Chapter 3
When Patrick came to find me, I had just walked out of the doctor's office. The doctor said Georgia's condition was stable and improving steadily. She could soon be discharged from the hospital.
I was relieved to hear that.
And as soon as I left the doctor's office, I spotted Patrick. With a smile that didn't reach his eyes, he gave me a debit card.
"There's 500 thousand dollars on there, so just stop it now. Why must you insist on making things ugly?" he said. "What can you gain from pushing me into a corner?"
I shoved the card back into his hand.
"You made me take the fall for you and ruined my reputation. You left me drowning in mortgage payments, barely making ends meet. You wouldn't even give me the money I needed to save my wife! So don't blame me for not showing any courtesy," I growled.
"Everything I've done has solely been to give myself a way to survive. You can't buy off the years I've spent working for you with just 500 thousand dollars, Patrick. Ten million dollars, and not a single cent less!"
Patrick scowled. He didn't expect me to stand my ground.
"So, this is how it's going to be, huh, Heath? So be it. We'll see about this!"
He marched right off, but I didn't care at all.
However, he soon retaliated against me.
Early the next morning, the police showed up at the hospital to take me with them.
"Heath Carter, someone has reported you for defamation and spreading falsehoods. You need to come down to the station with us."
To keep Georgia from worrying about me, I'd already asked my mother-in-law, Naomi Moore, to come take care of her.
So, when the police arrived, I followed them out calmly. The moment I stepped out of the hospital, I was swarmed by a group of reporters.
"Heath, you accused United Foundation of fraud, and now you've been arrested yourself. Care to share your thoughts on that?"
"You previously exposed the workplace harassment endured by a female employee. Did you even get her consent first?"
"You claim to be doing the righteous thing, but aren't you just another criminal exposing other people's private information?"
Faced with their accusations, I simply replied with a calm smile, "Once the eight-hour mark passes, there'll be another exposé. I hope Mr. Hoffman spent enough on paid shills to cover his ass and get out of this next scandal unscathed."
Immediately, the crowd of reporters surged forward and started pressing me further.
"What's the exposé? Can you give us a hint?"
"What does it involve this time?"
Pausing in my tracks, I looked straight into one of the cameras and said in all seriousness, "It'll be something that will ruin Patrick Hoffman's reputation completely—enough to strip him of everything he has."
After flashing them one last smile, I got into the police car.
At the station, the police didn't ask me all that many questions. They just had me confirm that I was the one who made the posts.
I also provided them with the evidence to back up my claims.
Soon, two lawyers showed up, claiming to be United Enterprise's legal counsel.
"Mr. Carter, we represent United Enterprise in filing a lawsuit against you for libel, defamation, and extortion."
I snorted. "You can only sue me if I released fabricated information, but everything I said is a proven fact. How does it count as libel and defamation?
"The so-called extortion is also a baseless accusation. I simply asked Patrick for what he owes me. Apart from the severance pay I'm due, he also owes me dividends on the company shares I've owned for the past seven years. I'm just asking for the money I'm owed. What's illegal about that?"
"Since you two are lawyers, I'm sure you're familiar with the relevant laws. Take a look at this equity agreement, then tell me if there's anything wrong with what I'm doing."
Their expressions stiffened once they saw the equity agreement I showed them.
Chuckling, I remarked, "Kindly pass a message to Patrick for me. He has three minutes before I release my next exposé."
The two men swiftly got in touch with Patrick, and his furious roar rang through the phone. "Tell him he can keep dreaming! That so-called agreement is just a bunch of bullshit! He made it up! I doubt he can do much else. Go all in against him!"
Hearing that, I couldn't help but sigh. There was nothing more for us to discuss, then.
Three minutes later, a 24-page document went viral across the Internet, and so did United Enterprise.
Once Patrick saw the latest exposé, he collapsed into his chair.