Protecting Her(38)

“And what are you getting out of this?”

“I’m helping you.”

He huffs. “You have no interest in helping me. You hate me.”

“That’s not true, Father. I care about you and I want you to get better.”

“It’s more than that. What is it?”

“Logan is my friend. I’m helping him out.”

“And?”

My father knows me too well. He knows I’m hiding something. So I tell him.

“If I recruit Logan to work for the Clinic, I want the organization to release one of our associates from her contract.”

“What does an associate have to do with this?”

“Logan has been dating Sophia on and off for over a year. He wants to marry her, but she can’t agree to it because of her job with Dunamis. Logan, of course, isn’t aware that she works for us.”

He chuckles. “Sophia. Yes. I know her well.”

I cringe, not wanting to think about how many times he’s been with her.

He coughs. “Why the hell do you care so much about this man’s love life?”

“He will be more committed to his job if he’s not pining over this woman. And it works out well because she already knows about us. She’ll know not to ask him questions.”

“He won’t marry her if he knows what she did for us.”

“He won’t know. None of our physicians are told about the associates.”

“If he thinks she’s unaware we exist, he’ll have to lie to his wife. He may not be willing to do that.” He smirks. “Although you seem to have no problem lying to your wife.”

I ignore his comment. “Logan can tell her he’s working for a private clinic, which is what he already does. It’s just a different clinic. It’s not that big of a lie. And he won’t be told all our secrets so there won’t be much to lie about. The only thing he’ll be told is that we’re a private, very exclusive organization that is able to protect him from any repercussions that could come his way by performing these unapproved treatments.”

“Many of our physicians know far more about us than that.”

“Only because they’ve worked for us for years. Logan doesn’t need to know details.”

“You’re putting yourself at risk by doing this,” he says.

“What’s the risk? I’m simply offering them something in exchange for something else.”

“I’m not backing you up on this. This is all you.”

And yet it benefits him. I should’ve known he wouldn’t support me. But I’m doing it anyway. My father will get access to this new treatment, Logan will find the job at the Clinic fulfilling, and Shelby will be free from her contract, and free to marry Logan.

“I’m going to present this at the meeting on Friday. This needs to be decided quickly so you can start the treatments.”

“I haven’t even agreed to them yet.” He coughs again, this time into a tissue.

“Father, do you need something? Some water? Anything?”

“Stop treating me like a child.” He crumples up the tissue and I see a spatter of blood on it. “You should be at the office. Get out of here.” He shoos me away.

I leave and go back down the stairs.

“Pearce, what are you doing here?” My mother approaches me from the hall.

“I was telling Father about a new cancer treatment. He can tell you more about it.” I lower my voice. “He doesn’t look well.”

She pats my back. “He’ll be fine, dear. Get back to the office.”

My parents live in a state of denial when it comes to illness and death. They express zero emotion and just continue on as if nothing’s wrong. My grandfather on my mother’s side died of stomach cancer, but when he was diagnosed, my mother acted as though he had a cold and would get over it in a week or two. When he died, she didn’t shed a tear. I’ve never seen her, or my father, cry. I don’t think they’d cry even if I died.

I go back to the office and find a pile of work on my desk. My father probably called his secretary as soon as I left his house and had her gather up all his work and leave it on my desk.

That night, I don’t get home until after ten. Rachel is watching TV in the family room.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” I say, leaning down to kiss her.

“You missed dinner,” she says. “And you didn’t even see Garret today.”