CHAPTER 18
Present Day
The next morning, I woke to the sound of my phone ringing. Groggily, I checked the screen and saw it was Jane calling.
“Hello?” I croaked as I shaded my eyes from the all-too bright sunbeams that were harassing me through the open blinds.
“Ellie, is that you?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“You sound horrible. Is everything ok?”
That’s when all the memories from last night came rushing back to me, hitting me like a tsunami.
“Yeah, I just… I took a few sleeping pills last night because I couldn’t sleep,” I said. “I just woke up.”
“Oh, I see. I’m sorry to wake you, dearie.”
“It’s ok.”
“Listen. I’ll be heading out of town for a few months, but I wanted to see if we could perhaps meet today for lunch.”
“Sure.” I let my head fall into the pillow and my head spun.
“I’ll text you the address and I’ll see you at noon,” she said.
“Ok.” I hung up and glanced at the clock. It was 10:34. Good. I’d have some time to wake up and get my head in the right place. Ha. Head in the right place. It would take a lot longer than one measly morning for that to happen considering the events of yesterday.
I sat up and it was then I noticed how sore I was. Wow. I squeezed my inner muscles and my insides clenched in delight. Yes, I was extremely sore. And yes, it felt very, very good. My body remembered. I remembered. Last night was amazing. And horrible. It was the best night of my life and the worst. And shit… I sure hope the morning after pill worked. Because if it didn’t, I was so screwed.
I shook my head. I’m not going to think about that right now.
Slowly, I dragged myself out of bed and found my way into the shower. I had a killer headache that wrapped around my entire skull. Not only was my head pounding, pretty much every muscle in my body felt like it had been turned inside out. I didn’t realize sex was so physically demanding.
I turned the shower on and stood under the spray until I started to feel myself wake up. Once I was squeaky clean, I dressed in a pair of black shorts and a white blouse. My shoes would have to be flats because my head was still swimming from the sleeping pills.
I stepped out the door at 11:45, and headed to La Rue Restaurant, the place Jane had chosen. It was just a few blocks from my place and so I decided to take the opportunity to walk, hoping my head would be clear by the time I arrived. It was one of those rare Seattle days where there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky and I almost found myself forgetting about the shitstorm Spencer had just put me through.
I stepped into the French restaurant and a young brunette hostess greeted me.
“I’m meeting a friend here, Jane Beauchamp,” I said.
She smiled warmly. “This way, please.” I followed her into the dining area and saw Jane already seated at a small round table for two. A French tune was playing over the speakers and the restaurant smelled of spices and aromas.
Jane stood when she saw me. “There you are, sweet dear.” She hugged me warmly and we sat.
“My, you look tired today. Is everything all right?” she asked.
“Um… yeah.” I looked away and tucked a stray hair behind my ear.
“Uh, oh,” she said.
“What?”
“I know that look. What’s wrong, my dear?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
She eyed me as if she didn’t believe me but decided to probe no further.
“The reason I wanted to meet you is because there is something I think you should know,” she said.
My ears perked up. “Oh?” I drank some of the ice water and waited for her revelation.
“Now, I only bring this up is because I saw you with Spencer King at the Make-a-Wish Foundation fundraiser and again leaving together from the fundraiser last night. I felt it was my responsibility to warn you about him… and I suspect your mother hasn’t been quite forthcoming.”
Jane had always been rather outspoken, but she rarely engaged in gossip. I realized that this must be important, something worth taking into consideration.
The waitress approached with a note pad. “Can I get you started on some drinks?” she asked.
“Just water for me,” Jane said. “But I’m ready to order.”
I hadn’t even looked at the menu. However, I wasn’t feeling like eating at all. In fact, I felt that if I put anything into my belly, I’d vomit. Was it the morning after pill perhaps that was making me feel this way?
“I’ll have the coq au vin,” Jane said.
“Me, too,” I said, not knowing what in the world I was ordering. But it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to be eating, I knew that much.
The waitress gathered up our menus and left.
“Before I tell you,” Jane said. “You must promise to tell no one. Not even your mother.”
I swallowed hard. “I promise.”
She exhaled and her eyebrows gathered in the center. “You cannot date that charlatan, Ellie.”
“We’re not dating. But why not?” I asked.
