Chapter 6 - A Late Night Call From The Hospital
By 11:30 PM, the sedan dropped Ren off outside her modest apartment building in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.
Damian had insisted on driving her to her front door, watching from the rear window until she safely unlocked the main security gate.
Ren walked up the three flights of creaky stairs, her exhaustion catching up to her with heavy, crushing force.
As she unlocked her apartment door, her cell phone buzzed violently in her coat pocket—an unknown local landline number.
Her stomach dropped instantly; she answered on the second ring, her breath catching in her throat.
“Ren Ashby?” a neutral nurse’s voice came through the speaker. “This is St. Anthony’s Hospital calling regarding your mother, Martha.”
Ren clutched the doorframe, her vision swimming with sudden panic. “Is she okay? What happened?”
“Her oxygen levels dipped dangerously low around nine tonight,” the nurse explained gently.
“We have her stabilized in the step-down unit, but her medical copay for emergency admission needs to be processed immediately.”
“How much is the copay?” Ren asked, her voice cracking as tears filled her eyes.
“Eight hundred and fifty dollars, Miss Ashby. It’s required before we can transfer her to a private room with specialized pulmonary care.”
Ren closed her eyes, leaning her head against the cold hallway plaster as tears spilled over her cheeks.
Eight hundred and fifty dollars; she had four hundred and twelve dollars to her name.
She had worked fourteen hours today, saved a billion-dollar logistics company six million dollars, and she couldn't even afford her mother’s hospital bill.
She stood in the dark hallway, sobbing quietly into her hand, feeling completely trapped by the brutal reality of her life.
Then, her phone chimed with a secondary notification—an official banking app notification from her direct deposit link.
She pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the glowing screen through her tears.
TRANSFER RECEIVED: $15,000.00 FROM COLE LOGISTICS ACQUISITION TRUST.
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MEMO: ADVANCED PERFORMANCE BONUS - SENIOR STRATEGY LOOPOLE DISCOVERY.
Ren stared at the numbers on her screen, her breath hitching in her chest as the exact amount cleared her pending balance immediately.
