by Anna Collins
“I don’t want to hear it, Spencer. I’m going to continually remind you every chance I get that she is your daughter. Your duty to her is clear, even though you won’t admit you can see the writing on the wall. I’ve given you every assurance I will take over and work on your behalf to make this company great again. I can’t promise you I will do things the way you would. I will do everything to consult you while you are convalescing. I will even sign to the effect I won’t try to overshadow you and have the board out you from the company completely. I don’t know what else you want me to say. I love her, and you may not feel the same way, but I’m imploring on your new sense of fatherhood to do the right thing,” Tristan said. As I listened, I put my hand up to my heart at the very idea he had this kind of passion inside him to plea for my continued well-being.
“It was not necessary to come up here and give me this proposal. I have been sitting here going over the procedure she wants me to go under. The success rate is slim, and even if I were to survive, there’s no clear evidence this will find a cure to the poison. If it’s all the same to you, I still need some time to think about things. I have a couple of my people going over any of my correspondence to find somebody who held a grudge. It’s obvious to me they came after my daughter because they knew the best way to hurt me was by going through someone I cared for. Unfortunately, I don’t know Willa, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to fully understand her motivations,” Spencer said with his voice high and in demand.
“I do wish I could take your word on whether or not you will help. Let me make things very clear for you, so there are no misunderstandings. You can do this and take my offer, or this place is going to become your tomb. I will burn down this place with you inside. Don’t think for a second I won’t. You can send whatever force you want, but they will not stop me. I will become the worst possible scenario. Think about this very carefully and remember what I did. I don’t want to unleash this part of me, but losing her will kill me inside. Any piece of humanity will extinguish upon her life being snuffed out,” Tristan said with as much conviction as it took to get Spencer to listen.
“I don’t like somebody threatening me. I don’t take kindly to pressure. Leave me alone. I need to go over everything before I decide. Give me until tomorrow morning, and I’ll give you my decision then. There has been enough bloodshed. I’m sure losing her will make you come apart at the seams. It’s this reckless attitude that is going to get you killed. Mistakes happen when you don’t have anything left to lose. You’ve given me a lot to think about, but I think I have returned the favor,” Spencer said as he sat down with a cognac in one hand and a Cuban cigar in the other.
Tristan came out and leaned against the door with me looking at him for some kind of confirmation to his sanity. “I thought you were going to use kid gloves. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear you just slapped him across the face to battle you in a duel to the death. Don’t you think that’s taking things a little bit too far? I feel the same way about you. I don’t want to lose you. Whatever happens, I want you by my side every step of the way. This is the only way I’m going to get through this,” I had listened to what Leslie had to say, but I still felt like she was leaving something out on purpose.
I felt a little sick to my stomach. I held on with both hands wrapped around myself while breathing through the pain. He put his hand on my back, and the comforting gesture was a nice touch to a relationship which had gone off course and then was righted.
“I need to get you back to the lab as soon as possible. Leslie needs to take a look at you, and I’ve never seen anybody turn this shade of white. It concerns me, and I know it concerns you as well,” Tristan said as he guided me with me having to stop every so often to hold onto the wall.
“I don’t know what this is, but…but… Jesus Christ…it fucking hurts,” I didn’t mean to use profanity, but I was irritable and didn’t mind showing it. I would always get this way when I was sick, and my father usually soothed my anger by a cool washcloth on my forehead.
I almost gave into the darkness, but I forced myself to remain awake, even though the pain was getting to the point it felt like somebody was going to have to put me out of my misery.
“I was afraid of this. Put her on the table, and I’ll have her connected to the machines to make sure my diagnosis is correct. I was hoping it wasn’t going to come down to this, but now I see things have gotten considerably worse. Your complexion is a cause for worry. I suspect the pain is due to one of your organs shutting down. I don’t know when, but you are going to need a transplant. I won’t have time to do any kind of biopsy on his organs. I’ll have to make sure you are both compatible and then have you both in surgery. I can’t even believe I’m even contemplating this idea, but it doesn’t look like we have the kind of time to fly somebody in,” Leslie said. I lay there feeling a little bit better, but still knowing my father was the one who had to take the bullet for the both of us.
“I’ll go up and be as persuasive as I can get to get him down here. Don’t worry about anything. I’m sure he will do the right thing even if he is not feeling in a charitable mood at the moment,” Tristan said as he cracked his knuckles.
Chapter 25
The machines were beeping incessantly, but I noticed there was no pain from the IV injection Leslie had placed against my arm. It was there, but it had not penetrated the skin. That left me confused and bewildered by the very reason for this. She had stated emphatically that my condition had worsened and that I needed a transplant. What she had failed to mention was what organ had been affected by the poison running through my veins.
She moved with efficiency, going from one machine to the other. Two gurneys now sat side by side so that both myself and Spencer weren’t so far away from each other. I took a closer look at where the tape had connected from the needle to my arm, but there was no reason to be concerned.
