Chapter 146: Thirty seconds

The urgent call Josie had received came from the chief medical officer, the woman in charge of the hospital’s daily operations.

The message was serious enough to cut through everything else; Josie’s father had arrived with a man, claiming that the CEO herself had authorized them to inspect the hospital for a drug trial.

She had said no to her husband and now her father had decided to go ahead and went to her hospital when she wasn’t there.

Josie left Goldy at once and went straight there, still carrying the unfinished heat of that Tom’s hands had ignited in her body. By the time she reached the hospital, anger had already begun hardening under the shock.

She found them in the main corridor. There, her father was standing there with a suited man as if the place belonged to him by natural right. A few staff members lingered at a distance, unsure whether this was a family discussion or an official inspection they were expected to accommodate.

"Dad, what is this?" Josie asked as soon as she reached them.

Her father turned with mild surprise, then with the calm irritation of a man interrupted. "Josie. Good. You’re here. This will be faster."

"Faster for what?" Her eyes moved to the stranger beside him. "Who is he, and why was my name used to bring him into my hospital?"

The suited man offered a polite nod, but her father answered first. "He is here on a preliminary review. I believe your husband has informed you that the trial is an opportunity that can place this hospital in a much stronger position."

"And you believe I’d allow it?" Josie’s voice hardened.

"I believe you would understand the value of it," her father replied. "And if you do not, it’s my place to ensure you see it. This hospital did not build itself. My support is part of the reason it stands the way it does. That gives me the right to ensure it is used properly."

The words landed with open entitlement.

Josie stared at him, anger rising behind her ribs. "Your support did not buy ownership of my decisions. I run this hospital. I built it. I work for it. You do not get to walk in with a stranger and sign away its integrity because you need political ground."

Her father scrunched up in annoyance.

"Always so dramatic." He hissed then continued; "This is not about destroying anything. It is about positioning. Do you think hospitals rise only on sentiment and clean hands? There are relationships behind real growth. There are favors. There are sacrifices."

"There are patients," Josie shot back. "There are standards. There is a reason I will not allow an unapproved drug to be tested under this roof."

The man beside her father shifted slightly, but still said nothing. He did not need to. His presence alone made the intention clear.

Her father exhaled through his nose, as if dealing with a stubborn child rather than the CEO of the institution around them. "You speak as if I am a stranger to this place. I poured money into it when it needed backing. I opened doors. I made calls. And now, when that investment can finally return something useful, you want to stand here and lecture me about purity."

Josie felt the last soft picture of him crack.

This was not a father protecting family legacy. This was a man calculating returns. The same man she had once believed was caring and family-oriented was standing in her corridor, ready to convert her first company into a tool for political landing.

"You are not asking for support," she said quietly. "You are trying to use me. You are trying to use this hospital. If the price of your politics is putting vulnerable people under a dangerous trial, then the answer is no."

His mouth tightened and he shot back, gritting his teeth; "You are letting pride speak for you."

"I am letting responsibility speak for me." Josie stepped closer then said with finality;

"You may have supported this hospital, but you handed the wheel to me. I have carried it. I have grown it. As long as that remains true, there will be no impure testing here. Not for your sponsor. Not for your career. Not for any landing you are trying to smooth."

For a moment her father only looked at her, the disappointment on his face stripped of affection and left with something colder. Then he adjusted his jacket and turned to the man beside him.

"We would have to come another day. I apologize for any inconvenience." he said.

The suited man nodded sharply in understanding and they left.

Afterward, Josie could not remain among the staff with her face intact. She went up to the balcony and finally let the tears come. They were not soft tears. They were the kind that followed the collapse of a picture she had needed to believe. The father in her memory and the man in the corridor would not fit together anymore.

She wiped at her face, forced her breathing back into order, and was still collecting herself when she heard her name.

"Josie?"

She turned.

Tom stood farther along the balcony, staring at her with open surprise. For a second neither of them spoke. He looked equally out of place and too familiar all at once, as if the day had decided to drag every unfinished thing into the same air.

He walked toward her and asked; "What happened to you?"

Josie blinked, still half caught between the argument with her father and the unexpected sight of him in her hospital.

"No. What happened to you? This is my hospital."

Tom’s brows lifted. "Your hospital?"

He had not known. The realization passed through his face clearly enough for her to see it. Whatever image he had of her, ownership of this place had not been part of it.

"I got into a small road accident," he said.

Josie’s eyes moved over him immediately, sharper now, checking for injury. "Are you hurt?"

"It was minor. I didn’t get hurt." Tom gave a short breath. "Shock more than anything."

"Okay." Some of the immediate alarm left her shoulders, though the heaviness underneath remained.

Tom studied her face more carefully. The dullness around her eyes, the faint evidence she had been crying, the residual tension in her mouth. "What is wrong with you?" he asked, gentler more.

"Nothing." she replied immediately.

"Personal issue that can’t be shared with me, right?" Tom raised his brows knowingly.

Josie let out a dry chuckle, humorless and thin. "Sort of."

Then she started walking.

Tom followed without asking for permission. The corridor took them away from the open balcony and into the quieter administrative side of the hospital. Josie did not look back until she reached her office, stepped inside, and heard the door close behind her.

When she turned, surprise crossed her face as if she hadn’t really known he had followed her all the way in.

Josie stood beside the wide desk in the office, still marked by anger and leftover tears and for a moment she seemed unsure whether to demand an explanation on why he had followed her in or just order him out.

Then the System dinged and brought an information;

[SIDE MISSION AVAILABLE]

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[SIDE MISSION]

Get Josie in the mood and fulfill her fantasy.

Timeframe to get her in the mood: 30 seconds

Reward:

• $100,000

• Progress in Josie’s meters

[Accept / Reject?]

```

Tom blinked.

Thirty seconds?

He looked at the woman in front of him; she still looked sullen, emotionally scraped open, still holding herself together by force...

How was he supposed to take someone in that state and turn her sexual enough to fulfill a desk fantasy in half a minute?