“Oh, I saw the way he looked at you and he’s no good for you, Ellie. Whatever relationship you have with him, professional, personal, or otherwise, you must terminate it immediately.”
“Ok,” I said, thinking that would be easy because yeah, he’d fired my ass and pretty much dumped me after taking my virginity. Ugh.
She leaned forward and took my hand in hers. “The reason I tell you this is because what he has done is very personal to you.”
“In what way?” I asked.
“You know his mother, Virginia, she died of cancer many years ago, right?” she said.
“Yes.” I remembered his speech and it made my chest squeeze.
“Your father was a doctor. And he was Virginia’s doctor.”
Oh. This was news to me. Was that how my dad knew Spencer’s father? Then a shiver ran through me and I just knew that what she was about to share with me would be much more devastating than I could have ever imagined.
“Your father misdiagnosed Spencer’s mother,” she said. “He sent her for treatment and she only got worse. It wasn’t until Spencer’s father took her to a different doctor that she was diagnosed correctly. But by then it was too late, and she died a few months later.”
My hand hit my chest at the exact time the words, “Oh, my God,” tumbled from my lips. Spencer’s mother died because of my dad? The dots in my mind were connecting at a fast and furious pace. Spencer undoubtedly knew about this. Was that why he treated me so poorly, always scheming for ways to torture me? Did he despise me because I was the daughter of the man who was responsible for his mother’s death? And was that why he said that I couldn’t mean anything to him?
A pit formed deep in my belly and I thought I was going to be sick. Nausea overwhelmed me. I needed to find a bathroom immediately.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Jane said. “Are you ok?”
I stood up abruptly. “Where is the restroom?”
She pointed and I ran into the restroom, locking myself inside. My stomach heaved, and just as my head reached the toilet, I vomited. I hurled again and again, nothing but bile being expelled as I hadn’t yet eaten anything all day. I kept dry-heaving for a while, until I thought I might expel organs. Finally, it stopped, and I slumped to the floor, exhausted. Oh, my God. This was such a mess. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to look Spencer in the eye again. He had known this all along and I was an ignorant player in his game.
Once I’d gathered myself and washed my hands, I headed back into the dining area and sat our table.
“I’m so sorry, dear.” Jane placed a hand on my arm and offered me an empathetic look.
“It’s ok. I took some… uh… some medicine last night and I think that’s what’s making me ill.”
She nodded. “There’s more if you want to hear.”
More? I didn’t know if I could handle more at this point. But I thought I might as well get all the details so I wouldn’t later drive myself crazy wondering what else I didn’t know.
“No, I want to hear,” I said, bracing for whatever it was.
“Your father… he lost his practice…” she said.
“Yes,” I said.
“What you might not know is why he lost his practice,” she said.
“Why?” I asked. Then it dawned on me. “It was Spencer’s doing?”
She nodded, then said, “He sued your father, and as far as I know, the lawsuit is still going on. It would seem he’s out to get everything… including you father’s trust fund… your inheritance.”
My hand covered my mouth, and I let out a gasp. I thought of my dad and all he had suffered when he lost his practice. My parents had never told me what happened, being the private people they were. But it was still going on and here I was completely oblivious to it, to the man who was my greatest threat. And what was worse was that my mother knew all about this and chose to keep this information from me even though she was fully aware that I was working for the bastard. Why?
“And this is why you need to cut all ties with him,” she said. “He’s a vicious man, Ellie. And he is still seeking revenge on his mother. I believe he will until the day he dies.”
This was why I felt he despised me. His agenda was to screw me over as much as humanly possible and that’s exactly what he’d been doing since the day we met. I started to feel nauseous again even though I had no idea how my body would be able to expel anything more from my already emptied state.
The waitress brought us our coq au vin.
“Will there be anything else?” she asked.
“No, this looks lovely,” Jane said. She cut her chicken and took a bite. “Absolute perfection. I’m sure if you get a little food in your stomach, you’ll feel much better.”
I eyed my dish, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that there was no way in hell I’d be able to consume any of it. Even though it felt good to know the truth, this news had devastated me. It was a two-edged sword that I feared would haunt me for the rest of my life.