I could see through the translucent tape she had only pretended to make it look like it had drawn blood. I had questions, and I didn’t like she was purposely keeping me in the dark.
She came over and took my vitals, watching me intently. Then I think she understood I wanted to know what the hell was going on. She smiled, looked towards the door with the two men who had been stationed. She wanted to make sure her exchange with me was not going to come under scrutiny.
“I had to make it look good. I couldn’t be entirely sure Spencer would do what was right. This way, I make it look like your life is in immediate danger. Tristan had to believe. Otherwise, his reaction would not be genuine. I knew from my interactions with him he is very fond of you. He wants nothing bad to happen and will do practically anything to secure your good health. I’ve made it so that Tristan will not take no for an answer. I’m not sure this is going to be necessary. I know enough about Spencer to believe in my heart he will do the right thing. He gets caught up in his own head, and sometimes he cautiously approaches things. This way, he will have to face you are his daughter and your life is in jeopardy,” Leslie said with me seeing she was one step ahead of all of us.
She was a little devious, completely believable and I certainly had no idea she was playing us all like pieces on a chessboard. I didn’t know that much about Spencer. What I had learned already did not instill in me any kind of father-daughter relationship. I was still trying to come to terms with him being a blood relative. I was grateful and without him, I might have had no hope on the horizon.
“I’m not sure I should be impressed by your ability to lie through your teeth and be able to bluff like a consummate card player in Vegas. I do have to say you had me fooled and that’s not an easy thing to do. I’m a good judge of somebody’s character. Deep down, I knew you were capable of playing with people’s lives. I’m not going to cast aspersions, you’re doing this for my own good. I don’t like the idea you are forcing his hand. There’s no telling what he will do and how he will react when Tristan approaches him with the dire news,” I said looking at her and see
ing she wasn’t entirely lying about everything.
“You may not be in desperate need of an organ transplant, but you do need a bone marrow transplant. I’m not even certain it’s going to work. I’m going to count on you being a fighter. I can only do so much; it’s not like I have a team. The five people who were under me have been sent away. Spencer didn’t want them to be around after he was cured. They were paid for their silence. They also know that if they say anything to anybody about this place or what they were doing, they will suffer the consequences. They won’t have to worry about any kind of court proceedings. Spencer has long arms which can reach practically anywhere. He made this abundantly clear when he killed one of them in front of the others to give them a brief taste of what their future may entail. I thought he had gone too far, but it was a tried and true method of intimidation,” Leslie said.
This girl didn’t look like she had a manipulative bone in her body, but she was proving to be quite resourceful when push came to shove. Why she was going out of her way to help me was anybody’s guess. The only thing I could come up with was we had bonded in some way, or maybe she was just a caring person who didn’t know how to act in any other way. It was a direct contrast to the man she was spending her time with. They were the exact opposites. They say opposites attract, but I wasn’t sure I fed into that delusion.
“You didn’t even give him a chance to think about it overnight. Am I in that desperate need you had to resort to these underhanded means?” I asked her as she stared down at me and I could see the gears in her head were moving at a speed I could not recognize.
“The poison is localized, and I managed to keep it from spreading, but it’s still doing some considerable damage. Your body is shutting down, and without the bone marrow then you will surely die. I don’t like to be the bearer of bad news, but you already knew the prognosis wasn’t good. The doctor did you a favor introducing you to Tristan. It seems kind of strange you would already know each other and not know it,” Leslie said as she lowered her register, even more, to prevent those two from overhearing something they could use against us.
“You are a testament to your profession, Leslie. I don’t even know how I can begin to pay you back. I think maybe a bunt cake or something made by my hand every year for your birthday and Christmas doesn’t even cut it. This is saving my life, and you’re responsible for it. That makes us more than friends. I don’t have to tell you being with Spencer is changing you. Cut the ties and leave before he destroys you. I shouldn’t be talking like this about my father. I’m only going by what I have seen and witnessed with my own eyes,” I said feeling as if I had to say something.
“I need to show you something. It might give you a better understanding of the father you didn’t know until now. You already know he saved me professionally by offering me this position. I knew it came with strings, but it was worth it to have my work appreciated. I don’t want to sicken you, but the sex was not what I would call of the norm. I may have alluded to the fact that he likes to take things a little too far, but I’m not going to go into detail. You have your own opinion of your father, and I don’t want to do anything to prevent you from having that parental connection,” Leslie said as we waited together to see if Spencer would come down here on his own accord and not by the bodily force given to him by Tristan.
“You have already said more than enough about my father to give me a pretty accurate picture of the man. You do know the sex was his way of controlling you. Pushing you further than you wanted to go was his way to use you. We both know he can never love you in the way you want him to. Now he has gotten what he wants from you, I don’t understand why he’s keeping you around. Could it be that he cares for you in a way an owner does with a pet? I’m sorry, I don’t want you to feel like there’s no hope,” I said looking her in the eye, seeing she had already thought of this many times over.
