846 "When My Dying Father’s Heart Monitor Flatlined After I Refused to Save His Ruined Empire, My Sister's Disgraced Husband Stormed My Office with a Stolen Flash Drive—Threatening to Send My Father to Prison Unless I Handed Over Two Million Dollars by Sunrise."

“Dr. Lawson!” I shouted, spinning toward the glass door and hammering my palm against the glass. “We need a doctor in here right now!”

Within seconds, the heavy doors burst open. Dr. Lawson and three cardiac nurses swarmed the bedside, pushing me back out of the way as they slammed emergency paddles onto the cart and adjusted the oxygen flow valves.

“V-fib! His rhythm is breaking down!” a nurse yelled.

“Charge to two hundred! Clear!” Dr. Lawson commanded.

A heavy electrical thud shook my father’s body against the mattress. The monitor continued its flat, agonizing shriek.

“Charge again! Clear!”

Outside the glass partition, my mother let out a blood-curdling scream, pressing her hands against the window as Vanessa fell against her, both of them sobbing hysterically.

I stood frozen against the corner of the room, my hands clenched into tight fists at my sides. For all my cold calculations, my forensic spreadsheets, and my multi-million-dollar investment portfolio, I realized in that single, terrifying second that money couldn't buy a single extra heartbeat when the clock ran out.

“Come on, Arthur. Stay with us,” Dr. Lawson muttered fiercely, pressing down hard for chest compressions.

Beep... beep... bee-eep...

The jagged green line on the monitor stabilized into a slow, rhythmic pulse once more.

Dr. Lawson straightened up, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead with the back of her forearm, and let out a long, shuddering breath.

“We got him back,” she said, turning to look at me with tired, serious eyes. “だが, Ms. Hawthorne... that was a very close call. His heart cannot handle any more severe emotional stress or sudden shocks. If he wakes up to find out that the rest of the restaurant group is being liquidated by the bankruptcy court on Monday morning, the next crash might be fatal.”

I looked through the glass at my mother and sister, who were holding each other and weeping against the corridor wall.

“The liquidation is scheduled for Monday at nine AM?” I asked quietly.

“Unless the primary lienholder files an emergency injunction to stay the proceedings,” Dr. Lawson replied. “And right now, the primary lienholder is Hawthorne Capital.”