CHAPTER 20 END
It had been many years since she had lived in that house, practically since Tanner was born.
The Darby residence in Cheyenne was in the classic line of single-family homes in town, but it was also one of the largest.
It was never her father's favorite and she never had a good relationship with her sister. Emma was aware that she would always be blamed for the death of her mother, whom she never knew.
The environment became completely hostile when she became pregnant, so much so that she had to leave the house and earn a living for her child.
That is why, seen from the outside, it was incomprehensible that she would return as a villain's condition to save the skins of that bad father and that nasty sister.
You won't have the same toys as your sister Faith.
You are not smart like Faith.
I'm ashamed to be the father of a tramp who doesn't know who her brat's father is.
I don't want them to see me around you and say I'm the sister of a single mom.
The boyfriends you have are just as much losers as you are.
The echoes of her father's and Faith's cruel, unforgiving words rang loudly in her mind again.
Emma was eight years old when she learned why her father saw her as a freak.
Her mother's portrait held the answer: Faith looked just like her. Beautiful and sophisticated.
Emma on the other hand was a chubby little girl, who also killed her mother in childbirth.
The young woman opened her eyes and refocused on the present.
The house was the same as in her memories and the smile faded from her face as soon as her feet touched the village.
She, her son and Lisa came happy and smiling, since they arrived at the airport and took a cab to the city they met familiar and friendly people who greeted them with affection.
They even remembered Lisa, in spite of the years she had been away.
“Mom, if you want we can go to Mr. White's family's house, they adore us, or I bet that if you ask, Mr. Loyle could give us lodging in our old apartment,” Tanner tugged his mother's sleeve.
Lisa had been staying with cousins, the only relatives of hers left in Cheyenne because the rest emigrated to Georgia.
She would return later for Tanner and her for a little tour.
So mother and son were alone at the door.
Emma rang the bell.
They waited almost five minutes until the sound of clicking heels gave away that someone was coming to open the door.
Sure enough, it was Faith and she was looking more beautiful than ever in a red skirt and matching blouse that showed off a slim figure.
“So you've arrived ....”
Both women looked at each other.
“Hi Faith”
“Hi Aunt Faith!” Tanner broke the tension.
The woman snorted.
“Aunt, you really shouldn't grimace like that or you'll crumple up in a hurry”
The woman stepped aside so they could both pass.
“We won't be staying long, I'm going to book a room with Mr. Loyle,” Emma said, sitting down. “We don't want to intrude”
“Well, you should have thought of that before you fell out with who knows who and got Dad suspended...and therefore me. God, what kind of people are you dealing with?” Faith didn't even sit down to start complaining.
Emma looked at her son and hated her sister's lack of empathy in starting to complain in front of her little boy.
“Honey, go say hello to Grandpa,” she asked her son.
"Mommy, I want to hear what you say to her, too," the boy grumbled, but he was still very obedient and went upstairs. "Knowing him, Grandpa must be in the library of books he never reads but uses as a bar, right Aunt Faith?"
The woman nodded.
Tanner disappeared up the steps and the women took the opportunity to continue the tense chatter.
"Whatever happened, it was unintentional...but I'm here, even if you didn't give me much credit for coming to save your asses," Emma replied with a courage that surprised Faith, who was more used to her sister's docility.
“The city has given you guts and chutzpah,” Faith said.
“And you're your usual self, sis,” Emma sat up.” I'll go say hello to Daddy”
Emma was on her way up the stairs when Faith called her back.
She said, "Cancel your reservation and stay here...if you really want to help, you need to show that you're in town and let whoever started this witch hunt against us see it. Maybe then they'll stop this whole circus as soon as possible".
Emma wasn't happy about staying in that house, but Faith was right.
And now it was her turn to be reunited with her father.
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Liam and Michael did not meet at the office.
The latter did not attend, but he must have been well aware of the coup d'état perpetrated by his son-in-law, but he would not come to pay obeisance to him because he still owned 35% of the company.
Instead, he preferred to meet with his battalion of lawyers and advisors at his pent-house to find a way out and create a legal strategy against Liam's maneuver.
Although he did receive reports that this Emma Darby did board the plane and return to her hometown, which meant one less problem. If the very stupid woman complied, he saw no reason not to call and press charges against her family.
Then if she failed him, he could simply pick up the phone and make another similar machination because this Darby was a disliked man in his town and there were quite a few people wanting his job at city hall.
