Page 50 of Curious Hearts (The Healing Hearts #2)

“Actually, I think we are.” Lakshmi gathered her files with clinical efficiency. “You’re upset, which is understandable, but eventually you’ll see that everything I’ve done has been for your benefit. When this... phase passes, I’ll still be here, ready to help you get your career back on track.”

Something in her mother’s dismissive tone snapped the last thread of Jessica’s restraint.

She turned back, her voice carrying enough to make heads turn in the corridor outside.

“You don’t get to decide what benefits me anymore.

And this isn’t a phase. It’s my life—the one I’m choosing for myself, not the one you’ve mapped out. ”

“Jessica, lower your voice,” Lakshmi hissed, glancing at the attention they were drawing. “This is my workplace.”

“Convenient how professional boundaries matter when they’re yours,” Jessica retorted. “You had no problem using your professional influence to interfere in my relationship. Why should I respect your workplace when you didn’t respect Ali’s career?”

By now, the security guard had given up trying to restrain Ali, who had pushed past him to approach the conference room. Fenna and Yaya followed close behind, along with a growing audience of curious hospital staff.

“Jessica,” Ali said, reaching for her arm. “Let’s go. This isn’t the place.”

“No, it is the place,” Jessica insisted, her voice rising further. “Right here, in the hospital where my mother used her influence to sabotage your grant. Where she deliberately undermined your professional credibility to punish me.”

Lakshmi stepped forward, her own composure fracturing. “That’s enough, Jessica. You’re making a scene.”

“Like the scene you made with the grant committee? What exactly did you tell them about Ali? That she had a breakdown after working herself to exhaustion helping animals? That she rebuilt her life and created a foundation that helps children recover faster from surgeries? Did you mention any of that before you destroyed her funding?”

The growing crowd in the hallway included several members of the hospital staff now, including, Jessica noticed with some distant part of her mind, the face she’d seen when Ali had shown the people involved in the grant assessments. He was watching the confrontation with undisguised interest.

“Jessica,” Ali tried again, her voice gentle. “Your mother wasn’t the only factor in the board’s decision. These things are complicated?—”

“No, they’re not,” Jessica cut her off, though her hand found Ali’s and squeezed briefly. “This is very simple. My mother decided you were an obstacle, so she eliminated you the way she eliminates anything that doesn’t fit her vision.”

“That’s not fair,” Lakshmi protested, her physician’s authority wavering in the face of her daughter’s unexpected rebellion. “I submitted my professional opinion based on legitimate concerns?—”

“About a woman you met exactly once, at a dinner where you spent the entire evening dismissing her career as ‘playing with animals,’” Jessica interrupted.

“A woman whose only crime was loving me enough to tell me to take the London job if that’s what I truly wanted.

A woman who was willing to wait for me even if it meant years of long-distance. ”

Ali’s fingers tightened around Jessica’s, a silent support that gave her strength to continue.

“You know what the worst part is?” Jessica’s voice dropped, no longer shouting but all the more devastating for its quiet intensity.

“I would have respected your concerns if you’d expressed them honestly.

If you’d come to me as my mother rather than weaponizing your professional standing.

If you’d treated Ali as a person worthy of basic respect rather than an obstacle to be removed. ”

The corridor had fallen silent, the gathered spectators riveted by the family drama unfolding before them. Among them, Jessica noticed with a start, was her father, standing beside the man she vaguely recognized from the photograph, his expression unreadable.

“Jessica, please,” Lakshmi said, her voice lower now, aware of their audience. “We can discuss this privately.”

“Like you discussed your concerns about Ali privately with the grant committee?” Jessica shook her head. “No, I think I prefer transparency. After all, you’re so concerned about full disclosures of potential conflicts, aren’t you?”

A figure moved through the crowd. Her father. “That’s enough,” he said quietly.

“Dad, she—” Jessica began.

James Taylor held up a hand. “I heard enough.” He turned to his wife. “Lakshmi, is this true? Did you interfere with Dr. Ritchie’s grant application without disclosing your personal connection?”

Lakshmi’s chin lifted slightly. “I provided my professional assessment of a candidate whose history raised legitimate concerns.”

“Without mentioning she’s involved with our daughter?” James pressed. “Without recusing yourself from the decision due to obvious conflict of interest?”

