Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
“You’re fucking selling her.” He held up his palm before she could respond. “And of course you’ve had conversations already. I know your reputation. It’s about money for you, not the science.”
“First of all, how about you not put words in my mouth. Secondly, how’d you like a bona fide clinical trial? There are your patients—as well as a pathway to FDA approval. Unless you thought we were going to sell her on the black market? The ultimate end game cannot be covert.”
Gus frowned and looked at his glass as if it were a crystal ball. She knew what he was thinking.
“You’re going to have to give her up at some point.” C.P. shrugged. “You’ve grown her up well, but she’s going to have to go on her own.”
Staring across her desk, the lack of clutter on the slick, shiny surface made the lacquered piano-black top seem like it was a portal she could fall into, a black void ready to swallow her.
“You’re going to have to let her go,” she repeated.
There was only the slightest catch to her voice, and she was proud of that. Funny how for all her own life’s work, all the money, all the businesses, all the political maneuvering, this one moment of composure, in front of this particular man, seemed like a culmination she had been working toward.
When Gus finally looked at her again, the expression on his face was remote. And then his lids lowered a little.
At first, she thought he was going to get aggressive. But then his eyes went on a wander, traveling down to the top of her silk blouse.
As a flush of heat went through her, C.P. brought a hand to the mother-of-pearl button. Which was ridiculous. Like she expected the fastenings to spontaneously flip open?
He lifted his stare to meet her own. And then he abruptly got to his feet and returned to the bar with the glass and the bottle. He put them out of alignment with the display and came back to her.
Gus pegged her with his forefinger, like the thing was a gun. “You’re either lying to me or you’re lying to yourself. You’ve decided to sell, and I want to know where she goes.”
“I have made no decisions about anything, and in any event, I can’t promise you—”
“You’re going to tell me because you owe me that. It could be another five years before she comes back, and that drug is my baby, no one else’s. Not even yours.”
“And if hiring you isn’t my decision? Then what. Are you going to retaliate? Expose me? You’ve been just as illegal as I have in all this.”
“But I have less to lose.”
As he turned away and headed for the exit, she said sharply, “Don’t make an enemy out of me. Neither of us will enjoy what happens next.”
At the doorway, Gus paused and glanced over his shoulder—and for the first time, she saw the man, not the scientist. He was as tall as she was, which was saying something as she was six feet, two inches in heels. With his Afro adding even more height, and his shoulders being so broad, he was an imposing presence. This was not a news flash. What was a surprise was that for this moment, he took up so much space not because of his intellect… but rather because his hooded eyes and body were registering for the first time.
“I’ll say that right back at you, Phalen. You will include me in your plans, whether you want to or not. That’s where you and I are—and if that pisses you off, it’s okay. I won’t be in your face anymore after you sign her over.”
In the wake of his departure, C.P. pivoted around and stared out the window again. As her mind threatened to dissolve into chaos, she remembered what she’d seen on the security feed while she’d been on her phone call. Daniel had wandered out to the forest there a little while ago—only to come steaming back across the meadow in the wake of a beautiful wolf with a stripe down its back.
Or Lydia’s back, as the case was.
Reaching behind her, she hit the release under the desk, and as the monitor and keyboard elevated out of their hidden compartments on the surface, she faced them. With a sense of disassociation, she accessed her secured email, and called up the results of the scans that had been sent to her about twenty minutes before her call. She had to force herself to be objective, and it was a while before she was able to be.
It was such a shame, really.
Without a miracle, the patient in question was going to die. And there was nothing she could do about it.
SIX
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Daniel woke up to the scent of hot coffee. As he opened his eyes, he was astonished to be in bed—not because it wasn’t where he had started the night, but rather because it was where the dark hours seemed to have ended. The last couple of days had begun not with Folgers in his cup, but his head in the bowl.