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I was beyond furious. Not at them. This wasn’t their fault, and they hadn’t asked to be brought to ASH, simply someplace safe.

And probably not forever.

I called the president and wasn’t happy with the answers I received. I made it clear that he handle this fast and without asking me to grab my ankles for these assholes or he would not like how I handled it.

Unfortunately, I was pretty sure he was going to call my bluff.

“I don’t bluff, you fool,” I grumbled after the call was over.

I had a meeting with several of my top admins and told them where we needed to start.

First, it was going to be hellish, but I needed the bill for everything we’d provided.

Everything. People needed to see exactly how much the South American government was trying to push off onto a private hospital when it was their responsibility.

I also had our media people start taking footage of the crazy we had and even security footage of the portals being opened to dump uninjured people on us. We hadn’t released that for privacy reasons, and it had been a crisis, but now… No.

Again, we weren’t a fucking hotel or resort for people. We weren’t a UN hospital for them to abuse like this.

Which was why there weren’t many UN hospitals.

At. All.

There was a whole list, but it was clear that I was preparing for war.

I knew they were nervous, and it was against what the president wanted…

But we didn’t answer to the South American government, and I wasn’t going to risk that the people advising the president were pushing him the wrong way on this.

It would benefit the North American government if we were labeled a UN hospital as well. All of the governments would love that—had been trying to make that work for decades.

No matter that it would fuck me and ASH over. It would be the political win of the century.

Which was why I was never, not ever going to let that happen. ASH wasn’t about politics or even one government. It was bigger than that.

That was how we were able to help as we did.

I made some calls and recorded them so I had the threats and dismissive attitudes along with what I already had. Basically, my arsenal was well-stocked.

I gave the president one more chance, but by four in the afternoon, I was getting the brush-off, not even talking to him directly. Big mistake. That was too big of a mistake on something this important.

So I contacted the news station with the biggest nightly news show and told them I was willing to give an exclusive interview that they would want. Including a whole lot of information that would make their views explode.

Needless to say, when that sort of statement came from me, they believed it… And asked how long until I could be at their studio.

“Good luck,” Ha-joon muttered as he met me by the portal to take me to New York. He gave me a quick kiss and couldn’t hide the worry in his eyes.

“I’ve done much crazier things than calling a world leader on his shit,” I assured him. “Get some rest. I’ll see you at home.”

“I have a meeting with Alan and Sean about what we talked about.” He cupped my face when I flinched. “I’m trying to take something off your plate. You trust us. It’s just hard for you to be party to it when…”

When it was about my blood and talking about me like an asset that more could be gotten from. That was fair, and I was pretty sure he had noted the way it had triggered me about my past. Especially since my father had popped out his head.

And I still needed to have a difficult conversation with my father.

The anchor of the show was hesitant and clearly didn’t think an interview during his prime-time show was a good idea. He changed his mind quickly when I went over some of what I was going to show everyone. It was against their protocols that they didn’t see and verify all the information first.

How could they? We were the ones who it came from.

But also, they didn’t relinquish control of their screens and equipment. They gave it over for the data when I handed over the footage from our security and more. They could quickly flip through that while things got set up and decide what they wanted to play.

I also promised to give them full access to the “guests” to interview as they pleased so they heard it from their mouths. I thought that was more than fair.

The president must have gotten word of what was going on because he tried calling me from his personal line. When I didn’t answer, he texted asking me not to do what I was and to talk.

I simply responded that he’d had his chance and I would do whatever I had to so my hospital and people were protected. Always.

The interview started from the beginning. I was honest that my president asked us to aid South America because we were the best trauma center in the world—or one of the top. I could be modest sometimes.

But that things had quickly spiraled out of control, and magics opened portals to ASH without authorization, mocking us as they did.

“Forgive me for saying this, but you sound like you might have some animosity towards magics,” he worried.

“My best friend is a witch,” I snickered.

“I previously had a long-term lover who is a warlock.

No, I have nothing against any supe species.

What I have a problem with is egotistical, entitled jackasses who try to use a crisis to settle scores or…

Whatever this was. Your station has the security footage with audio.

“You have the proof this wasn’t about helping people but trying to stick it to a North American private hospital.

I don’t know why. Jealousy? They know their president hates me because I won’t allow ASH to be named a UN hospital?

I can’t tell you for sure, but they used the suffering and deaths of many to try and make this worse for everyone. ”

“We’ve been reporting on the excessive push to shout everywhere that ASH is a UN hospital,” he accepted. “There have been slips here and there, but now it’s been—it’s been incessant.”

“Because they want access to our research, including how we formulate the blood additive. I’ve been threatened so many times over the years to hand it over to the South American government—this president in particular—it’s ridiculous.

“They want it to make money. Not to help their citizens, but with a private company. I believe there are many, many laws about presidents not making money off their time in office, yes? It’s a level of corruption any sane person agrees is over the line.

It’s a conflict and they weren’t elected to office to make themselves richer.

They were elected to make our lives better . ”

“I agree, but there are many who are saying this is all a ploy to skip out on the bill which is the agreement in place between the governments when aid is given, yes?”

“There is,” I answered, glad he was on the ball. “But ASH isn’t money-hungry like some accuse us.” I brought up the slide that was relevant. “This was the total of everything we spent and services when the earthquake hit Asia and we jumped in.”

He whistled. “That—no one knows it cost that much. It’s an exorbitant amount.”

“Saving lives isn’t cheap,” I chuckled darkly.

“Take into account all of the overtime— double time since most of the staff didn’t leave the hospital for days.

We had extra people come in. Not to mention all our families volunteering and bringing in supplies, food—there’s no way we got all of those costs. ”

“Plus the cost of our military involvement,” he added. “We heard you gave free extra blood to our military and first responders.”

“We did. Food was always available to them and more.” I waited until he nodded.

“ However , most of our doctors are salaried, so they didn’t demand the overtime or double time they could have in such a crisis.

Other medical staff who came to help didn’t request payment for services. A lot of people donated their time.

“But that doesn’t mean the value of their work isn’t there.

We had to reschedule four days of appointments because of this crisis.

I have doctors and practices that will be working weekends for months to get their schedules back in order when we’re trying to provide health care to more.

There are also costs we can’t forgive because we’re billed for them. ”

“Laundry services—”

“ASH has its own in-house laundry but yes, you’re on the right track.

Our water and added energy consumption doesn’t get waived.

Medical waste costs are a lot to handle.

We had to put in a rush order for more surgical equipment because of this last crisis.

That bill will make me cry and cost about the same as hiring a new nurse for a year. ”

I went over all the numbers, saying what we didn’t charge for and the discounts we gave to Asia because of the promises to help us restock our blood supply.

Which they did and even offered some of their personnel to cover for ours while they recovered.

I basically pumped up Asia on how they handled the situation even if it hadn’t been smooth at the time.

It was still a whole lot better than what was going on now.

“I had no idea ASH ate so much of the cost,” he muttered. “That’s not what was reported at all.”

“Shocking that certain governments in particular were pushing that narrative while referring to us as a UN hospital,” I drawled.

“We’re not, and the department heads are so upset how everything happened, the way their staff was treated, and what’s being reported now, that we’re discussing magically locking ASH from portals. ”

The horror on his face and those of others in the studio at the threat would have been amusing if the situation wasn’t so serious.

But it was.