“I was protecting our daughter’s future,” Lakshmi insisted, though her certainty seemed to waver under her husband’s scrutiny.

“By sabotaging the woman she loves?” James asked, his voice gentle but firm. “That’s not protection, Lakshmi. That’s control.”

Jessica stared at her father in shock. In all the years of her mother’s careful management of her life, her father had been a mostly silent partner, supporting Lakshmi’s decisions with quiet acquiescence. His intervention now was unexpected but powerful.

“Dr. Monahan,” her father said, turning to the board chairman who stood watching from the edge of the gathered crowd.

“I believe you’ve witnessed enough to understand the situation.

My wife’s letter regarding Dr. Ritchie contained a significant conflict of interest that was deliberately withheld.

Under hospital policy, that renders her assessment invalid for consideration in the grant process. ”

Dr. Monahan stepped forward, his expression grave. “Indeed. Had we known about this personal connection, Dr. Mehta-Taylor’s concerns would have been set aside pending independent evaluation.”

Ali, who had remained silent through most of the confrontation, finally spoke. “Does this mean the board will reconsider the Healing Paws application?”

Dr. Monahan looked between the assembled parties, as though gauging the emotional response his words might bring.

“I believe,” he said carefully, “that under the circumstances, the board should review the application on its merits alone, without consideration of Dr. Mehta-Taylor’s letter.

Given the strong supporting data and Dr. Rosen’s enthusiastic endorsement, I see no reason why the grant wouldn’t be approved upon renewed consideration, subject to due diligence. ”

A murmur ran through the gathered crowd. Fenna stepped forward, her professional demeanor firmly in place despite the drama. “When might we expect that reconsideration to occur, Dr. Monahan?”

He looked from Jessica to her mother. “I’m prepared to reconvene the committee this afternoon, if all required parties are available. Dr. Ivers-Vargas, your presence would be appreciated.”

Fenna nodded, squeezing Ali’s arm supportively. “I’ll be there.”

Jessica, still processing her father’s unexpected intervention, turned to her mother. “This isn’t about the grant anymore. It’s about trust. You’ve shown me exactly how far you’re willing to go to control my life.”

“I was trying to protect you from making a mistake,” Lakshmi insisted, though her voice held a small quaver. “London was right for you. This... relationship is a distraction. I couldn’t—no, I won’t—stand by and watch you throw away everything you’ve worked for.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Jessica said, her voice quieter now.

“I’m not throwing anything away. I’m building something new.

Something that matters to me. Walter and the board recognized the value in my alternative proposal and made me a partner.

The London office is proceeding, and I’ll act as a consultant but from a Denver base, and Hamilton Trust is stronger for it. ”

“Partner?” Lakshmi’s surprise was evident. “But Walter was so determined to send you to London.”

“He’s a better mentor than you gave him credit for,” Jessica replied. “He recognized that my happiness would make me a more effective than my ambition alone.”

James touched his wife’s arm gently. “Lakshmi, it’s time to step back. Our daughter is a grown woman who’s proven herself more than capable of making her own decisions. We raised her to be independent, to think critically. We can’t be surprised when she applies those qualities to her own life.”

“But,” Lakshmi began, then fell silent, looking suddenly lost. The authority that had propelled her through decades as one of Denver’s most respected cardiologists seemed to desert her as she looked at her daughter, perhaps truly seeing her for the first time in years.

“I love Ali,” Jessica said simply, reaching for Ali’s hand. “I love her enough to risk disappointing you, to choose a different path than the one you think I should take.”

Ali’s fingers twined with hers, warm and steady. “Jessica?—”

“No, let me finish,” Jessica continued, her gaze never leaving her mother.

“I’m tired of half-measures and compromises.

I’m tired of arranging my life to meet expectations rather than to be happy.

Ali makes me happier than I ever thought possible, and I’m not going to apologize for choosing that happiness. ”

She turned to Ali, whose expression reflected a mixture of amazement and concern. “I love you,” Jessica said, the words no longer careful or measured but flowing freely. “I love who I am when I’m with you. I love who we could be together.”

“I love you too,” Ali replied softly, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “But Jessica, this is a lot. Your mother, the grant, all of it?—”