The Secret Billionaire Heir

Chapter 5

THIRD PERSON’S POV

The hallway remained frozen in silence after Ethan Vale entered.

Nobody moved. Nobody even seemed willing to breathe too loudly.

The guards who had been restraining Jake slowly loosened their grip without being told. The nurses exchanged nervous looks while the supervisor straightened his suit quickly.

Ethan looked at the black gold card lying on the floor.

“What exactly is going on here?” Ethan asked coldly.

The supervisor rushed forward first.

“Mr. Vale!” he said quickly. “Thank God you’re here.”

Ethan barely looked at him. The supervisor pointed toward Jake.

“This entire situation is a misunderstanding caused by this man,” he explained eagerly. “His mother has been receiving expensive treatment without payment. We informed the family multiple times that they could not continue without covering the costs, but the attending doctor ignored hospital policy and kept the patient on advanced life support anyway.”

“She would have died,” the doctor snapped angrily. “She was unstable.”

The supervisor ignored him and kept speaking rapidly.

“Then this man came back causing trouble and assaulting staff.” He pointed accusingly toward Jake again. “And to make things worse, he tried deceiving the hospital with a fake black gold card.”

Jake stayed silent. He was exhausted physically and emotionally, but he forced himself to remain calm.

Ethan bent down and picked up the black gold card from the floor.  He turned the card over in his hand, studying it. He honestly couldn’t tell whether the card was real.

The supervisor quickly noticed Ethan’s hesitation and immediately mistook it for doubt.

“You see?” the man said eagerly. “Even you can tell something’s wrong with it.”

Ethan ignored him completely. Instead, he looked at Jake.

“Where did you get this card?” he asked.

“Golden Crest International Bank,” Jake answered calmly.

Murmurs spread quietly through the hallway again.

Golden Crest International was one of the largest banking institutions in the world. People didn’t casually throw around that name, especially not while holding a black gold card.

Ethan turned toward the payment counter.

“Why,” he asked coldly, “has nobody simply run the card yet?”

The supervisor blinked in confusion. “Mr. Vale, because it’s obviously fake-”

Ethan cut him off instantly. “Did you test it?”

The supervisor hesitated. “Well… no, but-”

“Then how exactly did you determine it was fake?”

The hallway went silent again.

Ethan’s looked even more irritated.

“Swiping a card isn’t complicated,” he said coldly. “Or has this hospital suddenly forgotten how payments work?”

The supervisor looked flustered. Inside, he still believed Jake was bluffing. In his mind, this was actually the perfect opportunity. Once the card was declined in front of Ethan Vale himself, Jake would look like a liar and criminal in front of everyone.

The thought gave him confidence again.

“Yes, of course,” the supervisor said quickly. “You’re absolutely right, Mr. Vale. We’ll verify it immediately.”

He looked toward Jake with a smug expression.

Jake saw the confidence on the man’s face and almost laughed…almost. But he was too tired.

The nurse behind the payment counter looked nervous as she held the payment machine.

Jake walked toward the counter. Every eye followed him.

His heartbeat pounded heavily inside his chest. Even though he already knew the funds were real, the pressure of the moment still made him nervous.

What if something went wrong? What if the transaction failed for some reason?

Jake handed over the card. The nurse swallowed nervously and inserted it into the machine.

The screen began processing. The hallway became deathly quiet. Even the supervisor’s smug smile remained frozen as he waited.

Processing… Processing…

Then suddenly….PAYMENT SUCCESSFUL.

The machine beeped loudly. In that moment, the entire hallway froze.

The nurse stared at the screen in disbelief. One guard cursed softly under his breath. Another nurse gasped loudly.

The doctor who had defended Jake looked relieved.

Jake himself simply stood there silently. But inside, it felt like a weight had finally lifted off his chest.

His mother was safe. That was all that mattered.

The supervisor looked like someone had punched him in the stomach. His face turned completely pale.

“No…” he whispered.

The nurse slowly looked up from the machine. “The payment went through,”

The amount listed on the receipt was so huge that several staff members nearby looked visibly dizzy after seeing it. Not only had Jake covered the surgery costs, he had paid enough to cover every treatment his mother could possibly need afterward.

The supervisor stumbled backward slightly.

