Chapter 7 - THE CAMERA THAT NEVER FAILED
Daniel Mercer had been chief operating officer of St. Catherine's Medical Center for six years.
He was polished, articulate, and famous for smiling during press conferences while cutting nursing budgets behind closed doors.
He also controlled hospital security contracts.
And according to Paige, he had ordered the hallway footage removed.
Rebecca immediately requested preservation of the hospital's digital records.
The hospital initially claimed the footage had been lost during a routine system update.
Then an IT technician came forward.
His name was Aaron Patel.
He was twenty-eight and had worked at St. Catherine's for three years.
He told Rebecca that Daniel had ordered him to delete the video.
Aaron refused.
Instead, he made a protected copy and reported the request to the hospital's compliance department.
The footage showed everything.
Grant approaching me.
The argument.
The insult about Owen.
The slap.
My fall against the medication cart.
The first signs of distress.
The security guard lowering his radio.
I watched it once.
That was enough.
Rebecca paused the recording.
“Are you ready to pursue this?”
I looked at the frozen image of myself.
One hand on my stomach.
The other gripping the cart.
My face pale.
My eyes terrified.
“Yes.”
The footage was provided to investigators.
Hospital administrators were placed under scrutiny.
Daniel Mercer was suspended pending investigation.
But the discovery went further.
Aaron had also found unusual access records.
Someone had repeatedly searched my employee file.
My address.
My emergency contacts.
My pregnancy records.
Rebecca stared at the report.
“Who accessed them?”
Aaron looked at her.
“An account linked to Wexler Logistics.”
My blood ran cold.
Victor.
That evening, I returned to the NICU.
Hope was sleeping.
I touched the incubator.
“Mommy's going to keep you safe.”
My phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
A message appeared.
YOUR HUSBAND SHOULD HAVE STAYED OUT OF OUR BUSINESS.
I stared.
May you like
Then another message arrived.
YOU SHOULD LEARN FROM HIS MISTAKE.
