Then the familiar pain ripped through my stomach, sharp as a blade.
I doubled over, retching, but nothing came up except bile.
Lionel's hand moved toward my back.
Fay's voice cut him short.
She picked up the report I'd dropped.
"So it really was you who asked my friend to fake a medical record!"
Lionel took the report from her.
Moira Swanson, followed by the words confirmed: stomach cancer. His eyes flinched.
He turned to Fay, his expression stone-cold.
"What are you talking about?"
Fay glanced at me with a look of rehearsed reluctance.
"The doctor is a friend of mine from school. She told me someone named Moira Swanson came in today asking her to fabricate a diagnosis. I assumed it was just someone with the same name, but..."
"Dr. Dickerson, please don't be angry. She probably just wanted your attention!"
With every word out of Fay's mouth, Lionel's face darkened another shade.
His hand closed around my throat.
"Moira Swanson. You faked a cancer diagnosis just to drag me home?"
His grip tightened until my face turned purple, and only then did he fling me aside.
I collapsed on the floor, gasping, swallowing air in desperate gulps.
Lionel stood over me, looking down with a cold sneer.