Revenge on my cheating Boyfriend

Part 2

I could see Elise close the gap between us, her face twisted in rage. I held back a moment of panic and braced myself for the impact. I would never resort to violence but I didn't have the same faith in Elise. Before the attack could come, I saw Cole grab her and wrap his arms around her waist in an effort to hold her back.  Just as quickly, Marcus stepped in front of me and shielded my whole body from her.

The recording stopped and the lights came on startling her into stillness. She quit trying to free herself from Cole's grip and just stood there. No one in the room said a word, all waiting for someone to make the first move.

I straightened my posture and stepped out from behind Marcus.

"I'm sorry for hijacking everyone's night. My intention was never to ruin anyone's evening but I needed to clear the air. Over a week ago I was fired from this hospital after being accused of stealing and defrauding money from its patients . I was lucky enough to have a great group of people standing beside me in a fight to prove my innocence. Other people in my situation wouldn't have had the same support. As you have heard tonight, the person who was behind the accusations, and the actual crimes, was none other then my best friend dr. Elise Benner."

Before I could continue further Elise began yelling over top of me

"You're a liar. She's lying. She's trying to deflect the blame on me for her disgusting crimes. She's setting me up!"

"Let her speak" Sanders said as he came off the stage and walked towards us. Elise was practically shaking as he came to a still, anger building up more and more, within her, at every second. 

"I have invited all the victims here today. Extensive investigating was conducted by the San Francisco police department and detective Monroe, who is here today as well."  I pointed towards the exit door as Monroe stood there blocking it with a couple of officers. " they found the account that was used for the blackmail and received a statement from the person who set up the offshore accounts.  I was lucky that the accountant was smart enough to install a camera of the people coming and going through his office. Not only did he pick out Elise as the person who set up the fake account in my name, he also provided us with video footage of her entering his office" The crowd was breaking out into silent conversations. A few people shushed the others hungry to learn more.

Elise, who up to this point looked fairly confident, turned pale at this disclosure.

And then it happened.....like a lightbulb turning on, a flash of awareness came over her face. She turned back to stare at Cole in horror and shock as she realized that he helped us.  She raised her hand and slapped him, hard, across the face as he stumbled back from the impact.

I smiled to myself as cole stared down in shame. He took one last look at us and walked out.  I felt like he deserved more, but he was not my target right now and I would deal with him at a later time.

I gave her a knowing nod confirming her suspicion. A silent sob escaped her lips as she crumbled down to the floor. I looked at her and felt a pang in my chest.

How did we get here? We went through so much together. I willed the thought out of mind.

She didn't deserve my sadness.

The person who I thought she was never existed. I was going to have to learn to accept that.

I closed my eyes and let Marcus wrap me in a tight embrace holding me up from falling. All the worry and pain I was feeling finally caught up with me. I felt so tired at that moment I could have slept for days.

I opened my eyes and saw detective Monroe closing in on Elise. Before she could get up off the floor, Monroe had her belly down on the ground and cuffed her. She helped her up and brought her to stand in front of me.

"Do you have anything to say Elise" Monroe asked her in a flat voice, clearly not expecting a response.  Elise shook her head no and Monroe took her away, reciting her rights as they left.

As the door closed upon their exit, I looked back at the crowd and let out a tired sigh, "I know everyone has a lot of questions and I promise the stakeholders full transparency.  At this time, though, I want to right a massive wrong. The people who were hurt the most today were the innocent families dragged into dr.Benners twisted game.  I would like to invite them to join me"

I waited patiently as a half dozen families came and stood beside me. I glanced over at Marcus as he handed over 6 separate checks.

"These families have suffered the most in this whole situation. The stress of dealing with their child's health issue is hard enough, but to add to it, they were dragged into a twisted revenge scheme. With the assistance of Mr Ross, I wanted to repay what was taken. The account with their money, the fraudulent one, is tied up. But once the legal stuff is done, the money will be freed and returned to the families defrauded. As a kind gesture, Mr Ross has provided each family with a check for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars" the crowd erupted in chatter as I waited patiently for them to stop talking. "Additionally, Mr Ross has agreed to pay their children's medical bills going forward" I could see the families burst into tears as they hugged each other. A small girl, who I recognized as one of my patients, broke from them and ran to embrace me. I lifted her up into a big bear hug. She giggled and turned to hug Marcus. He hugged her back, clearly surprised by the sign of affection.

We finished off the night talking to a few people and promising the rest that I would meet with them another day for a q and a. I just wanted to go home and sleep, excited that, for the first time in over a week, I could do so without any worries.

Marcus, sensing my desire to leave, led me towards the edit doors in the back and snuck me out.

We walked up to the valet service in silence, neither one of us knowing what to say or do next. He received his keys and gave the young man a generous tip. He walked over to my side and opened the door waiting as I settled myself into the passenger seat. Once I was buckled in we took off.

Marcus glanced over at me and smirked,

"What?" I asked playfully

"Where to now Ana?"