Shady Deals
Gladys arrived the next morning just as Maxwell arranged to have Reyona and Allysyn taken home.
Andrea and her team had already consulted with the doctors in charge and the proper arrangements had been made.
Andrea went with the team, who arranged one of the spare rooms in the mansion to get into a suitable setting for their recovery.
When Gladys called that morning, she was on the last leg of her journey to Kayooma, and Toria and Andreas offered to pick her up at the airport.
Instead of coming to the hospital, they were to take her to the mansion, so Maxwell, his family, and the evacuation team could meet them there.
Apparently, what happened had gotten to the board of directors within a few hours of its occurrence.
Most of the board of directors knew Maxwell’s influence, and they were well aware of how it could affect them negatively if it got out that they were unable to meet his needs in their hospital.
By the time Maxwell came out of Reyona’s room the next morning, about four were waiting at the entrance.
In their midst was the medical director, who looked shamefaced and very contrite too.
“President Rohan, my name is Killian Saltun, I am the chairman of the hospital’s board of directors. We are here to tender our apology for what happened here.” said the man who led them.
“What is going on?” Maxwell asked in confusion as he wondered why they were there that early.
“We have heard of what happened and how you are very dissatisfied with the state of our hospital at the moment, sir. We assure you that we will make amends immediately.”
“Good for you,” Maxwell said dismissively as he turned to leave.
“Uhm, we can…we can even relieve the medical director of his duties if you want,” the man said urgently before Maxwell could leave.
“What has that got to do with me?” Maxwell wondered aloud as he looked at the MD with his head bent at that moment.
Maybe he had been a bit too harsh on the man. He wondered.
He stopped and said, “Do whatever you need to do in your hospital. Do not take any administrative decisions on my account. I might have been a bit outrageous in my actions too.” As the MD raised his head in surprise, Maxwell looked directly at him and said “I am sorry. I shouldn’t have touched or spoken to you like that in the presence of your subordinates. That was not well done of me.”
By the time the MD tried to say, “It is f…”
The chairman was already saying, “It is fine with us. Of course, we all know that President Rohan is a reasonable person, and you must have acted in the heat of the moment. We all believe you will help us to handle this matter reasonably as well. That is why we are here this morning to apologise to you and to let you know that we are ready to do everything you want us to do. Your bills here will be taken care of and anything you have had to pay will be returned to you, sir.”
That was when Maxwell knew that their apology wasn’t that simple.
He looked at the man directly as he asked “What do you want?”
The man smiled sheepishly before saying “We would like to keep this between us, sir. Letting a shameful thing like this get out might show our hospital in a bad light. So, we…”
“What are you hiding?” Maxwell asked the man in a no-nonsense tone.
The man blanched before he quickly composed himself and said “Nothing at all, sir. News like this could just affect the good reputation that we have been building for a long while. Everyone knows that our hospital is a very prestigious one and any sort of blemish on it could affect the company. We can’t take proper care of patients if we have to deal with the media backlash, sir. Some of the Rohan Group partners are also our clients, and it would be a shame if we are unable to provide the perfect service to them if you take this up with us, sir.”
Maxwell wondered if it was just his thoughts or if there was some thinly veiled threat tossed in by the smiley-faced chairman.
“Oh, that is true,” Maxwell answered, and the man nodded with satisfaction that his message had been well passed across.
“So, you want me to keep my mouth shut about this? I shouldn’t blab to others so as not to affect the reputation of your hospital?”
“I will never use those words, sir.” The man said urgently, then added “But I am happy that you understand the point of my words, sir.”
“Of course, of course. I do,” Maxwell said agreeably. “It is fine. I have nothing to gain from slandering your hospital after all. I don’t need you to pick up my bills as well. We are leaving here this morning anyway, so whatever you do from now on has nothing to do with my family.”
“Oh no, sir…”
“What are you fretting about? This has nothing to do with your impeccable treatment, adequate instruments and foolproof security here at all. It’s just time for us to leave. Thank you for your service.” Maxwell said with a barely-masked sarcasm.
When the man looked at the others and tried to speak but got stopped by Maxwell’s raised eyebrows, he finally stopped making any attempt and just stood there.
“Is there anything else you want to tell me about?” Maxwell asked in a saccharine tone.
“No, sir. Thank you for giving us your attention.”
“You are welcome. Let’s do more of this.” Maxwell said tonelessly.
The men turned to leave, and Maxwell frowned as the MD looked back at him uncertainly.
Maxwell was feeling more like he had truly judged the man harshly.
Why had the board members woken up from their gilded beds to come to meet with him that early in the morning?
What do they have to lose if Maxwell reported the hospital’s inadequacies?
Yes, he had said all those things about reputation and all that shit, but Maxwell didn’t believe that man’s words.
He had an instinct for things like that. It was one of the reasons why he had turned out so successful in business, partnerships and acquisitions.
He knew when a man was shady.
That board chairman was shady as fuck.
He was sure the board members couldn’t be that clean as well.
He had only discovered the crappy material used for the windows, the outdated doors and the fact that they don’t have the kind of machines that should be considered basic in a hospital of that capacity.
Where was all the funding going?
What more could those in the administration be hiding from the powers that be?
What more could they be cutting costs on?
Inferior medication?
Maxwell knew he wasn’t going to let this go now.
Staying back in their gilded bed while he went on his way would have been a better action for them than the apology versus the veiled threat that that idiot had riddled him with.From NôvelDrama.Org.
He made a call instantly.
“Look into Light and Life Hospital’s administration. Look into every member of the board. Look twice at the chairman of the board. If there is as much as a speck of dirt anywhere, buy the hospital, then send me everything you found.”
“Yes, sir.”