Chapter 23
“Are you telling me you can’t handle this teeny tiny, small request?”
When Ursula showed up at my office unannounced, I knew I was in for a shit show of a day.
Normally, I’d explain to my clients that they needed to book a meeting and then send them on their merry way. But given that my whole independence rode on Ursula’s business, I sat and listened to her latest list of demands.
“I don’t see what the issue is,” she continued while inspecting her pearl-polished fingernails—those puppies were sharpened to the point they resembled talons. “It’s not like I am asking for much.”
What planet did this woman freaking live on?
Her idea of a teeny, tiny, small request was my fucking nightmare. Once again, her indecisiveness meant I was straight back to square one with her event.
“Well, the major issue with changing the venue,” again, “will mean you’ll lose the deposit, especially this close to the event.”
Ursula shrugged. “That’s not a concern.”
Of course it wasn’t.
Ursula Melnyk was born into wealth; it’s all she’s ever known. Before his political career, her father owned a major chain of resort hotels. The Serene Springs Resorts were scattered across the globe.
He sold his company for an eye-watering amount, ensuring he never had to think about money again, before entering the world of politics.
His wealth allowed Ursula a life of luxury, a life where anything she wanted was a mere click of her fingers away.
She built a social media empire on that money, raking in sponsors who bent over backward to be associated with her family name.
And whenever her father pushed her into the arms of her now husband, Demetrie Melnyk, the former three-time world champion F1 driver for Apex Saintz, Ursula obliged.
The pair were social media royalty and one of the most elite couples in New York.
“Money aside, we may run into issues finding somewhere to accommodate a party this size.” I flicked through my binder, scoring out the latest venue I now had to cancel. “The event is in less than three months, and I’m not sure we will find somewhere better.”
“You don’t need to look anywhere else. We already know where we want the party.”
Why did I get the feeling I wasn’t going to like her answer?
“Demetrie wants the best for his little dove, so he wants us to move the party to the Monarch Club.”
“Monarch,” I repeated slowly. “As in the billionaire club in Canada?”
“Ontario, yes.”
I swallowed my groan.
She may as well have asked me to try and organize the party on the moon. I had no connections with anyone in Canada, never mind the billionaire’s retreat.
At this rate, I needed a freaking miracle to get anywhere near the club.
Vibrations rattled across the table, my phone bursting to life with a withheld number. But I knew better than to take it while dealing with Ursula.
Tapping my pen against the open binder, I tried to remain calm. I tried not to think about the money I’d lose if I didn’t pull this whole thing off for her. “Ursula, the thing is—”
She cut me off with a pointed look. “Out of the dime a dozen of organizers in this city, I hired you for a reason, Livi. I have every faith that you will make this happen.”
What was it with people having blind faith in me?
First Elliott, now Ursula.
Heat crept into my face, my stomach practically flipping over itself as my thoughts floated to Elliott and the kiss we shared at the fundraiser.
Compared to our first kiss, our second was softer and less rushed.
I told myself the only reason I kissed him was that his boss was watching from the sidelines, but truthfully, I wanted to kiss him.
Honestly, if I didn’t still have the little tingles dancing on my lips every time I replayed that moment, I would have thought it a dream.
A sweet, core-aching dream that left me wanting more.
“Look, if you aren’t cut out for this, there are others who would break their own spines to work for me,” Ursula said matter-of-factly. “Say the word and we can go our separate ways.”
All thoughts of Dr. Delicious vanished as I crashed back down to earth.
I couldn’t lose this contract.
I couldn’t lose the $5.5 million.
I couldn’t remain firmly under my mother’s thumb, not when I was this close to getting away.
Opening my mouth to protest, my words fell silent as Kelley opened the door without knocking.
“Livi, there was a call for you. It was urgent; it couldn’t wait.”
“You realize it is rude to interrupt a meeting in such a fashion,” Ursula tutted, side-eyeing Kelley with enough disdain that I physically restrained myself from reaching across and slapping the look off her face.
Kelley ignored her. “The call was from Meadowlands. I’m so sorry, Livi, but you need to go there now.”
