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I swallow my disappointment. I have so many questions I want to ask Olivia but I know that she won’t give me any satisfactory answers. There’s no point in letting it fuck up my mind. The clinic needs me right now. We are silent for the rest of the ride.
“Can you drop me off here?” Olivia asks.
My throat tightens painfully. I ignore my feelings and do as Olivia asks. I stop the car two blocks from the clinic. I keep my gaze focused firmly ahead. I don’t want to see Olivia rushing out of my car and hiding like I’m her dirty little secret.
“I’ll see you at the office,” she says and bangs the door shut.
I close my eyes for a few seconds and then gripping the steering tightly, I press on the gas. True enough, there are more vehicles than usual parked in front of the building, some vans for transporting cameras and other recording equipment. I spot Alec’s car first and as I wedge my SUV next to his, I spot Dylan’s at the adjacent parking space.
Perfect. We can go in together. We get out of our cars and exchange terse greetings.
“Ready?” Alec asks and Dylan and I answer in the affirmative, as if we’re going to war, which in a sense we are.
The success of a private clinic is highly dependent on the public’s perception of it, whether real or imagined. Something small that has nothing to do with the clinic can have massive repercussions. Everything issue that comes up must be taken seriously.
“Heather said that she would ask you to bring along Olivia. Where is she?” Dylan.
“She opted not to be involved,” I say.
Alec nods. “I’m glad she’s comfortable enough to say so.”
We walk and when the building entrance comes into view, so does the throng of reporters. It’s a bigger crowd than I expected but it is a big story. It has all the ingredients to capture the public’s interest: a pregnancy, a marriage, a terrifying event, and a villain. I feel sorry for the clinic that is involved. It may not be known right now, but in the next few days, the clinic or hospital won’t be a secret anymore.
By the time the reporters notice us, we’re only a few feet away and we make our way to a table that Heather and her team have thoughtfully placed so that we have a central spot.
Alec is the first to go. He’s job is the easiest. He introduces the clinic as well as Dylan and me, then he states firmly that we are not the clinic that is being sued. Dylan, as the endocrinologist, comes next. He explains how such errors occur.
“In IVF procedures, the embryo is fertilized outside the uterus, after which it is transferred to the womb. This is the most vulnerable period and when errors occur. Anderson clinic has put protocols in place so that these types of errors do not occur.”
Everyone is listening intensely and jotting things down. From the corner of my eye, I catch sight of Olivia inching her way forward to get a better view. Our gazes meet and lock for a few seconds. She’s the first to look away, shifting her gaze to Dylan. Two seconds later, she weaves her way through the crowd and leaves. It feels as if she’s deserting me.
“We have witnesses and checks at every stage,” Dylan says. “We don’t know what happened in the unfortunate and very distressing case of Mr. and Mrs. Hill but our hearts go out to them.”
Voices rise up together, and I lift my hand and ask for silence. “We can’t speculate which fertility clinic it is. The only thing we can tell you with absolute confident is that it is not The Anderson Clinic.” I can’t explain how great it feels to say that.
My parents ran the clinic professionally and I’m proud to say that my brothers and I have kept up the standards since they handed it over to us. I answer a few questions then we excuse ourselves. We need to get back to work, to our valued patients. Nothing wrong with a bit of positive PR.
“That went well,” Alec says when we’re out of earshot.
“Yeah, but it won’t end there. They’ll start digging for more. This scandal will open a can of worms.” I’m worried and rightly so. As much as we’ve got systems in place, errors do occur. Fewer as the years go by and we perfect our systems, but if they dig, they’ll find something.
“We’ll be fine,” Dylan says. “You do a good job keeping us on the straight and narrow.”
“I hope it’s enough.”
“Coffee?” Alec says.
“I’ll pass.” I need more details and I need to see Olivia. I hate my need for her even when she hurts my feelings and makes me question what we have.
Chapter 28: Olivia
The look of hurt on Jace’s face haunts me as I scurry to the elevators. I sag against the wall when the doors slide shut. What sort of a person have I become? Tears fill my eyes and when the elevator doors slide open at my floor, I can barely see ahead as I hurry to my desk.
Jace must hate me and I don’t blame him. What kind of woman would refuse to accompany her boyfriend for a press conference when he asks her to? The phone is ringing incessantly and it pulls me from my thoughts. I pick it up, immediately putting up a guard when the man identifies himself as a reporter.
“What does Jace Anderson have to say about the allegations that The Anderson Clinic is the unnamed hospital?” Before I can answer, he asks another question. No wonder people hit journalists. It feels like harassment more than a quest to find out the truth.
“Mr. Anderson is currently in a press conference outside the clinic and he’ll answer all those questions. Thank you.” I disconnected the call, only for it to ring again.