“We're not getting out of here until we get a tactic to nullify Liam Van Dyke's actions,” he pounded the table to get attention and quiet the arguing councilors.
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“And you have permission to come in here and take whatever books you want,” the man's voice said as Emma entered the office of her father, Mr. Darby.
The man was talking to his grandson.
They were both standing in front of a bookshelf where the older man was removing books and passing them to the younger one.
“Will you lend them to me to take to New York? I'll give them back to you when I grow up and go to college and don't need them anymore”
“As long as you go to law school”
“But Grandpa! I've told you a thousand times that bankers are smarter than lawyers, I promise I won't humiliate Aunt Faith so much when she comes looking for a job at my future company”
Emma stood listening for a moment before formally introducing herself.
Old Mr. Darby was an intolerant man to her, but Tanner was absolutely capable of disarming anyone and with a boy like that it was impossible to keep up defenses.
“Hello, Dad...”
The little man spun around and to Emma he looked the same as ever.
He had an impeccably pressed shirt and perfectly polished shoes, and he kept his brown hair with gray hair gelled. His face could pass for nondescript, but Emma found it identical to her own: the same brown eyes, similar skin, and the same pursed lips.
Where did she get the rounded shapes she has?
Not from her father and not from her mother either, judging by the portraits.
“Emma...”
"Honey, Lisa will be here soon and she told me she wants to take you for a walk. Why don't you go wait for her? Take my cell phone because hers is not working," the young woman said to her son.
Tanner sighed.
"I know; you must be having one of your boring adult conversations. Anyway, I want to go on the ride and I won't spare Mrs. Cherry's handmade candy store, and I'll be sure to take one to Aunt Faith and see if that puts her in a good mood".
The happy child went off humming while the adults were left in the living room.
“I didn't expect you to come, Emma,” remarked Mr. Darby. “I thought you'd take the opportunity to get your revenge”
“Dad, you know I'm not like that”
The man sat down and signaled the young woman to do the same as he poured a glass of whiskey for them both.
“What kind of people are you mixed up with?”
Emma wasn't about to tell him the truth.
“I was in the middle of a corporate lawsuit in New York”
“When I heard you were moving there, I thought you'd call us desperate to get back, but you didn't. You even exposed your son to an unnecessary move”
"Well, you were right about one thing, I'm not good at attracting good men. The doctor in Colorado was a fraud and he was after the money we know you'll never give me," Emma took a sip of her drink, surprised at herself for speaking so directly to her father.
“You're saying the only interesting match you had was a fraud...?”
“I can't imagine what stories he spread”
Emma's father leaned back in the seat. To Emma's amazement he was incredibly calm. The whole process that had come upon him had given him a modicum of humility.
“There, you'll find that no decent man will ever come near you. Besides, what's this story about Tanner studying business? What stories are you putting in his head? Don't turn him into another version of you. He must be a lawyer like me and Faith”
“You know you can't order me around, Dad. Not anymore”
Old Darby stared at his daughter.
It was true, she was no longer the same. She no longer possessed that aura of fear of him about her back. Something had changed her.
“Cancel any reservations you have,” the old man asked. “Stay here”
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Liam finished a meeting in the conference room and when he walked into his office to pick something up, he saw Emma's empty desk.
He had spent the entire day sorting out business issues that weren't easy.
And he'd been ignoring whatever was tormenting him, determined to go out and fix it as soon as he finished his work at the company.
Guilt bled him, but he was eager to protect what he had achieved so far in his company, but the uneasiness and the feeling of emptiness attacked him with intensity when he saw that place without its occupant.
Recent memories of the previous night assailed him and it was too much for him.
He was always a man capable of thinking with a cool head and although business for him always came first, the truth was that nothing he was doing now mattered as much to him as going to Queens and looking for Emma.
Not only to be with her and reminisce about the fantastic person she made him feel, but also to meet that lost son, the same one he was about to lose because of Anna because he already knew everything.
He clenched his fists at the memory. He would settle accounts with that bitch.
He had made hundreds of mistakes in life and he didn't want to make them anymore. Not with his feelings.
In the past he'd refused to acknowledge how he felt about Emma and now he was doing the same.
It was a matter of a second, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed her number. It rang three times before the voice of a boy he already knew picked up.
“Tanner?”
“Hi! Are you my friend Liam?”
The man was overcome with tenderness when he heard him.
“It's so good to hear from you, champ....”
“Well, I'm even happier since you still have to explain to me what you're up to with my mom,” Tanner was quite direct.
Liam smiled.