* * *
After lunch, I headed home. I sat on the couch in the living room for a good hour, trying to process what Jane had told me. I felt like I needed to dodge town for a while so I could get away from the mess of my current life.
That’s when my mom called me. I was still majorly upset at her for the horrible Dr. Fox bomb she had dropped on me the last time we spoke, and with the added information about the lawsuit, I didn’t really feel like talking to her. I let it go to voice mail. When I saw that she left a message, I listened to it.
“Ellie, it’s mom. Listen, it’s a about Rose. Please call me as soon as you get this.”
I could hear the fear in my mom’s voice, and I called her back immediately.
“Hey, it’s Ellie. Is everything ok?” I asked once she’d picked up.
“Ellie, I’m so glad you called. It’s Rose. She hasn’t been home since yesterday and she’s not returning my calls.”
“Oh, my God! What?” I asked.
“She said she was going to a party and I haven’t heard from her since,” she said.
“Did you call the police?” I was imagining the worst, Rose kidnapped… overdosed… murdered… and I grew increasingly frantic by the second.
“Of course, I did,” she said. “But they’re no help.”
“I’m coming to visit,” I said.
“But what about work?”
“It… Spencer fired me,” I said. I heard she was about to protest on the other end of the line so I hurried and spoke. “He was a complete asshole to me and it’s for the best, Mom. Trust me.”
“But what will you do for money?” she asked.
“He said he’d pay me what we had agreed on.” I knew that by telling her I was good on money that it would calm her down. And perhaps now that I wasn’t working for Spencer anymore, she’d open up to me about what cruel things he had done to our family. However, now wasn’t the time to get into that. Right now, we needed to focus on finding Rose.
“Um… tickets…” I opened my laptop and immediately started to search for flights. “I’ll call you once I get a ticket,” I said.
“Ok, good. And thank you. Even if Rose does show up, it will be really good for her to have you here,” she said.
“Let me know if she calls you or turns up,” I said. I was feeling borderline panic-stricken, as the images of Rose’s lifeless body wouldn’t leave my mind.
“I will,” she said.
We hung up, and as I was paying for my plane ticket to L.A., the departure date tomorrow, I dialed Rose’s number. But it went straight to voicemail. Dammit. If she was alive and well, I was going to make her pay and she would wish she were dead.
I got straight to packing, and while I was putting in a load of laundry, my phone pinged. Rose? I ran to my phone that was on the nightstand in my bedroom and to my surprise, saw I had a message from Spencer.
The funds have been transferred to your account. Also, I wanted to see if I could take you out to dinner tonight. ~Spencer
Dinner? He’s asking me out to dinner? Screw him! Now that I knew he had destroyed my father’s practice, my future practice, and was after my inheritance, I was so damn done.
Still, and to my great horror, there was a small part of me that wanted to see him.
My phone rang. And this time, Rose’s number appeared.
“Where the hell are you?” I yelled right as I answered.
“Sheesh. Good to talk to you, too,” she said, sarcasm lacing her voice.
“This is not a good time to have an attitude!” I said. “Mom is worried sick over you, and she’s called the cops and—”
“I just woke up a bit ago, jeez. I spent the night at a friend’s house after the party and I didn’t wake up until just a little bit ago.”
“Did you call mom?” I asked.
“Yes. She told me to call you and said you’re coming to visit. I wanted to say I am excited to see you.”
“Don’t try to guilt trip me,” I snapped.
“Listen. I’m fine. Ok? Are you really coming, though?”
“Will you do better at communicating with her? We were worried sick!”
There was a pause on the other end of the line but then she said, “Yeah. Sure.”
I huffed. “Ok.” I rubbed my forehead and tried to release some of my emotions, which wasn’t easy considering everything I had been through in the past twelve hours. “And as an answer to your question, yes. I’m coming tomorrow.”
“Oh, I’m so glad!” she said. “How long are you staying?”
“I don’t know. We’ll see.”
“Cool. I’ll show you the beach and there’s this really cool dance club downtown and I’ll have to take you to my favorite lunch spot, and you need to meet my new boyfriend!”
“You have a new boyfriend?” I asked.
“Yeah. He’s awesome,” she said.
How was it so easy for her to move on from Wayne? I hadn’t really ever been interested in anyone other than Mr. Dark Knight, and I didn’t know if I’d ever get over him.
