Page 8 of Save Me

“Have Millie bring you,” he said.

“She just threw her apron in my face and quit, so don’t count on her to keep quiet about this whole mess. We’re ruined in New Orleans. We can never go back.”

Greg felt sick. The truth of who they were and what they’d done was becoming a painful reality. “I am watching my daughter die, and you’re worried about your reputation. Mother of the Year,” Greg muttered, and disconnected.

And then Millie’s car appeared in the roadway. She braked and jumped out on the run.

“What have you done?” she screamed. “You’re a monster! Both of you! Is she alive?”

“Yes, she’s alive, and you don’t talk to me like that!” Greg shouted.

“I’ll talk to you anyway I choose,” Millie cried. “I don’t work for you anymore, and I’ll tell the authorities what you did.”

Greg flinched, and without thinking started toward Millie, but she was too fast. She was back in her car and flying past them. He watched in dismay as she drove away. Everything Tina said was already coming to pass.

Millie would talk, but she didn’t witness the wreck. Their reputations would be ruined. His lawyer would keep them from any criminal charges, unless Lainie lived to tell another story. But he’d cross that bridge when they came to it.

LAINIE REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS two days later, to the repetitive sound of soft voices and beeps. She didn’t know where she was, or understand what it meant, and slipped back under.

Hours later, she began coming to again, and this time opened her eyes. The light was blinding, and the pain was so intense it hurt to breathe. Her mouth felt funny, and when she licked her lips, they felt swollen. Then she heard someone saying her name.

“Lainie. Lainie, can you hear me?”

She blinked at the stranger who’d just appeared beside her bed.

“Lainie, I’m Dr. Reasor. You’re in a hospital. Do you remember what happened?”

She closed her eyes, trying to think past the pain, when she flashed on running from the house.

“Wreck,” she whispered, then tears rolled. She felt empty. The baby was gone. She choked on a sob.

“No baby?”

He touched her shoulder. “No baby. I’m so sorry. It was a bad wreck.”

“Chasing me,” she mumbled.

Reasor frowned. “Who was chasing you?”

“Daddy.”

Reasor only knew she’d been in a wreck. Not that she was being chased. “Your parents are here. They’ve been waiting for days to talk to you.”

All of the machines hooked to her body began beeping and dinging, as her fingers curled around his wrist.

“No...never...don’t let them...” The darkness pulled her under.

“She passed out,” the nurse said. “What do we tell her parents?”

“That she said no.”

SCANDAL WAS ALWAYS good press. And finding out that even the rich aren’t immune, even better.

When Lainie was finally moved into a private room, her parents were AWOL. She was of age. She didn’t need their approval for her own treatments. But they fully understood that since they broke her in every way possible, they were also liable for the costs of what it took to fix her.

Some days she was so miserable she wished she’d died with her baby, and other days she was so angry, all she could think about was getting even. This morning, she was waiting for Dr. Reasor to make his rounds, because she had questions. And when he and his nurse finally arrived, she was ready.

“Good morning, Lainie. Have you been up and walking this morning?” he asked.

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