Tanner was too smart, much smarter than him and it filled him with a paternal pride that was starting to rub him from the bottom of his soul. He was dying to hug him and get to know him further. He wondered what his father would have said had he known he had such a shrewd grandson.
“I have something with your mother...and I promise to talk to you for approval,” he replied. “Are you on the floor now?”
“What apartment? We left this morning for Cheyenne and if you had seen how we fled after a mobster-looking man threatened Mom. My butt is still sore from the seven-hour flight so I'm taking advantage of the evening to walk around with Lisa”
Liam's pupils dilated at the sound of it.
After cutting Tanner off, he noticed that his rival was moving much faster and in all directions.
Michael made a move before him and that infuriated him.
To hell with it all, he lifted the telephone tube from Emma's desk and dialed an inmate to William's secretary who had been assisting him on the day.
He said, “Find me a flight to Cheyenne as soon as possible and tell your boss I'll expect him in my office right away”
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The unusual hospitality of her family served to reunite Emma with her old room. Tanner was set up in the guest room, and the woman was amazed at her father's openness to the boy.
And Tanner got along well with him because being spiteful was way beyond what he was.
But that night as she went to bed and tried to sleep the last thing she thought about was her strange family situation but about Liam and how he never called her.
He understood that he was in the middle of a serious situation at the company and sometimes regretted not being there to assist him, but she could not continue in that place.
But nothing excused him for not calling, even if only to complain.
For a moment she fantasized that he might have called when Tanner took the cell phone, but the boy did not inform her of any news and it was disappointing.
She sobbed herself to sleep, thinking of her own injustice.
“You're stupid Emma... what were you thinking?”
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Two days later, Faith received the call that the investigation against her father had been lifted and also the unfreezing of the bank accounts.
She was in her room reading what was once the indictment that had been used against her father.
Although old Darby had given merit to it, the truth was that it would not have been dusted off had it not been for Emma's enemy.
“Always so foolish and prejudicial,” Faith mumbled, throwing the folder to the floor.
At that Betta, the maid who worked in the house entered the room.
“Excuse me, Miss...”
“Haven't I told you a thousand times that you should knock on the door...?”
“Excuse me, Miss Faith,” mumbled the poor girl, terrified by her employer.
“Speak at once....”
“There's a man at the door who seems to be very important and he's looking for you”
Faith raised an eyebrow.
“What makes you think he's important, do you know him?”
“Well...his clothes and his hairstyle”
Faith narrowed her eyes. She didn't intend to discuss details with the maid so she adjusted her skirt and went out to see the mystery man.
She had a sneaking suspicion that it was a lawyer from Casper's neighboring county that she had been involved with for the past month. He was a guy who lived in Chicago and had big city manners so she guessed that was what her maid saw.
She smiled sideways.
Emma was in the garden and it would be a wonderful opportunity to rub it in his face that she could get a perfect boyfriend. Professional and owner of his own firm.
She was already aware of her new disappointment with the doctor.
She'd take the opportunity to humiliate Emma a little.
But when she got to the door she ran into a totally unknown man...but whoever he was, he was someone who made her lover pale.
A towering, erect brunet with eyes bluer than normal.
The most handsome man Faith had ever seen.
“Good afternoon, you were looking for me, do I know you?” but with an almost sensual restraint in her voice.
The man looked at her the way one looks at a weirdo.
"What the hell is this? I asked to meet Miss Darby, I'm in no mood for jokes."
That he spoke to her that way and that he didn't seem to feel seduced to converse with Faith was very hurtful to the woman.
“I'm Miss Darby....”
He grimaced as if realizing something.
“I understand, you must be the sister,” he confirmed. “It is not you I wish to speak to. Please call your sister Emma”
“With Emma...?” asked the young woman with surprise, but she immediately jumped to conclusions. “Is she in trouble? I expected nothing less from her”
The mocking phrases put the newcomer in a bad mood.
“Is she now...?”
“Yes...but this is not a visitor's reception of hers....”
The man lost his patience, entering the house practically pushing Faith aside.
“I've come to see her and the matter does not concern you” Liam was not about to be patient, besides he had heard gruesome stories of Emma's family relationships.
This little woman was one of those who had helped to make his dear Emma's existence miserable, almost ostracizing her when she needed help the most.
“I'll call the sheriff's office!” Faith threatened, watching him as he crossed the room.
