Chapter 37 #2
“Cancer, Nathan. I expected you to be smarter than this.” He can’t help but dig, but I’m not paying attention.
My mind is stuck on the word cancer. I don’t believe it.
I refuse to believe it. “She has kidney cancer, a type that normally has a more…favorable outcome. Unfortunately for your sister, the cancer has progressed, and she needs more aggressive chemotherapy and radiation to prevent it from spreading. Even so, they still feel like a transplant is her best chance. I’m funding a clinical trial, so they agreed to accept her in the meantime.
Her good kidney is no longer functioning well, and she can no longer survive with just one kidney.
So, until she gets a transplant…she will need dialysis to stay alive. ”
I can’t even believe what I am hearing. She’s too young for this. She’s only twenty years old. She didn’t even tell me. Why would she not tell me? Is he lying? He has to be lying. But he knows I will call her right after we hang up. He knows I would find out the truth.
I look up at Asher, his face just as shocked as mine. We are a mirror of each other, tears in our eyes, two brothers learning their sister has a deadly disease.
The line stays silent for several painful seconds.
“Why do I get the feeling you are not telling us this out of the kindness of your heart.” Asher sneers, his face turning red with anger.
“Because you are apparently smarter than my son, Asher.”
“Fuck you, Nathaniel. I don’t have time for this bullshit. I’m calling Emmy.”
“You might want to hear what I have to say first, Nathan.”
“Why is that?” I seethe. I already know. I already know he is going to use this to control me. I just don’t know how.
“I’m going to take your sister off of my health insurance. I’m not going to pay for her very expensive cancer treatment.”
I just sit here, completely shocked. No. NO. He wouldn’t do that. Not even Nathaniel is that evil. How could he think that would look good for his precious image? There is no way he would actually do that.
“And destroy your precious campaign? Bullshit.” I call his bluff.
“Ah, but son, it wouldn’t destroy my chances of election.
In fact, it will make them stronger. The family man who finds out his daughter isn’t his after she’s been diagnosed with cancer.
The family man who has been married to a cheating whore?
I think that makes me fairly relatable, don’t you, Nathan? ”
“Liar!”
“I may be a lot of things, but I have never been a liar, Nathan.” He scoffs, like it’s the most unbelievable thing I could say about him.
“Emily is not my daughter. Your mother hasn’t been able to keep her legs closed since the day I found her working in that little diner,” he says casually, as if any part of this conversation is normal.
“It works for us. I have her on my arm when I need her, and she stays out of my life when I don’t.
We have the perfect little arrangement, Nathan.
The kind you should look for yourself, if you are smart. ”
“Mom may be a shitty parent, but there is no way she won’t cover Emmy’s treatment.
She won’t just let her die,” I interrupt, refusing to believe anything he’s saying is true.
Ellie doesn’t belong to Chris. Emmy doesn’t belong to Nathaniel.
It’s too much. Too many lies. Too many secrets. It’s too much to take in.
“Your mother wouldn’t have a choice. My prenup is airtight, Nathan.
There is a strict infidelity clause. If I divorce her, she gets nothing.
She won’t be able to pay for Emily’s treatment.
She will be removed from the clinical trial I’m funding.
My contribution is the only reason Emily was approved for the treatment.
She will go without her surgery. Without her transplant.
She will die, Nathan. She will die at twenty years old. ”
I’m shaking with anger. My vision’s turned black. The only thing I can feel is this all-consuming rage. I want him to die. I want him to die painfully, and I want to be the last fucking face he sees.
“What. Do. You. Want.”
“It’s simple, Nathan. There is a woman I want you to meet. I want you to court her. Date her. Make her fall for that…charming personality of yours.”
“What the fuck?!” Asher and I say at the same time. “No. No way. Why the hell would you want me to date some random woman? Why does that matter to you?”
“The why of it is not important right now, Nathan. Is your stubbornness and your…obsession with that sewer rat from high school really worth your sister’s life?”
This is never going to end. As hard as I fight, he will always beat me. He’s never going to stop hurting the people I love. He’s never going to stop controlling my life. He’s always going to get exactly what he wants.
“Why do you hate Ellie so much?” I whisper, not sure he can even hear me through the phone.
“I don’t hate Ellie, Nathan. She’s irrelevant to me. The moves I make in life are to benefit me, and only me. You could learn a lot from me, son.”
“Don’t call me that. Ever. Again.” His only response is to laugh.
That’s when I feel it. This other part of me, buried deep down in my soul.
It’s dark, and it’s ugly. It’s stirring to life and I’m powerless to stop it.
There is a storm growing inside me, and its only prey is on the other end of this phone.
I push it back, but I feel it tingling beneath my skin.
I won’t let it out. Not yet. Not until I have what I need.
Once I do? I’m going to unleash this monster within me.
I’m going to let it loose. I’m going to take him right to his target.
Nathaniel Westin.
In the meantime, my sister is going to get better. I’m going to do what Nathaniel asks.
And when the time is right…
I’m going to make him wish he never created me.
“What’s her name?” I ask, preparing to break my vow to Ellie for the first time in six years.
“Katie Nolan.”