Page 45 of Deranged
I clamped my hands together to keep from fidgeting. From showing her how much her presence affected me.
When she didn’t say anything, I gestured at the hard wood chair at my desk. “Would you like to have a seat or a beverage?”
As silly as it was, these little courtesies might earn me some points. My mother prided herself on her hostessing skills. Not that I’d ever been invited to one of her parties.
She took the seat, perched on the very edge in her rich maroon pants suit, her black hair brushing the wood behind her back. “No, I don’t need a drink. I won’t be here long. Please get the point of why you requested this meeting.”
I sighed and sat on my bed, careful not to curl my leg up protectively against my body. “I want you to fix whatever you did to Ash. I know you made a call or paid someone—whatever—but I need you to rescind it and the investigation into his medical license.”
Her perfectly smooth brow folded slightly, but it was the only show of emotion she gave me. “And why should I do that? He not only violated his contract to work here but also the non-disclosure agreement he signed when he took this job. As for the question of ethics, it’s obvious you two are fucking, and I’m pretty sure that is against a doctor’s ethical code.”
I inwardly cheered myself for not flinching when she said the word fuck in such a monotone sentence. I kept my tone as careful and business like as her own. She’d taught me a long time ago the benefit of hiding your emotions. Especially during a negotiation. “It doesn’t matter what he did or didn’t do. You will fix it, or you will have problems.”
My mother peered behind her at my bare desk, surveying her surroundings more. To anyone who didn’t know her, they’d think she’d been distracted, but I knew a stall tactic when I saw one.
I pressed further. “He doesn’t have to work here again, and you don’t need to find him another job. I’m sure he can do that on his own. You simply need to get the investigation dropped so he is free to do so.”
She shook her head softly. “No, I don’t think I will. I don’t like him, and I am deeply disturbed by what else he was doing behind the walls. Have you thought about how many other patients he could have been…intimate with?”
I waved toward the door. “Since you strip this place of patients the moment I show up, I’m pretty sure his options were limited. Me or old Bess down the hall. I don’t think she would have objected, but somehow, I don’t think she’s his type.”
“Do you love him?”
Her question sucker punched me. I didn’t have time to school my features, and she saw right through any mask I slid in place at the last second. My stomach twisted up in knots. “Don’t be ridiculous. He was a dalliance, something to pass the time.”
Demeter folded her hands gracefully in her lap and angled her head. “You were always a terrible liar. I wish I’d taught you better. Maybe you wouldn’t be such a disappointment.”
I shrugged. “Belittling me won’t make me change my tune. The days of bullying me are over. You’ve taken everything from me. There’s nothing left for me to lose.”
She leaned forward and snagged a book off a neat stack. “And these, your precious books, what if I take those away? Once upon a time, you’d do anything as long as I left these dusty tomes alone.”
I snatched the book she held loosely and tossed it out into the hall. It hit the far wall with a thwack and then a dull thud when it fell to the floor. “I don’t care. Not even these books bring me peace anymore. What would make me crawl back into my hole so you can forget I exist is if you do what I ask and restore Ash’s credentials. I don’t care how you do it, but you do it by the end of the week or this is over, and it won’t end well for you.”
“What exactly does that mean? You’ll try some pitiful attempt at contacting a journalist until I shut down that story too? I own the newspapers. No one will publish a thing without running it through my team.” She stood and walked toward the door. “Is there anything else?”
I smiled wide and a little crazy. “When I was in California earlier this year, I met a man. We spent weeks holed up in his cliff side house playing naked in the pool and eating our way through the coastal take out menu. It was wonderful. That man would do anything for me. He wanted to marry me. I think if I reached out, he’d move heaven and Earth not only to free me but also to bring you down too. After all, he does support your opposition, and I know both of them would reward me handsomely afterward.”
She narrowed her eyes, but something like a smile played on her lips. “Maybe you learned a little more from me than I thought.” She took the seat at the desk again. “Name your terms.”
“I told you fix whatever you did to Ash’s career. Restore everything so there isn’t even a hint of scandal attached to his name, and that’s it.”
“That’s it?”
I held my arms open to her. “I’ve got nothing left, and I don’t want anything except Ash’s freedom. I’ll stay here in my little white box forever if that’s what you want. My only condition is fix things for him.”
A coldness leached into her eyes. “You are as shitty a negotiator as you are a daughter.”
Once upon a time, a barb like that would have hurt. Now, nothing could reach into the black hole of my heart she’d sown. “Well you’re as shitty a mother as you are a politician. I didn’t have much of a role model to follow. Can we stop with the emotional pity party and finish this so I can get on with my life? Styx brings me pudding for lunch, and General Hospital is on at one.”
She didn’t move only stared me down trying to get me to crack. There was no way she could know that on this front, I’d never ever crack. Not when it came to him. Not when it came to his life and his freedom. I’d do anything—anything—to protect him.
Finally, she spoke. “I don’t trust you to keep your word in this case. You have been unreliable about keeping your word in the past.”
“Hi, Kettle, I’m Pot, nice to see you again. Is that black you’re wearing…I think we match.”
“Sarcasm doesn’t become you.”
I continued to hold her gaze. “And that color doesn’t become you, so I guess we’re even.”