“Do what you want, I suppose you don't want to draw attention to yourself after your father's suspension. See if it's in your best interest to test me”
Faith pursed her lips in anger, both because it was the first time someone had masterfully shut her mouth but also because of her annoyance that a man like that would come looking for her petty sister since he didn't seem to be here on business.
She wasn't going to be left wanting to know so she ran to the stairs to watch from one of the slits overlooking the courtyard.
As chance would have it, on her way up she bumped into Tanner who was coming down.
“Aunt, I didn't know you were so nosy, who are you spying on? Now I know what these little holes overlooking the garden are for”
What an impertinent little lippy boy!
“It's none of your business,” she said, leaning back to look through the crack.
“I'm not going to leave my favorite aunt alone,” as he did so he made a quotation mark grimace with his fingers.
Faith didn't have time to be indignant because she was curious to know what was going on in her back yard.
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Emma had been gardening in the back yard that day.
When she lived in that house, that was one of her favorite activities.
Gone were the rose bushes, let alone the daisies she remembered caring for so lovingly. There were a few jasmines and orchids.
And as a way to pass the time without getting bitter thinking about her emotional and economic situation, she decided to embark on this activity.
Her hands were dirty with dirt as she busied herself cleaning roots and cutting useless bushes.
Useless as herself.
Would she go back to New York?
Would she return to Cheyenne?
Most importantly, would she get a job soon?
The consequences of her decision to come to this place also affected her son, who had lived these past months convinced he would finish school in New York.
What should she do?
But she stiffened when behind her back she heard a very familiar voice calling out to her.
“Emma...”
The woman swallowed hard.
Was she going crazy and now she was hearing voices?
It took her a while to turn around and when she did, her chest began to throb with intensity.
Liam Van Dyke was there dressed in clothes she had never seen him in before, used as she was to seeing him in impeccable designer suits. Whatever it was he looked amazing in those jeans and white shirt.
Although the physical attraction he gave her was intense, that had nothing to do with the anger she felt with him. An anger mixed with disappointment.
“What are you doing here?” the woman stood up and rebuked him.
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Hidden behind the holes, Tanner jumped up and down, startling his aunt.
“It's my good friend Liam!”
“Do you know him?” asked Faith intrigued.
Tanner, knowing how envious his aunt was, decided to go all in.
“Well, he's someone who's after my mom,” he commented and at that point Faith turned red with disbelief.
“What?”
“Well, what you heard, Aunt Faith...and that gentleman isn't just anyone. He's the owner of a New York investment company that if he wanted to, he could buy the whole town and turn it into his ping pong court”
“It can't be...he's most likely some Tinder scammer that your mother found,” the woman denied, although her eyes were wild with that information.
The boy winked at her and continued to look through the gap.
He had given his Aunt Faith material to despair of envy for quite some time.
Tanner wasn't lying that he'd come looking for his mother.
When they spoke on the phone, Liam told her that he was coming for his mother. And that after he talked to her, he would talk to him as well.
He hoped his mother would let down her defenses and hear what he had to tell her.
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“It's not a joke, I'm here, you know why,” he walked toward her, though Emma was backing away.
She folded her arms defensively.
“To finish your father-in-law's work?”
“I had nothing to do with it, but I promise I'll take care of Michael”
“When you left that early morning, it was clear where you stood. Why are you coming here? I would never have bothered you because me and my son have lived very well on our own all these years. I had no intention of destroying your perfect life,” Emma tried to keep her composure. “You didn't have to sleep with me to keep my mouth shut about my son's existence”
He winced in surprise at Emma's thoughts.
He grabbed her arm to make sure she didn't end up running away as it seemed she would at any moment.
“That's not why I came...”
“Let go of me, you cretin!”
“I won't do it because I love you Emma!” Emma was stunned when she heard that, had she heard correctly?
“What did you say...?”
Liam's cheeks colored.
"What you heard, don't make me repeat it because I sound like a high school kid," Liam didn't let go of her grip. "All those losers you dated and even your family couldn't see the kind of woman you are. But I don't want to deny it anymore, I don't want to waste another ten years wondering what I'm missing. And I have loved you ever since you were that smart little girl back then where I spent my days making a fool of myself because I refused to accept the way I felt about you... ...."
Emma had never been told something like this before and even for a moment she thought that this was either a dream or someone was playing a joke on her in the style of the juvenile novels that Lisa used to read.
But she wasn't a child anymore and he wasn't a teenager like those cheap fictions.
She began to sob in the grip of uncontrollable emotion that weakened her, but her lips still resisted answering the man's passionate declaration.
