Page 31 of Vigilante
“You obviously know who John Richardson is,” I sigh. “He was the man responsible for my father’s death.”
I watch as her features fade from panicked to solemn.
“But not just my father’s, many people in this world. Removing specific medication from insurance lists so that patients in hospitals have to pay through the nose for treatment. Refusing to support sick people’s health care, he was a vile human who did some heinous acts, Julia.” I take a breath, steadying myself before I continue. “My father had an extremely rare form of cancer, one that, over a very short space of time, turned him from a man that was busy every single day, running marathons and working twelve-hour shifts, to someone that could barely fucking lift a fork to feed himself.”
“Max—”
“He got sick so quickly that neither myself nor my mother knew what to do. It didn’t matter how many forms we filled out, doctor trips we took, or hospital stays he had, John Richardson’s company always shot us down. I ran through my savings, and my mother through hers. We remortgaged our house and my father’s business to pay for his care, but even then, it wasn’t enough. Nothing was ever enough.”
The burn at the back of my throat reaches my nose, and now I’m the one who feels like they’re going to throw up. I never should’ve told her. There’s no way someone as kind as her will ever take a chance on someone like me after this.
“When he died, I decided to look up the company. My cousin, Rocco and I got together with his brother, and we started looking into John and what he was doing…why he was doing it. Rocco’s brother is a computer genius. He hacked into the company’s mainframe and managed to find out everything this man had done.”
“L-like what?” She asks me, and maybe this means she doesn’t think I’m a fucking despicable human. Who knows.
“He created an AI system that would randomly choose the sickest patients on the list, automatically denying them healthcare insurance. Then it would go through different medical problems and randomly select medication, operations, treatments, and take them off the list, causing patients and their families to pay thousands of dollars in bills to keep their family members comfortable.”
I stand up, running my hands through my hair, and now I’m the one pacing the room. She’s sitting there, on the bed in my fucking shirt, looking like a lost puppy, sadness and fear ever evident on her features, and I fucking hate myself for it. I hate that I’m the one who put her in this position.
“After I saw all the terrible things he had done to people and found out that it wasn’t even a human dealing with those claims, I knew I needed to do something. The cops wouldn’t give a fuck about the information, but I’d be blamed for illegally hacking the company. So that wouldn’t work. I’ve never hurt a single person in my life,” I stop, turning to face her. “My mother raised me better than to be a man who thrives off of the pain of others, but this…I couldn’t let this go. So, my cousin and I watched him, studied every move he made, and after a year of it, we kidnapped him…and I shot him in cold blood in the middle of an abandoned warehouse.”
Julia gasps then, both hands covering her mouth in shock, tears spilling over her lower lash line and bouncing onto the apples of her pink cheeks. Reaching into my pocket, I lift the white piece of paper from the denim and hold it out in front of her.
“I planned on telling you when we got here, so I printed off the list of names to help you see why I did it. It lists every single person he hurt. Every person who passed away because ofhis negligence and stupidity. Here, take a look at it.” I release a heavy sigh as I place it into her hands. “I’ll be downstairs. Take some time to think and read the list. If you still want to go home after processing that, I promise I’ll take you.”
Taking a few steps back, I leave the room and close the door behind me, wondering if I wasted my time or if she will understand my reasonings.
CHAPTER 17
Julia
My eyes arefull of unshed tears, yet I manage to scan the list of names in my hand as my mind whirls at a million miles a minute. Name after name unfolds before me, like something you would see at the end of a movie—pages of them. Maybe I’m in shock, but I can’t stop looking at the sheer number of names in my hands.
Every single name was a person desperate for the care they needed but denied with a swipe of the computer. Imagine seeing these and turning them away anyway. How could he?
As my eyes roam, they snag on one glaringly familiar name, and all the breath in my lungs exhales sharply.
No.
But there it is. Unmistakable in black and white. My mother’s name. Claim denied.
It’s like a stab to the gut all over again. I’m right back in that hospital room, begging the doctor to do something—anything, to save her. The phone calls with the robotic-sounding answering service for hours at a time, trying to get a hold of someone who would listen. It all comes flooding back, and I see red. Furypumps through my veins, and a dark thought slithers through my mind—I’mgladthe man responsible for so much evil is dead.
I admonish myself. What would mother say if she knew your thoughts just now.
But you know what? My mother isn’t here. What my mom would want is to still be here. To binge-watchGilmore Girlsone more time, hearing her giggle along to the witty banter, talking about how much she loves Luke, and look at me lovingly saying, “That’s us, kid.” when talking about Lorelai and Rory.
That man, that CEO, helped take her from me. She had the chance to stay here with me for five to ten more years. The studies on the medication showed she could have had a chance. She was a prime candidate. All her levels checked out. Her team of medical professionals were all on board. The only thing that stopped my mom from receiving the medication she so desperately needed was the goddamn insurance company.
Each of these names was a person with a similar story to ours.
A life.
A loved one. Countless hopes and dreams were all cut short by the vile greed of one man.
I stand, papers falling, but the one with my mother’s name is crumpled tightly in my fist.
Anger, hot and visceral—full of sharp edges and vicious truths, bubbles up inside of me. It’s as if someone is holding an iron to my skin, boiling my veins until the rage takes over my entire body, making me stomp off in search of Max.
