“I have a lot of sponsors. They make donations to this fund of money that I use for those patients. A lot of those sponsors are former patients of mine, but also members of the community, patients of my father, stuff like that.”
“What happened to that fund after you left?”
“I tried to refund everyone, but nobody wanted it. I gave it to my father so he could use it for his patients, but he didn’t use it either because he has his own financial sponsors. So, I imagine it’s just sitting there.”
“That’s good news for Mr. Torres.”
“Yeah…”
“Speaking of Mr. Torres…should I book your first appointment?”
My eyes immediately dropped, terrified of having that kind of intimacy with a patient again. I spent a lot of time with my patients and developed a deep bond with them, and that made my surgeries more challenging because the person on the table had become a friend. I’d been criticized for it by my colleagues, and after losing Allen, I realized they were right.
“Dex?”
I lifted my chin and looked at her again. “Not right now.”
Her eyes slowly filled with disappointment. “Dex, I don’t need to remind you that this man is on borrowed time…”
I closed my eyes at the reminder. “I already know exactly what he needs, how I would handle that operation, but I’m just not ready. I can’t force it, Sicily.”
She gave a slight nod in understanding. “Alright. Then let’s start slow.”
21
Sicily
When Cleo told me they got Dex an apartment in Manhattan, I assumed they meant a real apartment, like my apartment.
But no, they had a whole different definition of the word.
Because the place was more like a luxury penthouse.
It had serious square footage, three bedrooms, a full kitchen, a dining room, and a living room that could hold enough people for a major holiday party. One look at it made me envious that I didn’t have billionaire parents who would give me everything I could ever possibly need at the drop of a hat, but it also made me a little fearful because Dex wouldn’t be happy when he found out.
He was technically my boss, but Cleo was like my other boss, so I followed her orders over his. I brought the designer into the space so the custom furniture could be ordered, along with the paintings and the sculptures. It would take a few weeks for everything to come in, along with the rugs, and whenever he was ready to see it, hopefully he would be so pleased with the way it looked that he wouldn’t be pissed at me.
After the long day, I lay on the couch in my pajamas, snacking on a box of cookies I got from the grocery store along with a bottle of wine. My new job was more demanding than my previous one, but I also got a lot more fulfillment out of it. The more time I spent with Dex, the more I realized how honored I was that my job was to make him be the best he could be—and I got paid for it.
I was about to fall asleep on the couch even though it wasn’t even eight yet, when a knock sounded on my door. I stirred from the couch and threw my hair out of my face before I marched to the door. With sleepy eyes, I peered through the peephole, expecting to see a solicitor or maybe a friend, but it was Vince.
Fucking Vince.
Adulterer. Liar. Jackass.
I could just walk away, but seeing his face pissed me the hell off. I flung the door open and ignored the sad look in his eyes, the slouch of his shoulders, the defeated posture of his broken frame. “I don’t know how many more times I can say it, but I despise you. I want nothing to do with you. Please leave me alone and go home to your wife. Wife.” Her tearful voice still haunted my dreams to this day. This whole nightmare was months in the past, but it was so traumatic that I still hadn’t gotten over it. I woke up one morning, thinking I would be getting engaged to the man I loved, and instead, I found out he was a goddamn fraud.
“She’s not my wife anymore. We’re divorced.”
That didn’t dissolve my rage. “If you think your wife leaving your cheating ass is going to get us back together—”
“I left her.”
I shook my head, chewing the inside of my lip.
“I left her for a lot of reasons, and it was the right thing to do. I wasn’t happy anymore, and my adultery is a symptom of a bigger problem. I’m not some serial cheater who just goes around and has affairs. It happened because I was unfulfilled, unhappy, and it was time for both of us to find happiness—”
I cut him off by holding up my hand. “She was not unhappy. It was obvious in her voice that you’re the man she loves, that she still loves you despite what you did. What actually happened was you decided to abandon ship because things got hard. Don’t fucking stand there and lie to me.”