LOGINThe email from Larkfield arrived before I had finished reading Miriam’s report.I recognised the name and opened it at once. For a moment, I thought they might have reconsidered their decision to pause the funding discussions.They hadn't.Following our review of information received concerning your foundation's research and treatment programmes, we require further clarification before we can consider moving forward.I read the sentence again.The email went on to raise concerns about how children were selected for treatment, how decisions about their care were made, and whether the foundation had handled patient information properly. Larkfield wanted a response to each concern, along with details of our selection process, our research methods, and the steps we took to protect the children in our care.They also wanted to know whether our records could support the decisions we had made.I placed the email beside Miriam’s report.There was no accusation that we had harmed a child. No d
CHAPTER 47: The Cost of DoubtThe call came at 8:12 the following morning.I was reviewing the foundation's weekly operations report when Adrian called.“Have you seen the email from Larkwell Trust?” he asked.“No. What happened?”“They've put their funding discussions on hold.”I sat up straighter. “Why?”“They said they've received concerns about how we handle our research. They want an independent review before they consider funding us.”I closed the report in front of me.“Did they say who raised the concerns?”“No. They only said the information came from an outside source.”“Forward the email to me.”“I already have.”We ended the call, and I opened my inbox.Larkwell Trust had been considering funding the foundation's next phase of work. We hadn't signed anything, but our discussions had gone far enough for us to start planning around the possibility of their support.Now, everything was on hold.I opened their email and read through the questions. They wanted details about par
The email arrived at 2:17 p.m.Tina read it once, then again, paying particular attention to the final paragraph.The prospective funding partner had decided to suspend its discussions with the Sam Foundation pending clarification of concerns about its research practices and financial oversight.Tina forwarded the email to Adrian.His response came less than a minute later. Another one? It saysShe typed back. Apparently, she replied.Her phone rang.There was work to do, and worrying about what someone might have heard would not complete any of it.A knock sounded at her door.“Come in.” She called outThe nurse who entered gave her a brief update on a patient before mentioning that she had a visitor.“One of the patient’s mother is here to see you.”“Did she say what it was about?” She asked“She said she wanted to speak with you,” the Nurse replied“Alright. Please show her in.”Natasha entered a few minutes later, dressed neatly and carrying herself with composure.“Tina.” She ca
Her name was Diana Osei. She was sixty-three and lived two hundred miles from where her father's company had once stood, in a flat above a laundromat. According to the records Charles's investigator had pulled, she had paid her rent on time every month for the last nineteen years.She had been the eldest of four. The file Charles had built listed the other three by the ages they'd been when the company folded: five, eight, and eleven. Diana herself was twenty-three by then, living and working two cities away when the call came telling her to come home because her father needed help finding a way to keep the company afloat.But he never did keep it. Charles had traced the rest through public records, a single newspaper clipping about a "promising precision components firm" filed away in an archive that had not been digitised until last year, and a planning application her father had submitted nine years later for a workshop a third the size of what he'd lost.She had watched him rebuil
By four o'clock, the partnership documentation had taken over the desk entirely: drafts of the data-sharing terms, the outcome-reporting framework Daniel Chen's lawyers had sent back with three small but precise amendments, and the budget projections Tina had been revising since lunch. There was nowhere left to put a coffee cup that wasn't already occupied by paper.Adrian had pulled his chair around to her side of the desk an hour ago, because it made no sense for them to keep passing pages back and forth across."This line here," Adrian said, leaning in toward the page in front of her rather than pulling it toward himself. "The reporting cadence is quarterly, but only on aggregate outcomes, not patient-level data. That's the bit his lawyers actually care about.""I know." She leaned in too, close enough that their shoulders nearly met over the paper, both of them looking at the same six lines of text. "I think it's the right line to hold.""I think so too." He replied, neither of th
By the time I got home, the hospital had called twice about administrative matters, and I had answered three emails concerning the foundation's next phase.As I reviewed the revised proposal, a message from an unfamiliar number appeared on my phone.Dr. Tina, I'm sorry to bother you. Someone at the hospital told me there might be an issue with the foundation's funding. Should I be worried about my son's treatment?I reread it, but before I could respond, another message arrived.Please don't misunderstand me. I'm only asking because my husband is worried.I stared at the screen for a moment, then typed a careful reply asking her to contact the hospital's patient liaison team so her concerns could be addressed properly. I wasn't going to offer assurances about a concern I hadn't yet investigated; I saved the messages.Then I returned to the proposal.An hour later, an email arrived from a colleague at a hospital forty minutes away.We hadn't spoken in weeks.Thought you should know. I
Charles PovWhen Charles woke up that morning, he felt the house was unusually quiet. He called for his wife, "Tina?" but there was no response, and irritation was already creeping into his voice. He walked downstairs; the dining table was set as usual, and a single envelope was placed neatly besid
For the next couple of days I carried on with my life; some days the grief was loud and violent, and other days I was able to hide it behind a smile. I learned quickly how to move on with myself.When Charles returned home three days after Sam’s funeral, I greeted him at the door like nothing had c
Someone had closed Sam’s eyes; his lashes were still damp when the nurse covered his small body with the white sheet.I sat beside Sam’s empty bed long after the doctors left. No tears came; it was as if my body had forgotten how to cry.My phone vibrated in my hand; it was CharlesI stared at his
“I am sorry, Mrs. Wesley, the child's symptoms seems to be getting worse; I will recommend you transfer him to another practitioner," the doctor announced“You mean there is nothing that can be done?” I asked, holding my child close to me“For now we can manage the symptoms, but there is no known c







