Page 41 of The Marriage Negotiation

"Sit, sit." Jake gestured to the small seating area before taking one of the lone chairs. "I asked Spencer here because of his experience in the medical field."

Made sense.

"Joe will be joining us in a few minutes," Jake explained. "He had a couple of phone calls to make. Lucas might be dropping by as well if he can get out of his meeting early."

I nodded my understanding. "Joe had mentioned to me when we met up a few months ago, that there might be a need for an on-call doctor. We never discussed any specifics, just that there might be a need."

"When Jake mentioned the idea to us," King said, "we felt there was some merit. An on-call doctor is needed by a lot of us due to the nature of our businesses. Having the money we do, it tends to put us in danger. Having someone we could call day or not would be beneficial to all of us, but it needs to be someone we can trust and have complete confidence in."

I glanced between King and Alejandro and then over to Jake. "What am I missing?"

"King runs Queens."

Ah. That explains it.

"Alejandro is running Brooklyn," Jake said simply. "Granted, he is in the process of trying to move most of his business to thelegal side of things, but as it stands now, it wouldn't be a good idea for us to go running to a mobster's doctor husband every time we sneeze."

My jaw dropped as I slowly panned to Alejandro. "I thought you wanted out of that line of work."

"I do," Alejandro stated, "which is why I am trying to take things legal, but it's a slow process and I still have people I have to report to."

"Alejandro recently opened a security firm," Jake continued. "His company does everything from training bodyguards to security for your home, office, and vehicle. It seems to have been pretty lucrative so far."

"And I hope it stays that way," Alejandro said, "or Spain is going to be very upset with me."

"I'm feeling very lost right now," Zaq stated. "I only understand about half of what you are saying."

I pressed my lips thin for a moment before saying, "Alejandro is mafia, Zaq. He runs Brooklyn."

"No, I figured that part out," Zaq replied quickly. "I'm confused about the whole going straight thing. Can you do that in the mafia?"

"Yes and no," Alejandro said. "My superiors don't really care how they get their money as long as they get it. If I can find legitimate ways to send them money, then I don't have to worry about them coming for me or the police arresting me." He smiled at the man at his side. "I'd rather spend my golden years with Delancy than behind bars."

I could see the appeal there.

I glanced at King. "Your husband is a doctor. Why not just use him as your on-call doctor?"

"While I am licensed to practice medicine in several states," Spencer began, "it's not always convenient for me to treat people. I can in an emergency, and have, but its hit and miss."

"So, it's not convenient for Spencer to treat people because of your line of work?" Zaq asked.

"It's a security risk for both Spencer and the patient," King explained. "Spencer is not allowed to leave the estate without at least four guards accompanying him. There are too many people out there that would try to use him to get to me."

"It's a pain in the ass to get them gowned up and sterile enough for a surgery room," Spencer added before glaring at King. "And he won't let me go anywhere without them."

King's arm tightened around the colorful man. "For good reason and you know it."

Spencer's eyes rolled again. "Maybe."

There was a story there.

I wasn't going to ask.

"What we're wanting to set up is an on-call doctor team—you and Zaq—to see to our medical needs," Jake started. "We'd set up a small clinic for you where you could treat patients that needed more extensive tests, but most of it would be house calls."

"What if someone needed surgery or intensive care?" I asked.

"The clinic would be connected to one of the local hospitals so anything that needed more intensive care could be dealt with there, but you'd still be the doctor on record."

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