“Well, mom’s calling again, so I gotta go,” she said.
“Ok. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
“And make sure you always tell mom where you’re at, ok?”
“I already told you I would,” she said.
“Just making sure.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
After we hung up, I started packing toiletries, and it was then that I remembered Spencer had invited me to dinner.
I stared at my phone as I waited for the washer to finish, trying to figure out if I should reply. I mean, seriously, the nerve! Here he had been torturing me and my family for years because he wanted revenge. Yes, his mother died, and yes, my dad was responsible, but why couldn’t he just leave us be?
Or perhaps the better question was, why couldn’t I leave him be?
I hit the gym to clear my mind because my decision-making skills were seriously lacking. I ran six miles in under an hour, lifted weights until my muscles gave out, and sat in the steam room after for a good half an hour.
As I was walking back to my apartment, Spencer called me. But I didn’t pick up. I still didn’t know what to do. He texted me again.
Please pick up. I want to see you again.
But I ignored that, too. This man just wasn’t healthy for me. He was a true Dark Knight, someone who had literally shattered my heart into a million pieces.
Love was a game to him, and I, like so many other girls, was a pauper to the king. It was disturbing to me how I couldn’t help myself from being drawn to him. I had time and again willingly drowned in his attention, obsessed with the next time he’d grace me… choke me… snuff me out with his darkness.
This wasn’t healthy. This was insanity. I decided then and there to forever cut my enemy out of my life. I didn’t need this drama. I didn’t need this rollercoaster. I didn’t want it. I wanted my Gentleman to find his way to me, and me being so emotionally wrapped up in Spencer made it so I wasn’t free to attract the man who could truly make me happy.
After I finished packing my bags, I ate dinner and drank a glass of wine. I put my pajamas on and watched a few reruns of my favorite sitcom. At 8:19, there was a knock at the door. And somehow, I just knew that it was Spencer who was paying me a visit.
I shuffled my tipsy ass over to the door and peaked through the peep hole. Yup. The goddamn asshole was standing there, and not only that, he was holding a huge bouquet of red roses.
Should I answer? Absolutely not.
No way.
I should pretend I’m not home.
Like I’ve already left for California.
“I know you’re in there,” Spencer said. “Open up. We need to talk.” After a long moment, he added, “Please,”
I squeezed my eyes shut. No. I couldn’t do it. There was too much water under the bridge, too much shit under the bridge for us to ever come to some sort of understanding. He destroyed my family’s practice, a practice I was going to take over one day. He treated me like an enemy since day one all because of something I had no control over… me being the daughter of a man who was responsible for his mother’s death.
“Ellie, goddammit!” He banged on the door a couple of times. Then silence. I heard him mutter something beneath his breath. “Listen,” he said softly. “I know I haven’t exactly been kind to you.”
I rolled my eyes. That was a major understatement.
“But last night…I realized something, Ellie. And that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Shit. Why did he have to go do this now? I was done. 100%. No, 1,000%. He didn’t deserve my forgiveness. He didn’t even deserve to talk to me.
“For what it’s worth… I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the way I treated you. You deserve so much more. I know I’m a messed-up son of a bitch. I know I wronged you…”
Him admitting that made me feel a little less angry at him, although not much. One apology, one admission of what an asshole he was couldn’t make a big dent in the mountains of hell he had put me through.
“Ok. I’m going to leave now,” he said. “Please call when you’re ready to talk.”
I heard him place the roses on the doorstep and then his footsteps vanish down the stairwell. I exhaled a slow sigh of relief and waited a couple more minutes before opening the door. My first instinct was to throw the roses in the dumpster, but the bouquet was the most beautiful I’d ever seen, 50 long-stemmed red roses, all petals perfect in every way.
I closed the door and headed into the kitchen to find a vase. I had no vase, and it dawned on me that I was going to California tomorrow and these roses would just waste away if I left them here.
I headed back into the hallway and knocked on my neighbor’s door—a little old lady who had to be at least 80—and handed her the rose bouquet.
“For being a good neighbor,” I said.
Her crinkly eyes lit up as if I’d just made her entire year. And it comforted me a little to know that even though I wouldn’t be able to appreciate Spencer’s gift, someone would.