The entire board room went mute the moment Petra's name was mentioned.
Petra had her mouth open wide as Mrs. Walker made the announcement.
"Now I know many of you are shocked that I just mentioned Petra Hills as the new CEO and also as my daughter. This was the same reaction I had on my face also when I figured it out."
Petra had so many thoughts running through her mind at the moment. How was it possible that she was Walker's daughter? No sign could prove it.
"Petra Hills, kindly stand up, please." Mrs. Walker pleaded, and slowly, Petra stood up with all eyes on her while she was standing.
"Before the operation, you came into my wardroom, hoping to have a conversation with me, and what was my response to you?"
"Uhm...you allowed it, you allowed the conversation to flow," Petra replied, finally finding her voice
"Now, I need you to understand that there is a long history about how you came into this world as my child, but before I let you in on the information, I need you to stretch out your left hand."
Petra hesitated for a minute, staring into Mrs. Walker's eyes as the latter urged her to do as she had instructed.
When Petra folded her long-sleeved shirt, and before stretching it out, her eyes fell on the birthmark she had always questioned her stepmom about.
"That birthmark is the same mark of my missing daughter. Now, most of you will call it coincidence, but I need you to understand that I had my private investigator do some findings, and without wasting much time, this was what he discovered"
There were loud murmuring across the hall as everyone tried to make sense of the situation.
"I can't imagine that my long-lost child, whom I have always believed was never going to be found, was the one that did a surgical operation on me," Mrs. Walker became emotional, with Hernandez handing over the tissue paper to her.
Petra stood still, everything still did not make sense to her, but she intended to find out about her true identity later on.
"Now that you all have known this, I at this moment declare that Petra Hills is the new CEO of St Gregory hospital." She announced.
There was loud applause amongst the doctors; Mrs. Walker made a gesture that Petra should step forward and before Petra could reach her place, Mrs. Walker held on to her chest, finding it hard to catch her breath, and immediately fell into unconsciousness. There was chaos as everyone rushed to check her, Petra being the first to be by her side.
"I thought you did the necessary surgery that is to be done?" Hernandez asked, looking from Mrs. Walker to Petra.
"I did what I ought to do. Somebody, please call the nurses!" She pleaded, and only Matts reacted by rushing out of the board room.
A Few minutes later, a nurse was back with a stretcher, and they all joined hands together, lifting her from the ground and onto the stretcher.
"Where do you think you are going?" Hernandez questioned Petra about following the nurses out of the board room.
"To check on her, of course?"
"I am sorry, Petra, but I can't leave you with her; you cannot handle her surgery," Petra stared at Hernandez in disbelief.
"How can you say such a thing? I handled the first one, and she didn't die, and now why won't I be able to handle the second?"
Petra needs Mrs. Walker to be alive; she had a question about how she is her daughter. She needs her alive.
"Mr. Davis is right, Petra; I am not sure you can work on Mrs. Walker!" She gave Clarke a nasty glare.
"We will look for another surgeon in the coming days to make sure she is okay."
"Are you people insane? That is my mother, for damn sake! She gave a simple instruction that I am the one to handle her surgery in the first place; why do you think I won't be able to take the second?" Petra was furious, and she was not going to stand and watch them sideline her, especially knowing that Mrs. Walker was her mother.
"You have had a bad record now, Miss Petra," Hernandez commented but got a nasty slap from Petra. Everyone gasped as they witnessed the senior surgeon slapped by Petra.
"Now you listen to me, I am your new CEO, and as your boss, any atom of respect to the emblem of authority I hold would not be tolerated," Petra warned sternly.
She walked out of the door, ignoring the little side comments as they flew about like the wind. Walking down the hallway, she bumped into Lewis, who had a look of worry on his face.
"What happened? Why is Mrs. Walker being catered in a stretcher?"
"I don't know. Just come with me, please," Petra stated, holding his hands and dragging him with her.
When they both arrived at the ER, not a single nurse was in the room, and before Petra could treat her newly found mother, she noticed the signatory lethal injection lying by the side of the bed.
"Lewis, come take a look," She ordered, and Lewis rushed over to her side, and the moment they laid their eyes on the syringe, Petra knew that Mrs. Walker had been injected with the substance.
"We will talk about her later. We need to save her real quick," She indicated, noting how the beeping sound of the monitor was going slowly.
"Quick, get me an antiepileptic drug," She instructed, snapping her finger so swiftly at Lewis, who searched through the bag for the drug.
When it was found, Petra wasted no time immediately administering the drug to Mrs. Walker, hoping she got relief from the pain.
"Will she be alright?" Lewis asked the moment Petra was done administering the drug.
"We can only hope that she gets better with time," Petra commented. "Come on, let's leave her to rest," Petra stated as she held on to Lewis's hand, and the duo left the ER, having noticed Mrs. Walker was fast asleep.
Petra was on her way to the office when she accidentally bumped into Matt's, almost causing the latter to drop his report.
Lewis didn't like Petra being around Matts, after the last time he had asked her out on a date.
"How did it go?" Matts asked
"Why don't we talk in my office" She turned to meet Lewis, saying, "I will see you later" Lewis had a look of disdain on his face as he watched the duo leave him standing.
He was about to turn to return to his duty post when Lee, the security guard in charge of the CCTVs around the hospital, Lewis's old-time buddy, called him to stop.
"Hey man"
"Yeah," Lewis muttered, still with the gloomy look on his face.
"Looks like someone is in a pissy mood," Lee commented when he noticed the frown on his friend's face.
"I don't want to talk about it," Lewis indicated, about walking away, when he was pulled back by Lee.
"Calm down for a minute. Let's talk about something significant."
"And what do you want to talk to me about?" Lee looked left and suitable for a minute and dragged Lewis out of the hallway, towards the back of the hospital premise.
"Why did you bring me here again?"
"I want you to take a good look at this" Lee handed his iPad over to his friend
"What is this?"
"So, I was going through some of the footage in the hospital, and then I came across this particular footage" Lewis watched as the familiar face stepped into Mrs. Walker's room and inserted her with a syringe.
"What in the world!" Lewis commented.
"My exact reaction, too, the moment I laid eyes on the video. It is shocking what is going on in the hospital. Guess what?" Lewis turned to look at Lee, anticipating another surprise yet again.
"This footage you are seeing is not the only one that proves that all the accusations ever made against Miss Petra are false; there are more," Lee was scrolling through his iPad once more as Lewis was in deep thought.
"Who would have ever believed that someone as reputable would be behind this act," He said to no one in particular as he waited to see more of the footage.
"Check this one out" It was footage of one of the other familiar faces going into the president's room to insert a syringe into the president's body.
"He is also part of this scheme?"
"I don't know, but one thing I do understand is the fact that the hospital isn't safe at the moment. Most patients are dying because of these people."
"I will have to inform Petra at once!" Lewis indicated and began to move but was drawn back by Lee.
"That would be a very insensitive move by you. We need to find a way to expose the people first. Reporting this to Petra would only be adding salt to injury."
"So, what do you suggest?" Lewis asked, folding his hand and waiting for an answer.
"Don't worry, dear friend, I have a brilliant plan," He said with a smile on his face.