It’s weird that when something bad happens in life, everything around you moves in slow motion. As if life itself was giving you extra time to mentally prepare for the steaming runaway train of bad news tunnelling straight for you.
Abandoning Ursula, I apologized to her on my way out with the promise that I’d make whatever she wanted work.
I ran outside, straight to my car, but lo and behold, the universe decided that today was truly going to be a colossal fucking shit show.
My car refused to start.
Fuck my fucking life.
“You have got to be kidding me! FUCK!” I screamed, hands slamming on the steering wheel. “Start, you piece of shit! ?Por favor, empieza!”
Grabbing my phone from the depths of my knitted lemon cardigan, I tried to call Mal.
Straight to voicemail, because of course it did.
Ha! Good one, universe! You really got me there, again!
Tears blurred my vision, my chest tightening by the second as all thoughts rushed to Nicholas. He was likely dying, that was why they called, right? That’s why they wanted me to rush over, because he didn’t have any more time left.
And at this rate, he was going to die all alone.
I promised I’d be there for him.
I promised we’d have the father-daughter relationship we both always yearned for.
Okay, calm down.
Inhaling deeply, my bottom lip trembled.
Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Freaking inhale…
I was about to lose the one piece of family that loved me without condition.
Stay fucking calm.
Exhaling slowly, I brought my phone to my ear and called the only person who I knew would show up without question.
He answered on the first ring. “Hey, Peaches.”
The most unladylike, almost animalistic sob responded as the tears blinding me decided enough was enough and broke free.
“Livi? What’s going on?” Elliott’s panicked voice sounded a million miles away.
I tried to talk, tried to catch a breath, but all I could do was sob.
“Hey, try and take a deep breath for me, yeah?”
Every muscle, every nerve in my body fired off warning signals to my brain, but my brain couldn’t keep up; it refused to cooperate.
“Are you hurt? Did something happen? I need you to talk to me.”
I needed to get out of the car.
I needed to get to my dad.
I needed to see him before…
“Where are you?”
“Work,” I managed to say. “My car… It won’t start and I need... Necesito que todo se detenga.”
“It’s okay, you’re okay,” he soothed, making me cry harder. Dios, why was he always so nice to me? “Stay right there, I’ll be there in ten minutes, okay?”
Not trusting myself to talk, I made a noise that resembled something close to a half-squeak, half-whimper.
Was this it? Was this rock fucking bottom right now?
Because I thought I hit it last year when Daniel left, but this felt different. When Daniel left, it hurt so much that my whole body, even my bones, ached for months on end.
But this pain? This pain was like being flayed from the inside out.
A front door closing echoed down the phone, followed by the sound of footsteps running down a stairwell. “I’m going to stay on the phone with you until I get there.”
Elliott was true to his word and remained on the phone the whole time.
By the time he pulled up beside my car, I knew I looked a complete mess.
Deserting my piece of shit car, I got into his passenger seat. “Can you take me to Meadowlands beside Queensbridge Park?”
Without hesitation, he said, “Of course.”
Elliott’s attention flickered between the road and me, his grip tightening on the steering wheel, but he remained silent as he drove off.
Neither of us spoke the entire journey. I was too focused on not crying in front of him; having him hear me on the phone was humiliating enough. I didn’t want to give him a front row seat to my life falling apart around me.
But as we pulled up at Meadowlands, a fresh onslaught of tears robbed me of my sight.
What if this was the last time? What if the only reason I was here was to say goodbye?
“Do you want me to come in with you?”
Swallowing the rock-sized lump making itself home in my throat, I nodded. “Please.” I don’t think I can do this alone.
Elliott got out of the car, not waiting for any explanation, and opened my door. Offering his hand, he didn’t push me; he simply waited until I was ready.
What if I was already too late?
What if he died without anyone there to hold his hand?
What if….
Stop. This isn’t helping.
Taking his hand, the heat of his palm seeped through mine and acted like the anchor I so desperately needed. I held onto Elliott, weaving my fingers between his like we were two pieces of frayed tapestry trying to come back together.
Delia appeared the second we entered the building. “Oh, Livi sweetheart, we’re so glad you’ve come.”
“What’s going on?” I asked unsteadily. “Is he okay? Has something happened? Please tell me he’s okay?”
