Chapter 4: The All-Hands

By Monday morning the video had four million views.

I knew because the surgical residents had stopped talking when I walked into the elevator.

The man from the fire barrel was awake in the cardiac unit, with a monitor beeping steadily over his bed.

I had checked on him at six.

He had asked me my name again, and this time I told him.

At eight o'clock a text went out to every employee in the building.

All-staff meeting, main auditorium. Attendance required. Signed, Veronica Fitzwilliam, Director.

I took a seat in the fourth row.

Two hundred people filed in around me and sat down without looking at each other.

Morven dropped into the seat beside mine with a paper cup in each hand.

"I got you the bad coffee," she said. "The good stuff was gone."

"Thanks."

"She's going to burn you," Morven said. "You know that."

"I know."

"Are you going to let her?"

"I'm going to let her talk," I said.

Veronica walked onto the stage at five past eight.

She wore the charcoal blazer, her hair was in its tight twist, and she had a smile on her face.

I had watched her paint that smile on a hundred times.

"Good morning, everyone," she said into the microphone. "I want to address something that has been circulating this weekend."

The room went quiet.

"A video has been shared online that purports to show me at a private family event. I want to be clear. The video has been edited."

A murmur ran through the seats.

"It has been manipulated," Veronica said. "Anyone can do it now with a phone. I have asked our legal office to look into it."

Keep reading free with an account. Start She Played Daughter-in-Law on a Pig Farm, So I Took Her Hospital from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.