As she moved a little closer, I saw the same exact locket which was part of a set. She was wearing one, and Spencer was wearing the other. I wasn’t sure if that was a sign of their bond or his way of keeping her prisoner in her own mind. It would be just like him to make it seem like an innocent and romantic gesture but have an underlying meaning which gave him the feeling of ownership.
“I see you have noticed the little gift he gave me. It’s a Tiffany original, and he literally had the company make this custom made for the both of us. It has tiny diamonds around the locket itself with a jade stone in the middle. I carry his picture inside. I really don’t know what he carries in his. We never talked about it. I’ve been curious to ask, but there’s something about the way he holds it in the middle of the night close to his chest that makes me think there’s somebody else. I am afraid I’m just a substitute for a woman who he couldn’t have and never will,” Leslie said as I got a closer look at the locket reaching out my fragile and delicate hands to turn it to see the inscription.
It was a cheesy limerick, and one I’m not sure was mimicked on the one he was wearing. My mother obviously meant a lot to him. It hurt him deeply she didn’t want to have a family with him. It wasn’t lost on him the secret was her way of protecting me from his eccentric ways. I only wished I had a moment to speak to her from the grave. I wanted to give her a chance to explain her actions. It was obvious he was dangerous, but he also had a soft side not many people were able to see.
“That must have cost a small fortune to be made for the both of you,” I said as I suspected there was an ulterior motive for him giving her this.
It wouldn’t have surprised me to learn there was some hidden locator beacon inside the jewelry. He would never lose her like he did with my mother. It must have made him feel the rejection like a knife in his chest. He had lost a piece of himself, and it was replaced by a cold and distant man who really had no interest in getting this close with anybody ever again. It surprised him to feel anything for Leslie, but then he ruined that by keeping her hostage.
There was no point in me pulling at that thread. If I were to do this, then her concentration would be on the betrayal and not on saving my life. It was a selfish thing to think about, but my survival was predicated on her being able to keep her head.
“I don’t even know why I’m saying this. You need to give him a chance and not get caught up in his immoral business practices. You have to see past the man everybody else does. I noticed when he looked at you after he learned the truth, he was caught off guard. I don’t know why you didn’t see the way he was staring at you from the moment you arrived. I understand you had other things to worry about. Even if you did see it, you would have taken it as a sign he wanted to get into your pants. That look is not something he can hide very well. I sometimes think it would be better for me to leave, but I don’t know what this would do to his fragile ego,” Leslie said as we both heard the sound of voices.
It did not sound my father was raging or making Tristan do something he was never going to forget. Both of these men were stubborn, and I recognized I was involved with a similar man but in a different way. Tristan was closed off, but I had managed to squeeze through the little hole I made in the wall he had risen to protect himself. I could see it in his eyes and then he was standing there at the door, not exactly twisting my father’s arm to do the right thing.
Chapter 26
“I can’t believe I’ve been a damn fool. I just hope it’s not too late. There’s never been any room in my life for family, and I think your mother knew this. She took you away from me because she didn’t want me to feel obligated to stick around. What she didn’t realize was that I was so in love with her and I would have gladly put down some roots. There’s no way she could know this, especially with my stories of my dysfunctional family and my desire not to bring a child into this world,” Spencer said as he was lying beside me feeling drowsy, looking like he was going to pass out from the sedative at any moment.
“You don’t have to tell me any of this. I want you to remain calm and reserve your strength. There’s not much I c
an say that can convey the way I feel at this moment. I never thought you were willing to do this for me. I wasn’t going to blame you. We really don’t know each other. I’m pretty much a stranger, and I would like to rectify this. Once we are both back on our feet again, we should sit down and discuss what this means for the both of us. I haven’t decided if I want to accept you as my father. Don’t take this the wrong way, but my father is 1000 miles away working his fingers to the bone in a restaurant he built from the ground up,” I said while reaching out and touching his arm.
It didn’t feel right Leslie had tricked him into coming to the rescue. I could see he was nervous. He was shivering, and I tossed him another sheet which got me a meek smile for a response. I wanted to say something, but to tell him anything would give him the feeling of betrayal. There was something about him which made me believe he would act irrationally if he were to find out he was here under false pretenses.
“I would never want you to think I was taking your father’s place. He is the one who raised you, and I have to say he did a remarkable job. I’m sorry your mother isn’t around anymore to see you become the confident woman she always wanted you to be. I’m sure you’re wondering how I could possibly know something like that. In my research after I learned about you, I found some private emails. I didn’t feel good about breaking her trust and invading her personal space,” he said with me quite interested in learning what those private emails had to say.
