Lily a nervous glance, wiped at the corner of his mouth, and forced a smile into his voice. "Just wrapped my last patient of the day. I'll have everything to you within the hour."

He looked to Lily for direction.

She typed on her phone screen: I need money.

Dr. Lee cleared his throat. "Actually, Mr. Pierce, compiling all of it properly does take some time"

Nathan, apparently well acquainted with his habits by now, cut him off with a short laugh. "Send the records. I'll wire you a hundred thousand."

"Of course, of course," Dr. Lee said quickly. "I'll have it ready shortly."

The call ended.

He looked back at Lily. "I've done what you asked, Mrs. Pierce. I expect you to keep your end of this."

She gave a small nod, rose, and picked up her phone.

Turning toward the door, she said over her shoulder, "Pleasure doing business, Dr. Lee."

With that, she walked out.

Dr. Lee sagged in his chair, all the color drained from his face.

There was only one path left open to him now.

Do exactly as she said.

Lily had intended to head straight back to sit with Eleanor.

She'd just reached the ward door when her phone rang Chloe Bennett, her assistant at the studio.

"Lily, can you hear me?"

"Yes. What's going on?"

"Nathan just issued an order shutting down all operations at Starfall Design Studio.”