Chapter 51
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Helena’s threat was not an empty one. When psychological intimidation and covert sabotage failed to force my hand, she escalated her assault to direct legal warfare.
Three days later, the clinic was operating near maximum capacity despite the fake reviews, thanks to the fierce loyalty of our long-term patients. I was demonstrating a stabilizing exercise for a patient recovering from knee surgery when Sarah walked onto the gym floor. Her face was ashen.
"Maya," Sarah said quietly, interrupting the session. "There is a process server in the lobby. He refuses to leave until he hands documents directly to you."
A cold spike of adrenaline hit my system. I apologized to my patient, handed the session over to one of my senior therapists, and walked out to the reception area.
A tall man in a plain suit handed me a thick, heavy manila envelope. "Maya Vance? You've been served."
He turned and walked out. I didn't need to open the envelope to know that my mother had officially declared war, but when I pulled the heavy legal documents out and read the primary header, a wave of absolute nausea washed over me.
It was a lawsuit for severe medical malpractice and gross negligence.
The plaintiff was a man named Arthur Jenkins. According to the filing, Jenkins claimed that a specific spinal adjustment performed at Sovereign Physical Therapy by me, personally, had caused catastrophic, permanent nerve damage, resulting in a total loss of mobility in his lower extremities. He was suing the clinic for ten million dollars.
Thomas arrived at the clinic twenty minutes later, rushing through the doors and pulling me into a fierce, protective hug.
"Sarah called me," Thomas said, leading me back to my private office and locking the door. "Show me the filing."
I handed him the documents, my hands shaking slightly. "Thomas, I remember Arthur Jenkins. He was a walk-in patient three weeks ago. He complained of mild lower back pain. I performed a standard, completely low-impact diagnostic evaluation. I never performed a spinal adjustment on him. He walked out of here perfectly fine."
"He's a plant," Thomas deduced immediately, his eyes scanning the aggressive legal jargon. "Helena hired him to fake an injury and file a catastrophic lawsuit. She knows a ten-million-dollar malpractice suit will immediately trigger your medical liability insurance to freeze your operational assets pending an investigation."
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"She is trying to paralyze the clinic financially," I realized, the full, devastating scope of her cruelty coming into focus. "If my assets are frozen, I can't pay my staff. Sovereign will collapse in a month."
"We are not going to let that happen," Thomas promised, his voice a bedrock of absolute support. "I am calling David right now. We are taking them down."
