Rejected Heiress, Reigning Queen novel Chapter 197

Emma Lockwood hadn't been managing the company's daily operations lately, so she genuinely hadn't heard about the government grant.

She was actually quite grateful to Gillian Lockwood. Getting the tip-off prompted her to head straight to CFT Corporation.

"You don't need to stress over the project. There are hardly any domestic companies that can compete with CFT. It's practically a done deal." VP Levi finished his report and looked at her, asking, "How's your recovery going?"

"Almost back to a hundred percent."

Emma rolled her shoulders to emphasize the point, making Levi's eye twitch nervously. "Boss, please take it easy. Our lab just developed a new drug, but Dr. Foster's secretary called to say he's too swamped with another study to oversee the clinical trials. Want to keep an eye on it?"

"I can do that, sure. But CFT doesn't have an experimental hospital set up domestically yet, do we?"

Emma felt a slight headache coming on. Would she have to fly back overseas?

"The Vance Group's Metropolitan Medical Center has a dedicated research wing. Or, if you want an exclusive research hospital like the one at headquarters, we can just buy one or build it from scratch."

Levi paused for a second before adding, "There's no rush to decide right now since the trial permits are still pending approval. But speaking of buying hospitals, I finally got some leads on the background check you asked for a few days ago."

Emma settled into her office chair as Levi pulled out a thick stack of files.

"Judging by Kyle Yardley's unknown chat logs, he only knew he was being paid a million dollars to orchestrate a kidnapping. He didn't know the crash was premeditated."

Emma nodded. She had suspected as much when she skimmed Kyle's phone.

"But the police dug into Kyle's and his family's bank accounts, and there were no massive deposits. That means the buyer never paid up. So, I dug into his call history, and this particular number caught my eye."

Levi tapped a string of digits in the file. Emma's eyes drifted to the note next to it.

Emma stared, utterly stunned. Pamela Palmer's dead ex-husband? The one who died in a car crash?

"Arthur Palmer was a massive real estate tycoon back in the day. I checked their marital history, and everything points to them being a loving, deeply devoted couple."

Levi gave Emma a meaningful look before dropping the real bombshell. "And shortly after the tycoon died, the director of Mercy Private Hospital received a fifty-million-dollar wire transfer. What's more, the hospital was fully built over a decade ago, but they barely accepted any patients. It's almost as if they were exclusively treating a very specific demographic."

Emma leaned back into the sofa, crossing her arms as she sank into deep thought.

Why would the hospital go out of its way to pretend it was brand new five years ago?

She couldn't piece the puzzle together. Right in the middle of her confusion, Violet texted her.

[Emma, your brother is in terrible trouble. Mom is begging you to help him. Didn't you say you wanted to do a DNA test? I'll go with you. Can we meet up first?]