Page 36 of Billionaire Corruption

“What have I done for you?” she asked in a small voice.

It was difficult to put into words, but I tried. “You’ve been a kind of moral compass to me, showing me which way is right. I’ve been veering off course for so long, I think I lost track of which way I should be going. If it hadn’t been for you, I’m not sure I would have acted the way I have been.”

“What way is that?”

“I’ve been looking into things at the company myself, getting my own investigation going. Questioning a few things.”

“What have you found?”

I paused. “I’ll tell you about it tomorrow? Are you going in to work?”

“No, I’ve taken another day off.”

“Then I’ll come pick you up, I’ll take you to the hospital and get everything sorted.”

“Thank you.”

Chapter 15

Grace

When I got the call that Toby was in the hospital, the world came to a stop. I didn’t care about my job or cooking dinner or whether I should or shouldn’t see Paul.

My one story had become simple.

It was all about my brother, who had collapsed in school, and no one knew why. The doctors told me he was stable, and his vitals looked good, but they wanted to keep him for further tests. However, then our medical insurance came back with queries about these tests. They didn’t want to pay for the EKG, which was to check out his heart. I went home to discuss the situation with my grandmother.

We sat with take aways in front of us, not really eating. Neither of us had much of an appetite.

“It’s not his blood pressure?” she asked. “My blood pressure is low.”

I shook my head. “We need to get money to pay for those tests, that’s the only way we’ll know.”

“How much is it?”

“I don’t know. A couple of hundred, maybe a thousand or two?”

I felt so helpless,I simply didn’t have access to that kind of money. My mother didn’t either. We talked about how we should tell my father. We knew he didn’t have any money though; he’d recently paid for my grandmother’s new spectacles and emergency dental work that he needed done.

There was no point asking my mother for help, all their money went into diapers for the twins, and she was always complaining about how there was no money to buy proper adult food.

I took a shower, changed my clothes, and tried to watch television but all I could think about was my brother. It broke my heart to see him looking so pale in hospital. He’d try to smile to cheer me up.

“I’m still alive, sis, no need to wear your funeral face, yet.”

When Paul offered to pay for the tests, I knew I shouldn’t say yes, but I couldn’t help myself. I needed the money, he had more than enough. For God’s sake, he’d once spend five thousand dollars on a burger! He could afford some medical treatment for Toby!

I knew it put me in his debt, but I didn’t care.

When he came to fetch me from home, the money in a backpack, I did wonder how he’d managed to access that kind of cash so fast. The banks weren’t open yet. Did he have that kind of cash at his apartment, and if so, why?

I didn’t want answers to those questions though.

We went to see Toby’s doctors and the tests were booked the same day. I took the cash and paid the hospital.

We went to see Toby, who was looking a bit better.

“Who’s this?” he asked, pointing at Paul.

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