34. Levi
When Levi walked into work the next day, it felt like slipping into a bath of lukewarm water… vaguely unsettling. It wasn’t the staff, who acknowledged him as they always did—with respect, but also a healthy distance. He couldn’t blame them. He was always polite to the people he worked with, but he never engaged with them. Tessa was the only one he usually communicated with on a more relaxed level. So, it wasn’t the staff that made him feel uncomfortable in the clinic. He’d never enjoyed working there, but it had also never felt like an ill-fitting suit.
That’s what it felt like today.
What had changed? Was it him? Or…
It had to be him. Alexis had changed him, or at least she had challenged him to no longer accept the status quo. He couldn’t even put a finger on when it happened. But after the night they spent together, Levi found himself seeing things differently. No, it wasn’t sex that changed him—although, it was a life-altering experience—it was just being with her. Watching her navigate the mystery of her mother’s disappearance, seeing her breaking out of the mould that her life had been gave him pause. She was reinventing herself day-by-day, and by comparison, Levi felt stale.
Tessa jumped to her feet when he approached, her eyes wide with panic.
‘Your mother is waiting for you,’ she mouthed to him.
He nodded and straightened his shoulders. Whatever it was, he would deal with it. He always did, but maybe he would deal with it differently today.
‘Good morning, Mother,’ Levi said as he stepped into the office.
His mother was sitting behind his desk, clicking around on his computer. He didn’t like that. At all.
‘Levi,’ she said, not looking up. ‘I heard Nikki came to see you the other day.’
He held in the sigh of resignation. He should have known he couldn’t keep it from his mother. She had better spies than he did. That wasn’t hard when he didn’t have any spies at all. Tessa didn’t count. She was a terrible spy.
‘She did,’ he replied, crossing his arms. If he couldn’t hide it from her, then he would confront her with it. ‘There’s a problem with the insurance payment. Apparently your… creative accounting practices mean that Nikki is ineligible for the insurance.’
Surprisingly, his mother didn’t look fazed at all. Levi thought for sure she would look at least a little guilty.
‘We don’t have to pay her anything,’ his mother said. ‘She did the treatment against doctor’s advice. She took on the risk of complications by disregarding the recommendation of a medical professional. We were compensating her because she was a valued client, but we have no legal responsibility to her.’
Levi gaped, and his arms fell to his sides. He couldn’t help it. He knew his mother was extremely money-focused, but he didn’t know it was to this extent.
‘You’re willing to risk her exposing it on social media and ruining the reputation we’ve built?’ Levi asked.
Catherine smirked. ‘She won’t follow through on that threat. There is no way Nikki Farnsworth will expose her face looking like that to all her followers. We have nothing to worry about.’
Levi felt sick. His mother was playing Russian roulette with the clinic, and she didn’t even bat an eyelid.
‘Just how many of Jonah’s messes have you cleaned up in the past?’ he asked, not meaning to say it out loud—but now that it was out there, he needed to know the answer. ‘How many times have you covered for him?’
Catherine leaned back in her—Levi’s—chair and smiled up at him. ‘You need to change your billing,’ she said, ignoring his questions.
‘What?’
‘This mess with Nikki has cost the clinic money. You need to make up for the shortfall.’
‘I’m sorry?’ He wasn’t apologising. He was trying to understand exactly what the hell was going on.
‘Don’t give me that look.’ Catherine stood and smoothed her skirt. ‘You are partly responsible for this mess.’
‘The hell I am,’ he growled.
Catherine folded her arms and looked at him coolly. ‘You obviously didn’t make the risks clear to your client,’ she said. ‘If you had, Mrs Farnsworth would not have come in for another treatment so soon.’
‘Hang on a minute,’ Levi said holding up his hand in the universal sign for stop. ‘A minute ago, you were saying we had no responsibility to the client who disregarded doctor’s advice, but now you’re saying it was my fault? And I suppose Jonah is the innocent party here?’
‘You know Jonah can’t say no to any woman who pouts his way,’ Catherine said. ‘And she wouldn’t have even tried to convince him if you had been clear to her.’
‘And Jonah disregarding the notes on her file?’
‘We all know how overly cautious you are. He probably thought you were just being pedantic.’
‘A look at her chart would have shown just how many injections she’d already had,’ Levi argued. ‘If Jonah was any good at his job, he would have known the procedure was compromised.’
‘Regardless,’ Catherine said. ‘Change your billing. We need to recoup some of the damages.’
‘You told me if I went on that blind date, I wouldn’t have to change my billing,’ he retorted.
‘Speaking of that blind date. Have you seen her again?’
‘I don’t think that’s any of your business,’ Levi replied, feeling a sense of whiplash from the rapid change in topic.
