His Empire Crumbles, Her Love Soars

ng. They made everyone look sick, including me. I clutched a paper cup of cold, bit

to machines that beeped and whirred, ea

ut. He was young, tired

. We

rected him automatically. I hadn't used Franklin's name i

ondition is critical. It's a sudden-onset neurological event, li

erstanding the medical terms,

?" I asked, my voi

iding mine. "It's called a Neuro-Vascular Intervention. It's com

e air leave my lungs. Two hund

equipment or the specialists on staff for this. You'd need to transfer him to

well have been two hundred million. I ha

n my face. "Is his father

throwing money away, flashed in my mind

vailable," I

happening all over again. The confetti of hundred-dolla

creditors in a

ysical thing, a

d and hard replace the panic. I

and he was spending it on a p

, my resolve hardening

ded. "You don't have much

w ho

a blank slate except for one si

. I didn't take my car. I took the subway, the metal scr

r Columbus Circle where Franklin had built his empire. The place I had once

ggar. A ghost from a li

em setting up for some kind of event. A press

over the doors. It read: "WEST ENT

. He wasn't just lying to me. He was lying to the whole world. And I was about