Chapter 8
The server cooling fans whined in the background as Julianna struggled beneath Arthur's boot, hissing insults and thrashing against the cold metal floor. Elena pressed her hand against her bruised shoulder, wincing slightly as she rotated her arm to check for mobility. The bone wasn't broken, but a deep, ugly bruise was already forming beneath the fabric of her blue nurse uniform.
"Are you alright?" Arthur asked, casting a brief, concerned glance toward her while maintaining his grip on Julianna's arm.
"I'm fine," Elena breathed through clenched teeth, shaking off the pain. She stepped over to the dual-monitor console, ignoring the throbbing ache in her shoulder. The wire transfer progress bar was frozen at eighty-four percent, paused by the sudden physical interruption.
Elena’s fingers flew across the keyboard, typing the administrative override commands Clara had taught her during her years working part-time data entry for the hospital's bio-ethics committee. She located the source IP address of the offshore account and executed a hard-freeze protocol, locking the remaining funds in an escrow holding account managed by the federal prosecutor's office.
"Transfer intercepted and reversed," Elena announced, relief washing over her face as a green checkmark appeared on the primary screen. "The funds are back in the St. Jude foundation vault. Julianna's administrative access has been permanently revoked and blacklisted across all regional networks."
Julianna groaned against the floor, her defiance finally crumbling into pathetic gasps. "You ruined my life," she sobbed, the tough façade completely shattered. "You took everything from me over a charity gala."
"No, Julianna," Arthur said coldly, lifting his foot and stepping back to allow the facility security team, who had finally caught up to the sub-basement door, to take over. "You ruined your own life years ago when you decided that greed mattered more than human lives. Take her away," he ordered the two guards who stood waiting in the doorway with zip-ties ready.
The guards hauled Julianna to her feet, ignoring her muffled cries as they marched her out of the server room and up the concrete stairs toward the main holding area where city police were now waiting.
May you like
Arthur watched them leave, then turned back to Elena, his expression softening as he looked at her bruised shoulder. "We need to get you to the emergency department. That hit looked severe."
"I've treated worse, Mr. Sterling," Elena replied, offering a tired, genuine smile. "Let's just get back upstairs to my grandmother."
