She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 253

A limping female veteran tried to explain herself and the hospital, but reporters hungry for a viral clip backed her into a corner. A camera was so close she could practically taste the lens.

“Do you even have a medical license?” one snapped. “With your condition, how can you guarantee surgical safety?”

The woman clenched her fists, voice rough. “Back then, out at sea… we stitched wounds with wire and still kept people alive…”

“Did you hear that?” Quiana cut in loudly, whipping the crowd into laughter. “That’s her answer?!”

A scar-faced man couldn’t stomach it anymore. He stepped in front of the woman. “You people are disgusting. Fine, we don’t want the job. We don’t need it. Let us leave!”

“A bunch of money-grubbing cripples,” someone sneered.

That one sentence lit the fuse.

The veterans’ anger surged—but beneath it was something worse: disappointment. These were the same kind of young people they’d once risked their lives to protect, and now those young faces looked at them like trash.

It only took a few shoves and shouted insults for the situation to tip. Someone in the shadows helped it along, and suddenly there was a real scuffle.

“They’re attacking people!” someone screamed. “Help! Police! Where are the cops?!”

Squad cars had already arrived. Officers rushed in with batons—but instead of separating the reporters and the agitators, they went straight for the veterans, the ones who’d shoved someone in anger.

“Stop causing trouble! Hands off!”

A baton slammed into the scar-faced veteran’s back with a dull crack. He grunted, but his damaged right hand still tried to shield the limping woman behind him.

“You didn’t investigate, you didn’t de-escalate, and you didn’t even ask what happened.” Loyce’s expression didn’t change. “And you expect me to swallow this?”

“Ma’am,” another officer said coldly, “we enforce the law. We don’t care what connections you have.”

A team leader stepped forward. “Everything we did was legal and by procedure. You’re now suspected of assaulting police. And since you’re hospital leadership, you’re coming with us to the station. We’ll sort it out there.”

Then he turned and barked, “Restrain those disabled guys. Put them in the car.”

Loyce’s voice dropped. “They are not ‘disabled guys.’ They’re service members.”

It didn’t matter. The crowd was too loud, the cameras too hungry. No officer listened. Reporters surged toward the team leader, microphones thrusting at his mouth.