Falling in Love : I love you, Today and Forever

Chapter 540 - Press Meet - Part 1

Ivy sat beside Cedric while they prepared themselves for the press meet. She closed her eyes, wondering how she could escape from Cedric once the meeting ended. 

"What are you thinking about?" Cedic leaned closer to her and whispered as he looked around him to see which other news agencies were with them. On noticing two familiar faces from his former agency, he just smiled at them before he averted his gaze away from them.

"I was thinking how to get rid of you once this meet ends," Ivy replied honestly.

"Sassy reply but I am not convinced. Tell me. What is bothering you?" Cedric had not missed her absent minded look since the time they had left the agency. She seemed lost and silent all along the journey, barely replying to his questions with just a few words.

"It's the truth." Ivy finally turned to face the man and gave him a serious look.

"Stop joking." Cedric focused on his camera as he started to check its condition.

Ivy sighed lightly, not knowing what to do. Even though she was unwilling to take up the press meet, Max had pushed her, and Ivy had no choice but to listen to him. 'If not for Max having a meeting with the other department heads, I would not have had to deal with Ced. What do I do now? He would surely be suspicious if I were to ask him to leave without me."

Ivy thought about it for a while, not knowing what to do.  The President had given her the appointment time right after the meet, and Noah had promised to meet her at the Princep House and accompany her during her talk with the President. There was no time for her to leave and return to the Princep House. Ivy was in a dilemma, and eventually, she decided to bring Cerdirc along.

'Ced is an honest man, and if things were to go wrong, Noah will take care.'

President Luis Truman and his assistant entered a few minutes prior to the scheduled time. Just like the previous time, this time too the reporters were allotted numbers according to which they had to ask their question, and each reporter was allowed to ask only two questions.

"My dear friends from the media, we all know why I have called for the press meet. It is to shed more light on the issue we are dealing with currently. It sure is shocking to know that just for their selfish desires, the medical staff is willing to sell their conscience and play with their patients' lives. And it is even more abhorring to find that some of the top hospitals of our country are involved in such disgusting activities."

Luis ran his eyes around the hall before it settled on Ivy for a few seconds. While he did not show any sort of reaction, Ivy understood him immediately, and she greeted him back with a professional smile.

"We have already taken actions against these hospitals and clinics that are involved in such crimes. Soon a team from the National Medical Association will inspect all the hospitals in question, and the ones that are actually found to be having shady dealings will be shut down forever." Luis faced the camera and stated what he and his Council of Ministers had come up with the previous night.

"The management and all the people involved in this crime will be punished accordingly. At the same time, all the other hospitals too will have to obtain a pass certificate from the National Medical Association. They will only be issued the certificate if we find nothing wrong with these hospitals or clinics. Until then, all these hospitals will be under scrutiny."

Ivy closed her eyes for a moment, once again her heart filled with guilt, and recalled what Ian and Aria had told her the previous night. She could comfort herself by saying that it was all temporary and Regal Medical Hospital would not face any problems. Though she did not much about the Regal Hospital, she trusted her sister not to work in unfavoring environments that had no regard for patients' lives. When she opened her eyes again, she was back to her usual self.

"Also, we will be handing over this matter to the Intelligence. They will take over this case." 

Ivy understood why he was doing this. Valerie already was dealing with this matter, given how the Chief of Intelligence himself was involved in this crime. It was no wonder that they got this case, instead of the police. Even though Frederick was involved in such a disgusting act, even though she did not trust anybody from the police department or even in the Intelligence, Ivy was certain that Valerie would not let the criminals to get away. She trusted her to do her work diligently.

Luis was yet to continue with his speech when one of the reporters raised their hand, and Luis nodded at them. 

"Sir, we already know that the Chief of the Intelligence, Frederick Clarke, himself was involved in this matter. In such a scenario, can we trust the other members of the Intelligence to do the job honestly?"

Luis had already expected this question, and he was ready with the answer. "I know that the people of the nation will now not trust anyone from the Intelligence. But let me assure you that the team I have selected is honest and true to their work." Luis looked at Ivy for a moment, who nodded at him in return.

"It was they who found out about Frederick Clarke's involvement in this matter. They have already started taking actions against him and soon, the court proceedings will start." Luis expressed exactly what they had discussed the previous night. It sure was a headache to deal with the reporters, especially when the matter was laid out before them clearly.  Luis had to think of ways to keep the Intelligence away from public scrutiny. 

"Sir, in that case, shall we presume that the Intelligence had already known about this matter for a long time and they intentionally hid it from the people?" The reporter was smart, and Ivy acknowledged every word of his with a nod. But the President was smarter, and he was prepared for the questions that were thrown at him.

"The Intelligence only found out about Mr. Clarke's involvement recently, and since then, they have been trying hard to obtain concrete evidence against him. All they had was just baseless information, with no evidence to prove it. He was already dismissed from his duties and was held captive.. Now that we have evidence against him, we will not delay this more and punish him accordingly."