Then, with a quick flick of her wrist, she threw the iced coffee directly across Katherine’s chest.
Cold liquid exploded over the white suit. It soaked through the fabric, ran down Katherine’s waist, and dripped onto the marble floor. Coffee filled the air with its bitter smell.
For one frozen second, Katherine couldn’t breathe.
The suit had been a gift from her father on his final birthday. He buttoned the jacket himself and told her she looked like a woman born to lead.
Now it was ruined.
Tiffany gasped dramatically. “Oh my God! You shoved me! You ruined my dress!”
The crowd murmured softly.
Katherine looked down at the spreading stain before slowly lifting her eyes again.
Tiffany leaned close, lowering her voice into something poisonous.
“You better apologize and pay for this. Do you even know who my husband is?”
Katherine’s pulse went completely quiet.
Tiffany smiled with the confidence of someone who had never truly been challenged.
“My husband is Mark Thompson. The CEO of this entire hospital. He can have you thrown out, blacklisted, destroyed. So unless you want every doctor in New York refusing to treat your family, you better get on your knees.”
For the first time since entering the lobby, Katherine smiled.
It was not a kind smile.
It was the sort of smile that made Henry quietly step backward.
“You said your husband is Mark Thompson?” Katherine asked.
“That’s right,” Tiffany snapped. “Scared now?”
Before Katherine could respond, David Chen stepped between them, jaw tight, eyes shifting from the coffee stain to Tiffany’s phone.
“Miss Jones,” he said evenly, “why are you causing a disturbance in my hospital?”
Tiffany scoffed. “Your hospital? You’re just a doctor. Mark runs this place.”
David’s expression never changed. “Hospitals are run by people who save lives. Not by people shouting into cameras.”
Tiffany flushed bright red. “I’ll have Mark fire you.”
Katherine lightly touched David’s arm. “No,” she said softly. “Let her call him.”
Then Katherine removed her own phone.
Tiffany’s smirk flickered.
Katherine dialed Mark’s number and switched the call to speaker.
The phone rang four times.
When Mark answered, his voice sounded hurried and low. “Honey, I’m in a major meeting. Did you land already? Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve sent a car.”
The lobby went completely silent.
Color drained from Tiffany’s face.
Katherine stared directly at her.
“You need to come to the main lobby,” Katherine said.
“What? Katherine, I’m with the Department of Health and the Singapore investors. This is a terrible time.”
“I said come downstairs.”
“Katherine—”
“Come downstairs and meet your new wife,” she said, her voice finally cracking with fury. “She just threw coffee on me, threatened my staff, and announced to the entire lobby that she’s married to the CEO of the hospital my father built.”
Silence.
Then the faint scrape of a chair.
“Katherine,” Mark whispered, “what exactly did she say?”
“You have five minutes,” Katherine replied. “After that, my lawyer walks into your conference room carrying every document I own.”
Then she ended the call.
Tiffany’s grip slipped slightly on her phone.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
Katherine dabbed coffee from her sleeve with a handkerchief.
“Keep filming,” she said quietly. “America loves a good ending.”
Mark arrived in four minutes and thirty seconds.
He burst out of the executive elevator with his tie crooked and sweat shining across his forehead. Behind him, several board members and two foreign investors lingered nearby pretending not to watch while staring at everything.
Tiffany immediately rushed toward him.
“Baby!” she cried, grabbing his arm. “Tell them! Tell this insane woman who I am!”
Mark looked at Tiffany.
Then at Katherine.
continued on next page
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