Chapter 3

With one sentence, he shoved the blame back onto me.

At once, everyone clapped and cheered, praising Manager Chavez for being so magnanimous, for looking out for the residents.

"Exactly. What's wrong with her seeing us for a checkup? You can't be so selfish. She's done it three years already, and it never worked her to death, did it?"

They guilt-tripped me as if it were the most natural thing in the world, shameless and brazen.

They'd completely forgotten that this so-called benefit was built on the sacrifice of my personal time and energy.

Robert had found his backers, and the look on his face turned even smugger as he gripped Manager Chavez's hand.

"Boss, you're the fair one, always. No wonder you run this complex. You've got vision."

"For your sake, fine, a hundred thousand it is. I won't nitpick with a little girl."

I stood frozen where I was, shaking all over. Now I finally understood what it meant for wolves to work in packs.

I looked at every face around me, dug my nails into my palm, and slowly steadied myself. They thought they could push around a young woman on her own?

Too bad for them, they'd guessed wrong.

I spoke, cold and even.

"Robert, is this a mob shakedown? Extortion?"

Their faces all soured. Old Mrs. Barnett was the first to turn dark and scold me.

"You ungrateful little girl, how can you not know what's good for you? We're all neighbors here, we're giving you face, and you talk like this? Extortion? We're helping you smooth things over."

"Seeing us for a checkup is nothing but a flick of your wrist, a few minutes of your time, and you get to look good and be praised for it. What have you got to be unhappy about?"

Lorna James chimed in, soft-spoken and disdainful.

"That's right. Neighbors helping each other out, isn't that just how it should be?"

"You're going to be living here for the long haul. If a pipe bursts, if your tire picks up a nail, you think nobody would help you?"

"Little girl, don't be so ungrateful. A hundred thousand is already letting you off easy. You doctors have sucked plenty of blood out of us. What's wrong with giving a little back? And even that price is only because of Manager Chavez."

Robert stood at the front, pointing his finger in my face, and slapped the bill against my chest.

"Three days. If the money isn't in my account within three days, don't blame me for what comes next."

I took a step back and looked at the worked-up crowd, cold and unmoved. Any last hope of parting on good terms was gone.

Without hesitation, I picked up my phone and called the police.

"Officer, there are people blocking my door demanding I hand over a hundred thousand dollars. Please come deal with this right away."

Robert flew into a rage, jabbing his finger at me and cursing, and in the middle of all the shouting, the police arrived.

I stepped forward at once and laid out the whole thing from beginning to end, then held up the group chat records for them to see.

An older officer looked over the chat records and frowned.

"Mr. Whitney, you're saying April Mason didn't run her free checkups in time, that she delayed your father's illness, and you want her to pay two hundred thousand in medical costs, is that right?"

Robert nodded, righteous as ever.

"Officer, she took our gifts, so of course she owes us those checkups. Just because she thinks the perks aren't good enough now, she's refused to do the free clinic for a whole month, and that's what delayed my father's condition."

"You tell me, shouldn't she pay?"

The older officer turned to me, his voice grave.

"Miss Mason, taking payment on the side to practice medicine isn't something under our jurisdiction. But if you really took people's money and that caused a delay in treatment, then you do bear responsibility."

I pulled up the "gifts" on my phone right there.

"Officer, an apple, a bottle of water, a few bananas, some home-grown vegetables, do these count as payment?"

"I never took a single perk. I gave them free checkups for three years. Now they're forcing me to keep doing it, and on top of that trying to extort a hundred thousand out of me. I want to file a case."

I held my ground, firm and clear, asking the officers to see justice done for me.

"You've got the nerve to call the police and say we're extorting you? You dare claim you never took money from my old man?"

I gave a cold laugh and pulled up the hospital payment receipt, holding it out for everyone to see.

"Blood pressure medication, eleven twenty. Uncle Tristan gave me ten dollars and asked me to pick up his prescription. I even covered the extra dollar twenty myself."

I looked at the officer.

"So does that ten dollars count as me taking a bribe?"

The officer went through my records, flipping page by page through the group chat, and displeasure crossed his face.

"Miss Mason only ran free checkups. She didn't take any payment at all. If you keep making trouble, then you can all say your piece down at the station."

Then he turned to Robert.

"Mr. Whitney, your father's liver cancer is not something a free checkup could have fixed. The hundred thousand in compensation you're demanding has no basis."

"If you keep trying to force it out of her, Miss Mason can file extortion charges against you, and then we'd have to handle it strictly by the law."

The whole crowd was cowed by the officer's authority, and they all shrank back and went quiet.

Robert forced an awkward look and nodded again and again, promising.

"Officer, it's all a misunderstanding. I just got carried away in the heat of the moment. Since you say there's nothing to compensate, then forget it."

The officers smoothed things over with a few more words, and the moment they turned to leave, a sinister glint flashed in Robert's eyes as he spat out,

"April Mason, you just wait. Don't think having the cops behind you means you're off the hook. There'll come a day when you're on your knees begging me."