“This…” he stammered. “This has to be a mistake…”

Then, the sound of a slap echoed through the hallway. The sound echoed through the hallway.

Everyone jumped.

Ethan Vale had slapped the supervisor across the face so hard that the man nearly lost his balance completely.

The supervisor held his cheek in stunned horror.

“M-Mr. Vale…”

“You idiot,” Ethan said coldly. “You assaulted a patient’s family member. You interfered with hospital treatment. You ignored a valid payment method without verification. And you created chaos in one of my hospital.”

The supervisor’s eyes widened. “My… your hospital?”

Ethan stared at him with disgust.

“The Vale Group owns this hospital,” he said “Did you forget where your paycheck comes from?”

The supervisor looked like he might faint. He started to panic.

“Mr. Vale, please listen-” he begged.

“You’re fired,” Ethan cut him off coldly.

The words hit him hard. The supervisor froze completely.

“You’re terminated effective immediately,” Ethan continued. “Security will escort you out once this situation is resolved.”

The man’s lips trembled with fear  “But… but sir…”

“And since you made such a dramatic promise earlier,” Ethan added icily, “perhaps you should start preparing your apology too.”

The supervisor’s knees almost buckled.

Several nurses quickly looked away to hide their reactions. One of the guards lowered his head while the doctor looked satisfied.

Jake watched everything silently. He didn’t feel triumphant. He just felt exhausted.

Ethan turned toward the medical staff.

“Get the patient into surgery now,” he ordered. “And assign the best available team.”

The doctors and nurses moved instantly. They got to work.

Machines were checked quickly while staff surrounded Jake’s mother’s bed.

Jake stepped aside as they prepared to move her. For a second, he reached down and touched his mother’s hand gently.

“It’s okay now,” he whispered softly. “You’re going to be okay.”

His mother remained unconscious but for the first time since the accident happened, Jake finally believed she had a real chance to survive.

The surgery team rolled her bed down the hallway.

Jake stood there watching until she disappeared through the operating room doors. Then finally, he exhaled.

It felt like he had been holding it for an entire day.

Suddenly, he remembered Kathy and he pulled out his phone quickly.

His younger sister had spent the night desperately trying to save their mother too. She was probably terrified right now, still trying to borrow money from anyone willing to listen.

Jake immediately dialed her number but the call failed. He tried again but still nothing.

He felt worried as he tried a third time. Again, no connection.

He called again. This time the line finally connected.

“Kathy?” he said quickly.

But the voice that answered wasn’t his sister’s.

“Jake.”

He frowned when he recognized the voice. It was Emily.

For several seconds, he said absolutely nothing.

Just hearing her voice again after everything that had happened made him feel annoyed.

Emily sighed softly on the other end.

“I understand now,” she said quietly.

Jake’s expression remained emotionless.

“What do you mean?” he asked coldly.

“You weren’t trying to scam me,” she said “Your mother really is in the hospital.”

Part of him wanted to yell at her and another part of him was simply too tired.

“I’m glad you finally figured that out,” he said calmly.

His cold tone clearly affected her because Emily fell silent briefly.

 “Why do you have Kathy’s phone?” he asked.

Emily sighed “That is a whole other story.”

“What happened?”

Emily sounded strangely uncomfortable now.

“Your sister….she really loves your mother.”

Jake frowned  “What are you talking about?”

“She’s been going around asking everyone for help,” Emily explained quietly. “Friends, relatives, literally anyone she could think of. Word spread pretty fast.”

Jake’s chest tightened. He could picture Kathy doing exactly that.

Emily continued speaking softly.

“People started talking about how my family treated you and your mother. Everyone’s saying we abandoned our own in-laws while your mother was dying.”

Jake laughed bitterly under his breath. Now they cared about appearances. Now they were embarrassed.

Emily seemed to hear the bitterness in his silence because her voice became quieter.

“Kathy was desperate,” she said. “Honestly… I almost felt bad for her.”

“Almost?”

Emily ignored the comment.

“So,” she continued carefully, “I decided to help her.”

“How?”

There was another pause. It was longer this time.

Then Emily finally spoke again.

“To make it up to your sister,” she said slowly, “I found her a very effective way to raise money.”