Chapter 29 THE PAST FINDS HIM

Chapter 29 THE PAST FINDS HIM
“You have not touched your wine, Alex. Normally when a man takes a woman to a nice place like this he is at least interested in the wine.”

Isabella leaned back in her chair. The lights made her eyes look more beautiful than usual. She was wearing a silk dress that looked like it was shining. She was looking straight at the man across from her.

Xavier stopped staring off into space. He started playing with his glass. "I am sorry Ms. Isabella. I was just enjoying the silent atmosphere. It is hard to find peace these days."

"Is it?" She tilted her head, and looked concerned. "You look really tired. Your eyes are red. You are holding onto the table like it is the only thing keeping you up. Why did you leave work early? I thought you had to work a shift to impress the people you work with."

"The hospital is a… disturbing place," Xavier said with a tired laugh. "I was told to take a break for now. One of the doctors said I should leave before I start to look like a patient."

"I am glad he did," Isabella said and reached across the table touching the back of his hand. "You have been working hard. I know you are doing this for my mother, to get the license you need, but if you get sick before the hearing what is the point?"

"It will not come to that,” Xavier said. He did not sound very sure.

"I do not know much about your job," she smiled, leaning back and taking a sip of her wine. She was watching him closely. "You never told me much about it. How about you tell me what is really going on. Is it the tests? Is the paperwork not going through?"

Xavier took a sip of his wine then relaxed. "The work is fine. The practice of medicine is easy. It is the people that are the problem. There is this one guy, a doctor who I work with. He wants to see me fail."

Isabella looked confused. "A rival? Already? Who is he?"

"His name is Blaine Thorne,” Xavier said.

"Thorne?" Isabella repeated the name. She was trying to remember but she shook her head. "I do not think I have heard of him. Is he a big deal in the medical world?"

"In the medical world I don’t think he’s the top one thousand," Xavier said then leaned forward. "In the world of power and corruption, yes. Blaine's father, Aris Thorne, has a lot of control over the hospital. He owns a lot of the hospital so he has a lot of say in what happens there."

"And the son is a problem because...?"

"Because the son is not a good doctor and he has a big ego just like his father," Xavier said with a sigh. "Due to that reason both father and son sees me as a threat. That Blaine has been trying to stop me from seeing patients, messing with my papers and trying to get me to fight with him. He wants me to lose my temper so he can go to the people in charge and get my training stopped before it really starts."

"That sounds bad Alex," Isabella said quietly, her hand holding her napkin tightly. "If they have that power they could do more than just fire you. They could make sure you never work as a doctor again."

"That is why I have to be perfect," Xavier said, his eyes flashing with intensity. "I have to keep my head down and make sure my work is perfect. In two weeks I have to stand in front of the hospital board. If my work is really good they will have to give me the freedom to work on my own. No more people watching me. No more Thorne looking over my shoulder. I will be able to run the research lab the way I want and importantly I will be able to do the surgery your mother needs."

Isabella looked at him, her heart feeling bad for him because of all the weight he was carrying. "Is that why you are so tense? Are you afraid they will find a way to stop you?"

"I am not afraid,” Xavier started to correct her. "I am frustrated. I am playing a game with people who will cheat if they are not winning. I have to make sure they cannot cheat."

"Alex..." Isabella paused, her voice low. "Do you need help? I know some people. I can talk to them. My family name still means something in this city. If this Aris Thorne is a businessman we can reason with him.. We can put some pressure on him."

Xavier shook his head away. "No. No help, Isabella. This is a fight about medicine. If I bring in people from outside or use power, it will make everything Blaine says about me true. That I am a fake who bought my way in. I need to win this on my own. I need to be better than them until it is clear that I am the best."

"But you are losing control," she said gently. "I can see it in your hands. You are so stressed out that you are going to snap."

"I just need to calm down," Xavier admitted, taking a deep breath. "Sitting here with you... It helps. It reminds me why I am doing this. I am not doing it for the title. I am doing it to cure your mother who needs me.”

Isabella smiled, a warm smile that made the bad thoughts in Xavier's mind go away for a moment. "Then let's talk about something else. Tell me about the thing you want to do once you have the freedom to work on your own. Beyond the surgery. What does Dr. Alexander want to discover?"

"I want to change the way we think about cell and…"

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here.”

The voice was like a bucket of water being poured over the table. It was familiar. It sounded like someone who thought they were better than everyone else. Xavier knew the owner of the voice right away.

He did not even need to turn around to know who it was. Isabella's eyes got really wide as she looked at the space just behind Xavier's shoulder.

Xavier slowly turned in his seat and his face hardened.

He saw Marcus standing a few feet away, wearing a suit and his face was twisted into a smug grin. Behind him stood Sophie, looking at Xavier with a mixture of pity and disgust.

"Marcus," Xavier called, his voice turned low and scary. "What are you doing here?"

Marcus started laughing. It was a loud annoying sound that got everyone's attention from the nearby tables. He stepped closer, putting his hand on the back of a vacant chair.

"I could ask you the same thing, Alex," Marcus said and he looked at the expensive tablecloth and the fine crystal glass. Then he turned to Isabella. His eyebrows went up in a mock surprise. "Who is this? Another person you are taking advantage of?"

"Marcus leave," Xavier’s voice was shaking with anger that he was trying to control.

This made the system in his mind start to hum. 

Marcus ignored him and turned to Isabella. "I guess the money you took from us was not enough right? After all the trouble we went through to settle things here you are stealing from other women as well. I was wondering where you disappeared to."

Isabella looked between the two men. She was getting really confused and scared. "Alex, do you know him?"

Xavier did not answer her question immediately.

Marcus started laughing, "You should be careful woman. I think the money we paid him to stay away from my family has already run out. What did you spend it all on Alex? Did you waste it on frivolous things like gambling?"

Xavier stood up slowly, the chair making a loud scraping sound against the floor. "Marcus, I am warning you. Walk away."

Marcus sneered at him. "What? You are warning me? Have you forgotten who you are talking to?"

He looked back at Isabella. His voice became a whisper. "Alex is a terrible person. He has spent his life taking advantage of others. Now he is trying to scam women like you so they can buy him dinner and pay his rent. He is not who he says he is. I’d advise you to walk away."

He then turned to Xavier.

"Tell me," Marcus said in a low voice. "What have you done with all that money you took from us? Did you waste it on good things or did you just lose it all trying to pretend you were someone important?"

Xavier's vision started to get a little blurry and the system in his mind was getting really worked up, the hum getting louder every second.

"I am going to give you three seconds, " Xavier said in a cold voice.

"Three seconds for what?"

He looked at Sophie behind him. "See? This is what happens when you give a useless person a taste of the good life. They start thinking they are heroes."

He turned back to Isabella, pointing at Xavier.

"He is a fake. Run if you can. Or else he’ll scam you the same way he scammed us.”

Isabella just sat there frozen and her eyes were darting back and forth to Xavier searching for him to say that it was not true.

\[SOCIAL STATUS THREAT DETECTED\]

\[PUBLIC HUMILIATION PROBABILITY RISING\]

\[RECOMMENDED RESPONSE: DOMINANCE REASSERTION\]

Xavier did not move. He just stood there. The weight of his past life and his secret identity was crashing down on him in the middle of a crowded restaurant as Marcus's laughter filled the silence.