Chapter 231 - Crawl under a rock to hide

~Seattle~

JoAnna is getting ready for her shift at work while thinking of video chat with her sisters. 'What a coincidence that 412 is Aiden's brother, and Sarah's boss. With him being my patient, that is third connection between us. Oh, if I knew who he was, I would treat him better. I would not tease and definitely would check on him more often even if he is not in my area for the shift.'

JoAnna's face lost all color when she remembered that she was wasted, drunk and ended up sleeping in Jeff's hotel room. How embarrassing! If it was a stranger, it would be better... because then she could not see him ever again. But with Sarah and Aiden together, there is no way she can avoid Jeff forever, right? She faintly remembers vomiting on someone... 'Was that on Jeff? No way! No freaking way! How embarrassing!' And then in the morning she was teasing him on purpose, and even ate his breakfast. 'He was so polite, and he didn't complain. Did he know I'm Sarah's sister, and that is why he was so nice to me? I don't think I have any courage to face him. Even if we bump into each other by accident, I will crawl under some rock to hide.'

JoAnna got ready and reached Franciscan Medical Center on time for her shift. Work is what she needs to stay distracted and not to think how she embarrassed herself in front of Jeff.

She just finished her first round of checking up on patients in area designated for her, when she got a message from Dr. Light to meet him in his office. She looked at the message and froze. 'Why am I being called there? He was supposed to be out of country for two more days!'

JoAnna took few deep breaths to calm herself, but it didn't help much. Her heart was racing, and she was overwhelmed by anxiety. 'What does he want now? Maybe it's something work related and I'm overreacting…' JoAnna felt that she has no choice. She needs to go to his office and find out why he is summoning her. He knows that she is in the building, and she can't avoid him.

JoAnna reluctantly knocked on his office door.

"Come in", male voice was heard.

JoAnna hesitated few seconds before opening the door and stepping inside. He was alone in his office.

"Hi JoAnna, my dear."

Shivers ran through JoAnna's body when she heard Dr Light address her like that. She kept her expression cold. "Hello, Dr Light.", reluctance was heard in her voice.

"How were you doing while I was out of the country?" His deep voice that she once found pleasant was now making her shudder.

"Good." JoAnna kept her answer short, hoping to hide her anxiety.

"You will not ask me how I was?... Fine, I will tell you. I had plenty of time to think about that dinner you promised."

JoAnna's body stiffened and she clenched her teeth. She remembered that everything is being recorded, and she needs to think how to make him say more, to incriminate himself.

She forced a smile. "Oh? What dinner are you talking about?"

Dr Light's eyes flashed with frustration and he talked through his teeth. "What dinner? Are you playing games now? Dinner you promised me if I save your sister. Do you remember now?"

"Barely..." JoAnna responded. She thought how lecherous thoughts he must have while gazing at her like that. She felt that she is reaching her limit. Her desire to flee was increasing exponentially.

"Barely? You will come to my place for diner. Just the two of us. You promised."

"Not out of my own free will." JoAnna muttered.

"Are you going back on your word? You know that I can end your career before it even started, right?" Dr Light said through his teeth.

JoAnna took a deep breath and did her best not to show any fear. "Dr Light, dinner is a private matter. I prefer when you don't bring up private matters at work. Is there anything else why you called me here?"

He smirked and narrowed his eyes. After few seconds, he responded. "No, you may leave."

JoAnna didn't hesitate. She walked out swiftly and didn't take the elevator; she didn't want to wait for it to arrive and open its doors offering freedom. She took the stairs down and didn't stop until she reached resting room for nurses on fourth floor. JoAnna crawled on a first free bed and laid down in a fetal position, hugging her knees. She shivered. The only thing that helped her hold her tears back was knowledge that conversations in his office are being recorded.

~Fairfield~

Aiden waited for Sarah to sleep off before checking audio that got recorded from microphone attached to Vivian's jacket. After few short audio clips of her conversing with some girls, one caught his attention.

Vivian was on the phone, someone called, and she answered. "Yes... Yesterday... I was at her place... She didn't want to go out, I guess after everything that happened, she does not feel safe... Yes, he was there also... I told you already that they live together... I don't know how long, for a while... I wrote down everything and sent it to you... I didn't leave out anything... Of course... Don't call me unless it's important." There was silence and audio ended.

Aiden checked time stamp and hacked into Vivian's phone to get the number who called her. Aiden confirmed. That was Philip's phone number. Aiden checked Vivian's texts and didn't find anything. She said she wrote down everything... could it be in email? He checked emails that sync on her phone and found three different email accounts. He hacked her first email and checked sent folder, there was nothing. He got into her second account and there was number of emails sent to Philip. Aiden created backups and started reading though them... His frown increased the more he read... everything was a set up. From that first lab where Sarah helped Vivian because her whole team left her... everything was set up. He remembered how Sarah was happy when she told him how she became friends with Vivian because she helped her, and when they started spending more time together, she found out that Vivian is great... 'Yeah, really great...' Aiden rubbed his temples.

Aiden sighed thinking of his two options. One is not to tell Sarah and she continues believing that Vivian is her good friend, and other is to tell her and break her heart. What would he want, if roles are reversed? He would want to know... now he needs to find a way to tell her.

Aiden turned off his PC, went to bed. There he saw Sarah who was sleeping peacefully. He embraced her tightly and placed a kiss on her forehead. Her body shifted and she hugged him without waking up

He was not able to sleep off for a long time.