She had Liam's gaze almost glued to hers and at that distance she could analyze the exact color of the blue range to which he belonged. She could detail it and make poetry out of it if she wanted to.
But he was more determined than ever.
“I want you to decide if you love me more than you hate what I did to you”
In front of Emma were all those years she lived alone, facing ignominy, pressure and even hunger at times, recalling days when money was short and she had to juggle to feed her son.
He was not to blame, but neither was she for not telling the truth.
They were both victims of an unforgiving fate and it's not easy for anyone to admit what lives deep in their heart.
“Don't you know how hard it is for me to say no to you...?” Emma finally said in a whisper.
“Then don't,” he said with infinite tenderness. “If the memories don't hurt...hold me”
“My hands are dirty...”
“I don't care...”
It was his answer and the only one they needed to melt in a needed kiss where they danced again part of the unfinished dance that their bodies desired so much unconsciously for so many years.
He was not the boss and she was not the overweight secretary.
Neither was he the bully boy and the bullied girl.
They were always something more.
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Although neither Tanner nor Faith heard what they said, the sight of them outweighed the words.
Tanner pirouetted and Faith was speechless.
How was it physically possible for a specimen like that man to kiss someone like Emma whom she'd always pigeonholed as a fifth-rate woman?
Tanner was so happy about what he saw that he didn't have time to notice his aunt's disheveled face.
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The next day, Emma, Liam and Tanner went for a walk around the college campus that was open to visitors to admire the park.
But this was no courtesy visit.
It was time to tell Tanner the truth.
Emma was terrified of exposing her son to a truth he had always run away from. But as Liam himself had told her the night before as they frolicked together, it had to be done, and hers depended entirely on the boy's reaction.
“Mom, why did we come here? If you wanted a date with Liam, with me you ruin it. Take me home so I can leave you two alone”
But both she and Liam didn't move and were quiet as if wary.
Tanner blinked in confusion.
“Come on, what's wrong?”
Emma walked over to her son and rested a hand on his shoulder.
“So much has happened...but I know the time has come. The time to tell you the truth about your biological father,” the woman trembled.
Liam had done breathing exercises, but he was still nervous. It was his first time facing his son face to face.
Tanner looked at her and him. He burst out laughing, puzzling the adults.
“Mom, I have an IQ of 180,” he looked at Liam. “You're my father”
Liam and Emma had to hold each other to keep from falling over in shock.
“How did you...?” asked Emma.
“Mom, I figured it out by logical reasoning and that I look a lot like him,” he looked at the man again. “But it helped me more that I'm not deaf and I heard them, just like I heard when you were talking to Lisa”
“Son...let me explain,” asked Emma.
At this point, Liam who always boasted of great strength could no longer contain himself and walked towards Tanner.
Ever since he knew he was his son, his heart was inflamed with a love that was hard to explain and contain. He wanted to protect him, to care for him, to give him the best. Above all, to bestow on him the affection he never had.
“Blood of my blood...” Liam murmured.
Tanner, who was calm as silk, also began to lose his composure when Liam started to come and looked at him as if he was the thing he loved most in the world.
“I know you're my father and I also know that neither of you were to blame....”
Right there, father and son melted into an embrace as Emma watched them with a hand over her mouth to control the sobbing.
Tanner didn't blame them, he understood them better than an adult.
How was it possible that two fools like them could have fathered someone like that?
Whatever, yesterday no longer mattered to anyone.
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Emma, Liam and Tanner returned to New York shortly after, and Lisa followed them.
They were very particular days because while the three of them were reuniting and getting to know each other, social media and the tabloids were feasting on the news of Liam Van Dyke and Anna Foreman's engagement cancellation.
Because Liam took care of them first.
With the Hampton's CCTV footage, Liam had material to blackmail the all-powerful Michael into selling him his shares at face value to become sole owner. If he didn't, he would release the video that would ruin the Foreman's reputation and Anna would go to jail.
That way, he would definitely get rid of the guy who had made his life miserable for years. He would have liked Anna to end up with his bones in a cell, but the fact that he would never see or hear from them again was enough.
Tanner and Liam promised each other to keep the secret of what happened at the lake on that day so as not to torment his mother with the idea that her son was nearly killed.
Liam and Emma got married seven months after all that, when the waters calmed down and they did it in a ceremony in Manhattan attended by all of Cheyenne's friends who were flown in on chartered planes.
The emotional civil ceremony was performed with Tanner as ring bearer.