Catherine pressed her lips together, a sure sign of irritation. ‘Invite her to family dinner this week. If she comes, I will reconsider the billing issue.’
She didn’t give Levi a chance to respond, sweeping out of the office and leaving him standing there staring after her, speechless. His mother was gaslighting him and leveraging his love-life to get him to participate in the family crime ring. Maybe that comment he’d made to Alexis about his family being the mafia was closer to the truth than he realised. He didn’t think they’d killed anyone… yet.
Levi jammed his hands into his hair and tugged, wanting to yell, but not wanting to alert the rest of the clinic to the family drama. The day had just gone from bad to worse. So much for enjoying the afterglow of his night away with Alexis. It seemed his family were determined to ruin his life however they could.
Levi didn’t even bother goingto his own apartment. He took the elevator up to his floor and then the stairs to the top floor. He knocked on Alexis’ door, and when she opened it, he pulled her into his arms and breathed her in.
She froze for a moment before relaxing against him. Her arms went around him, and she squeezed. It unlocked the tension he’d been carrying around since his run-in with his mother.
‘You okay?’ she asked, her voice muffled in his shoulder. She didn’t pull away, and he appreciated it.
‘I am now,’ he said, taking another deep breath before stepping back, but staying within the circle of her arms. He wasn’t ready to break contact with her yet. ‘I needed to see you.’
She smiled up at him. ‘Yeah?’
He nodded and lowered his head to hers, kissing her gently.
‘Bad day?’ she asked.
Levi just nodded.
‘Anything I can do to help?’
He sighed and pulled her into his arms again. ‘You’re doing it.’
She squeezed him again and let him hold her, not rushing him. He knew he should let her go and go down to his place. He should probably go for a run to get rid of the anxiety he felt, but being with Alexis seemed like a better option.
‘Why don’t you come inside,’ she said, tilting her head up to his. ‘Let me pour you a drink.’
‘What about Evelyn?’
She grinned. ‘I think, by this point, the rules have been irrevocably broken. It’s like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube.’
He pressed a kiss to her forehead and let her pull him into the apartment. She got him settled on a stool at the kitchen counter and poured him a glass of wine.
‘Feel like talking about it?’ she asked as she filled her own glass.
‘Do you want the good news or the bad news first?’
‘Good news,’ she said.
‘There is none,’ he replied morosely. ‘It’s bad news or worse news.’
‘Okay, then bad news.’
‘My mother demands your attendance at family dinner on Friday night,’ he said.
‘Didn’t we kind of expect that?’ she asked.
‘Yeah, but it’s an ultimatum, not an invitation. If you don’t go, I will need to join in on the family activity of fraud.’ He gulped his wine. ‘The family that defrauds the government together goes to jail together.’
‘I don’t have a problem going to dinner with your family. I already know Elias and Chloe. I can’t wait to meet Jonah.’
‘You want to meet my family?’
She shrugged. ‘I’ve heard what a golden child Jonah is. I’m keen to know if it’s true or not.’
Levi rolled his eyes. ‘Doesn’t it bother you that my mother is using this against me?’
‘She can only use it against you if you let her. I would have gone anyway, ultimatum or not.’
He sighed and took another drink before holding out his empty glass for a refill.
‘So, what’s the worse news?’ Alexis asked as she poured the wine.
‘Mother has decided to play hardball with my client. She claims that we have no legal responsibility because the client went against medical advice. She assumed the risk, so we are not liable.’
Alexis frowned. ‘I don’t think it works like that.’
‘Maybe not,’ Levi replied. ‘But I don’t think this is the first time my mother has dealt with a situation like this. She seems very adept at writing fiction and passing it off as fact. And the lawyers will back it up. If my client challenges her, it will get messy, but not for us.’
‘You need to protect yourself. It sounds like your mother would throw you under the bus if push came to shove.’
‘Oh, don’t worry, she already hinted at that. When I didn’t buy the whole ‘the client is responsible’ line, she turned it around on me and made me the bad guy. Apparently, it wouldn’t have happened if I had properly explained the risks.’
‘But you didn’t do the procedure. Your brother did. If she is going down that road, he would be the one responsible.’
Levi shook his head. ‘Jonah is Teflon,’ he said. ‘Nothing sticks to him.’
‘Then we go and see Valentina,’ Alexis said. ‘You need to cover yourself, or you could end up taking the blame for everything.’
Levi sighed. He’d been on the fence about pursuing legal advice. He’d wanted to keep the peace in his family, but to what extent was he willing to go? Alexis was right. His mother would lump it all at his feet if it came down to Levi or Jonah. In the past, he may have even gone along with it, but not anymore. Maybe keeping his family together wasn’t the most important thing in his life now. Especially not when that family wouldn’t think twice about letting go of him.