Chapter 15
Giselle’s drowsiness vanished as she bolted upright. “What’s going on?”
The clinic manager’s voice crackled through the phone. “Five vaccinated dogs from our clinic just died, and now the customers are raising hell. It’s gotten so bad they’re throwing punches! Y–You need to get here now!”
Giselle’s mind went blank, a deafening buzz filling her ears. She hung up, threw herself out of bed, and yanked on the first T–shirt and jeans she could find.
Within minutes, she was speeding toward the downtown veterinary clinic. She gripped the wheel with one hand, phone pressed to her ear as she spoke to the clinic manager, rapidly putting the pieces together.
From what she gathered, every dog that had died had been vaccinated at her clinic in the last three days. None had preexisting conditions, and their death was tied to the vaccine.
This was massive. Giselle’s heart raced, but she forced herself to stay focused, her mind already working through possible solutions.
But the moment she stepped out of the car, the dog owners lunged at her like a pack of wild animals before she could even enter the clinic.
One grabbed her hair, another kicked and punched her, while the rest stood by screaming curses or sobbing hysterically. Completely frenzied, the women unleashed their rage on Giselle in a brutal onslaught.
It took several male staff members a great deal of effort to pry the furious customers off Giselle, finally giving her just enough space to breathe. Without their intervention, she might have been beaten to death right there.
Two female staff members quickly pulled her up and rushed her inside, guiding her to a seat.
Giselle’s scalp burned, her lip was split, and her back, waist, and stomach ached from the kicks. Bruises from pinches covered her body. Every inch of her throbbed with pain and humiliation.
But she had to stay calm and endure it. She took the customer’s rage without resisting.
As a dog owner herself, she understood. To these people, losing a pet was like losing a child. No matter how furious they became, it made sense.
“I’m so sorry, everyone. I’m just as heartbroken as you are about what happened.” Giselle forced herself to speak with the steady calm of a business owner, even through her own pain. “I promise I’ll make this right. You’ll get every penny of the compensation you’re owed-
1”
“Do you think we want your damn money?” a customer shouted, her voice raw with grief, “Do you think a few lousy dollars can bring our dogs back? You should drop dead and rot in the ground with them!”
Giselle’s target customers had always been high–end clients–wealthy, privileged women who wouldn’t bat an eye at the meager compensation she offered.
One customer even goaded the others. “Go ahead. Call the police! Do it now! A shoddy clinic like this ought to be shut down for good!”
Giselle lowered her head in apology. “Please, everyone, I promise we’ll make this right. This tragedy happened because of my negligence, and I take full responsibility.
“To get to the truth, we’ll let the police handle the investigation. Once again, I’m truly sorry. This was completely unexpected. We need some time to sort this out properly.”
But the customers were in no mood to calm down. After throwing punches and shouting insults, they immediately called the police.
Several officers showed up at the veterinary clinic and took Giselle, the owner, along with other staff members involved in the incident, to the station for questioning.
After further investigation, the truth quickly came to light. The veterinary clinic’s original vaccine supply was perfectly fine, and all the doses given were correct.
The problem was that the dogs that died had actually been injected with substandard vaccines, brought in privately by one of the nurses. The nurse involved, Shirley Cooper, had been missing since the incident.
Even though they’d found the “culprit“, tracking her down now wouldn’t change anything. The customers didn’t care which nurse had killed their pets.
All they knew was that this clinic’s standards were dangerously flawed. The brand had become untrustworthy, and no one in their right mind would risk bringing their pets to visit again.
In the days that followed, things spiraled out of control.
Not only was Giselle facing astronomical compensation fees, but several of her veterinary clinic branches were also implicated in the scandal. The Animal Health Department shut them all down, demanding a complete operational overhaul.
Het competitors wasted no time capitalizing on the controversy. They fueled the backlash online, calling for a boycott of all her pet–care businesses. Even her most loyal customers turned against her, leaving in droves.
Giselle’s thriving, up–and–coming pet brand stood on the brink of ruin. Everything happened so fast that she couldn’t even turn things around, leaving her depressed for days
She wasn’t stupid. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was really behind this. She just hadn’t expected them to act so quickly, striking before she could even
react.
Then, consumed by rage, she stopped thinking altogether. She jumped into her car and sped straight to the Holt residence.