“Nicholas hasn’t been too well this week. The doctors believed it to be a viral infection, however his fever spiked overnight, and he took a turn for the worse over the last couple hours,” Delia explained gently.
My whole body trembled. “What does that mean?”
“He had a couple of seizures, and unfortunately, after his last one this morning, he hasn’t woken up. I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
Elliott’s hand tightened around mine.
“With Nicholas having appointed you his power of attorney, the doctors would like to discuss options with you,” Delia continued. “There are decisions to be made, and we can’t do that without you.”
“I have to decide?”
Delia nodded. “That’s what Nicholas wanted.”
I knew this day would come.
I knew it the second I signed that freaking document. Nicholas begged me to sign the moment he started to show signs of getting sick.
He didn’t want some stranger making decisions on his behalf.
He wanted his daughter, his own flesh and blood, to make the right call.
After all, he had no one else but me.
“Can I go and see him first?” I didn’t want to talk to any doctors. I didn’t want to make any decisions. I didn’t want to think about a world where Nicholas didn’t exist yet.
I wanted to see my dad.
Delia motioned toward the rooms with a sympathetic smile. “Of course you can. I’ll let you have some time before I get the doctor.”
Beeping monitors, wires going in and coming out of Nicholas, and the heavy scent of antiseptic stung my nostrils when I entered his room.
Every time I visited Meadowlands, Nicholas appeared weaker. But right now, lying on the bed with a breathing tube under his nose, he looked more fragile than a porcelain doll.
A sharp pain speared through my sternum.
Pulling the seat from the side of the room to his bedside, I sat down and took his pale, thin hand between mine.
I prayed to the god I’d given up believing in to make this right. I begged for a higher power to take pity on me for once, just this once, and to wake Nicholas up.
To bring back the dad I never had.
To give us both a chance at the relationship we never got to experience because of my mother.
Only for splatters of tears on the white bedsheet, I didn’t notice that I’d started to cry again.
Elliott entered the room, his face lined with concern. “Livi—”
“He’s my dad, my real dad,” I sniffed, not bothering to wipe the tears dripping from my cheeks. “Four years ago, I went searching for my biological dad, and I found him.”
He didn’t speak as he came to my side. He squatted, in what had to be uncomfortable for a six-foot-two man, allowing us to be eye-level with each other.
“And now I am going to lose him all over again.” I bit into my bottom lip, urging the sob to remain in my throat. “I don’t think I can do it, Elliott. I can’t say goodbye to him yet.”
“Does anyone else know he is here? Your sister? Your mother?”
I shook my head. “I’m all he has. My mother forbade me from ever going looking for him. She convinced me that he wanted nothing to do with Maya and me.”
A whisper of disgust flashed across Elliott’s face before he could mask it.
“If my mother ever found out that I’d found him, it wouldn’t end well.”
A muscle in his jaw twitched. “You’ve been doing this all by yourself?”
I told myself that one day I’d tell Maya the truth about our dad, but after what she did with Daniel, I couldn’t trust her.
She’d betray me again and tell our mother in a heartbeat.
Even Daniel didn’t know the truth about Nicholas.
The one and only secret I kept from him. My reasoning being that when I mentioned the idea of trying to find him after being diagnosed with PMOS, Daniel told me it was a stupid idea.
He warned me that if I tried to find my birth father, I’d only end up getting my heart broken.
Looks like he was right after all…
“I hate to ask you for anything else,” my bottom lip trembled, “but I need another favor.”
“Livi, you could ask me for a thousand and one favors and I’ll always say yes.”
“You’re going to get sick of saving me one of these days.”
The corners of his eyes softened as he ran his thumb along my cheek, catching the fresh tears. “No matter what happens between us, I’ll always do whatever I can to help you. I promise.”
“Thank you.” I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch. “Can you help me talk to the doctors? You’ll understand all that medical lingo more than I ever will.”
“Of course, whatever you need, I’m here for you as long as you want me to be.”
A small, wobbly smile found its way onto my lips, the pain ripping through me easing for the briefest of moments.
At least, I didn’t have to do this part all alone.