Page 48 of The Right Kind of Wrong

When Carter and I made it back to the waiting room, Hannah was on her phone while Nathan had his head in his hands. It was clear who was more worried. He stood up when he saw me, and Hannah hung up quickly.

“How is she?” Nate asked, though the defeat in his voice said he already knew the answer.

“Nothing has changed,” Carter replied.

“Your parents should be here in a bit,” Nate said, placing his hands on my shoulders. I nodded numbly before taking a seat on the same chair I had before. Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes, hearing the quiet voices of Nate and Carter talking. Hannah joined in later, but I didn't care what they said. All I wanted was for this all to be over.

My heart was being squeezed and there was no way of freeing myself from grief's painful grip.

“There you are.” My head snapped up at the voice. My parents, Charles and Elizabeth Carson, had arrived.

Mom wore a beautiful dress, her long brown hair straightened while my dad was still dressed up as if he'd been at the office. Always so put together. I stood up, ran to my mother, and hugged her.

“Mommy,” I said. “Mommy, thank God you're here.”

She pulled back, cupping my face in her hands. Her eyes showed nothing but disapproval. My heart clenched.

“My God, Evie. You're a mess. Go fix yourself up.”

My dad simply placed his hand on my shoulder, squeezing it before they both greeted my sister with a hug. I shivered, watching them start talking about how Nana's situation would affect the company. Even though Nana didn't actively participate, she still was a shareholder. They discussed how this would affect pending deals with clients and how much of a set back it would be.

Nathan gritted his teeth, hands in his pockets in an attempt to hold back. That was my family. They were my parents.

And I had never been so ashamed of them.

How could they even consider themselves human with the way they were behaving? They weren't humans they were vultures.

“You know she may wake up, right?” I asked, steadying my voice. They wouldn't know how much this was killing me.

Mom turned to Hannah, her favorite daughter, the mature one. The one that knew how to behave appropriately and handle business with class, something that according to her I clearly lacked. “What did the doctor say?” she asked my sister. What I had to say didn't matter.

“She's on a vent, mom.” Hannah had the nerve to sound annoyed. “She's not going to make it through but we were waiting for you because we figured you're her proxy.”

“Charles, get legal,” my mom stated coldly. With the bandage ripped away from my eyes, I could see now where my sister got her lack of emotions from. “Tell them we need to figure out whether or not my mother has a living will or a proxy.”

“It's not necessary,” Carter said, pressing his lips together.

My dad raised his eyebrows, glancing over at the man who they hadn't even bothered greeting. His gaze focused on my sister's husband who sighed, extending a hand and taking a small package of papers from underneath his jacket. I frowned, confused.

“I'm her power of attorney,” Nathan said raising up the papers and handing them to my parents. Everyone's eyes widened in disbelief, including my own.

“You are?” I asked, feeling relieved that none of the others standing in front of me would decide whether or not she'd live. If it was up to them, they'd unplug her that very moment, hoping to keep the money that she had and move on with their lives. I trusted that Nathan would make the right decision.

Nathan gave me a sad smile.

My mother snatched the paperwork from his hands, skimming over it with anger. “Why the hell would she choose you?” she hissed, keeping her voice low but unable to hide the resentment.

“She knew who'd have her best interest at heart, I suppose,” Nathan said with a raised eyebrow. Briefly, I locked eyes with him but he broke the connection, exhaling as he looked through the papers. “A week. We'll be giving Anne a week to wake up. If she doesn't, we're taking her off of life support.”

“No,” I said, my voice breaking. “No, how could you just give her a week? She suffered a fucking—”

“Evelyn!” My dad raised his voice, preventing me from speaking again. “Watch your language. You’re in a public place.”

“I don't give a damn about where we are,” I hissed. “She's my grandmother and all you all are looking out for is Nana's money. I'll be damned if I allow that.”

My mother looked at me as if I was the stupidest person on Earth. “Evelyn, we have business to move forward with and we can't do that unless we've settled this.”

“I. Don’t. Care. You can lose the goddamn company. It doesn't matter.” I turned to Nathan. He had to give Nana more time. “A week is too little, Nate,” I said, stepping closer to him. “Please, please give her more time.”

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