✅ A Dose of Humiliation

91. Consequences

This bonus chapter is dedicated to Santoro. Thank you for all your support.

"We're closed!" a voice yelled from the back of the pharmacy as soon as we walked in. I felt a little guilty then, because it was Todd Becker's voice rather than his father, and he sounded close to panic. But there was a tiny, dark part of my heart that wanted to laugh, because to me this felt like exactly what they deserved. It really looked like the pharmacist would be running face first into the consequences of all his actions over the last year, and he would never be able to do something like this to anybody else.

I was still nervous, wondering if what I had really done would come out. But that wasn't a big fear now. As much as I hated the corruption endemic in the justice industry, and wished it could be replaced by something fair, it would still serve to protect me now that I had somebody very rich and well connected on my side. Serena wouldn't let me be punished too harshly, would she?

We were all in the shop now, and Serena turned around to lock the door again behind her. I didn't question why she could do that; it wasn't hard to guess that either she or Daddy was the landlord now, having taken control of the mall's board sufficiently to request a master key. Or maybe it was Wallis who already had the authority, thanks to the contracts which gave HumiliX jurisdiction to investigate Becker's dealings.

"Andrew Becker?" Wallis called out. "I have a writ of corporate action requiring your response to a number of charges of improper use of proprietary materials; specifically the Punishment Pill line of restricted substances and associated intellectual property. Under the authority of the Dennier-Pfalz Conglomerate trading as HumiliX Behavioural Systems, I hereby require the immediate cessation of trading in pharmacological services, and complete disclosure of all patient records related to the administration of DPf products and services. This is a mandatory audit, and you are required to respond immediately, and under penalty of perjury.

"What the hell?" Todd said, stepping out from the back room now. He glanced around the room, and then he saw me and his eyes widened. He pointed at me, and continued immediately: "What's she doing here? You can't believe anything she says, she's already tried spreading lies about Dad. And she... she's injected him with all that stuff, that has to be illegal, it came out of nowhere. She just came in here, grabbed the shots and started jabbing him, like she's lost it completely! Call the cops, won't you? I've just been trying to make sure he's okay."

"It does seem it would be beneficial to call for police support," Wallis nodded.

"Don't worry," Serena said with a shrug. "I already texted Papa. They'll have somebody here soon enough." And she must have seen my confusion hearing that name for the first time, because she half turned to me to explain: "My godfather. Old fashioned concept, but it's like they're supposed to help your parents out to make sure you grow up as a good person."

"He's chief of police," her Daddy explained, which made a lot of sense. I thought I'd heard that detail before, but in the confusion of the last few months I couldn't be sure. I'd probably forgotten half the things people told me.

"Yeah, well they better deal with this properly," Todd sneered. "You'll be in jail now, there's no way you're going to get away with this."

"So, Todd was it?" Wallis asked. "I'm a corporate investigator, so anything you say at this point should be considered under oath. Don't lie and you don't get in trouble, you understand that, right? You said she burst in without warning and grabbed the injectors?"

"Yeah! I was helping Dad open up the shop, trying to be a productive member of society, and she burst in. Got the stuff before anybody could stop her. I think she was looking for drugs or something, you know what it's like with their kind."