Although Mr. Darby and Faith were present, both could see the disappointment on their faces that the insignificant Emma was marrying a millionaire who also happened to be Tanner's father.
With this Emma shut their mouths for good, but as a gesture of karma she did not give her sister the position of maid of honor. She gave it to the woman who behaved better with her: Lisa Maldiva who, under Emma's auspices, was now working in Liam's company preparing to be assistant to the lawyer William Sanders, who was the groom's best man.
At that time news broke that Michael Foreman was arrested for tax evasion and declared bankruptcy as he lost credibility in the investment world. His daughter Anna, now a diva in decline, left New York in an unknown direction. It was rumored that she moved to Florida to become a lady-in-waiting.
Liam cemented his role as CEO of the company and was no longer on magazine covers as the Prince of Manhattan . He was now a respectable banker and family man jealous of keeping his personal life private, so neither Emma nor the child were exposed.
Caring for them was the priority.
Tanner was enrolled in Manhattan's most exclusive school to begin his instruction and Liam sometimes didn't believe that life gifted him with someone so precious that he was their flesh and blood.
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His cell phone rang twice and the sweaty man cut him off.
He was sitting at the office table, which was now empty because the patients preferred to be seen by others.
He didn't feel like talking to his daughter Rita who had become even more capricious than before and Nicholas was foolish enough to refuse her ridiculous requests.
He had to do endless shifts at the Hospital to earn overtime. His poor talent got him removed from the operating room and he was limited to outpatient practice but the earnings were not enough for him.
He once considered stealing something from the hospital to sell on the black market, but was too cowardly to try.
A nurse came in without knocking, startling him.
“Doctor, you're wanted in the director's office”
Nicholas raised an eyebrow.
“Me?”
The nurse nodded.
That was strange, he just hoped it wasn't for another scolding. He straightened his gown and set up his stethoscope to give himself a more professional appearance, and headed for the Colorado Hospital director's office.
But when Nicholas walked in, he found that the director was not alone, but the whole damn board of directors was present. On top of that, there was also a man in an impeccable suit. Surely it was some executive since he had heard that the Hospital was looking for investors.
“It's no pleasurable motive that brings us here today, Dr. Nicholas,” the director handed him a folder and the doctor got a bad feeling from the way everyone was looking at him. “It is a statistic of your performance and output...one that is not in keeping with the spirit of a doctor in this hospital”
“I don't understand...we had already discussed that I would stay in the office,” Nicholas mumbled.
“No,” said the director. “The hospital has a new investor and he has handed over a hundred million dollars. He has only put one condition on his investment,” he looked at the executive who remained silent. "We are firing you because you are not a good fit for the hospital, and the board of directors agreed."
It was the worst blow Nicholas could receive.
Being fired for cause was the worst thing that could happen to his resume. He would never get another doctor's job in the region, unless he moved to a remote location to become a rural doctor.
The director kept talking, but Nicholas was no longer listening, but he understood that he had to leave when the board members stood up.
Nicholas was the second to last to leave the room. The last was the mystery executive who approached him as Nicholas went to a corner to feel sorry for himself.
“I would have liked my wife to see this, but I will content her with my story. She is now very busy because she has just applied to Columbia University,” the executive whispered to Nicholas' confusion. “I am the husband of the present Mrs. Emma Van Dyke”
Nicholas almost dropped the folder from his hand.
“Emma...?”
“I invested in this hospital for the sole purpose of teaching you a lesson for what you did to my wife in the past,” the impeccably dressed man gave her a sardonic smile. “Ever since I saw that episode of Game of Thrones I've always wanted to do this to a loser,” he leaned close to Nicholas' ear. “Mrs. Van Dyke sends her regards”
Nicholas was stunned and simply watched the man walk away.
He felt so small, insignificant and mediocre in front of this guy who had just avenged the woman he had hurt so badly.
Karma had come to Nicholas.
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He put his hand on his wife's hand.
They were enjoying the incredible view from the commanding balcony of their impressive penthouse overlooking Central Park.
Tanner was already asleep, exhausted after having spent the day in school classes and then with the gifted tutor Liam had had selected for him because the boy required special attention due to his high IQ.
So it was time for the couple to spend alone.
Emma had just applied to Columbia for business school and Liam was extremely proud of her.
“If you want something and I have it, just ask me,” he whispered. “And if I don't have it, I'll get it”
She smiled.
“What I always wanted, I have it with me,” she replied before kissing him.
Her lips would never tire of seeking his.
END