Grace’s answer came slowly, as if each word might cost her more than the job already had. Medication signed out to “charity cases” that never received it. Families told they didn’t qualify for assistance while someone billed full price to insurance. A supervisor who warned her she was “confusing compassion with procedure.” Then the day she filed a formal report—and the week later when her shifts vanished from the schedule.

Listening, Brennan felt his father’s empire tilt. This wasn’t a random woman he’d plucked from a station floor; she was collateral damage of a machine that printed his dividends. Her ruined career, the debts, the homelessness—threads leading back to Ashford Global. Back to Montgomery. The twenty‑four hours ended, but he didn’t ask for his card. Instead, he asked for every document she still had. For the first time in his life, Brennan wasn’t protecting the company. He was preparing to burn it down.