Page 42 of The Marriage Negotiation

"Our licenses haven't been approved yet," I pointed out. Granted, our state exams were only two weeks away, but we still couldn't practice medicine in the state until we had those nifty little pieces of paper.

"This all hinges on you getting your license in New York," Spencer said. "It also wouldn't hurt to get it for a few of the surrounding states as well."

Might as well, although that meant a whole lot more studying. Medical practice was pretty much the same, but each state had different regulations that needed to be followed.

It could be a real pain sometimes.

"Here's what we propose for you and Zaq." Jake handed me a black leather bound folder. "If you agree, we can get started right away. I figure it will take a couple of months to get everything set up and we may need your input on some of it. Your experience as a hospital administrator will come in handy for that."

I flipped open the folder and started reading over the proposal Jake had prepared. Zaq leaned in close so he could read along with me.

My jaw dropped when I got to the salary listed. I glanced up, staring at Jake. "A million dollars a year? Isn't that a little excessive?"

Jake's eyebrows lifted. "You're arguing about the salary?"

Well, when you put it like that... "No, not exactly, but I only made a hundred and fifty thousand a year in Texas. A million dollars seems like a lot."

"Look, Patty," Jake started. "The people you will be on-call for? Most of them are millionaires, some even billionaires. The amount of money each one of them would contributing to a fund to take care of your salary is like pocket change to them. I doubt they'd even miss it."

On the surface, the deal they were offering us was a dream. A completely decked out clinic, a million dollar salary, and not having to deal with patients all day long or hospital administrators.

"What's the catch?"

There had to be one.

Jake smiled. "The confidentiality agreement is iron clad. If you broke it, you could only wish for jail time."

"You know there would be some things that had to be reported, right?"

Jake nodded. "Anything that has to do with the medical needs of a patient as set by the state guidelines is acceptable.More than that..." Jake shook his head. "Stay away from reporters."

Zaq snorted as he sat back in his seat. "Like I want reporters in my life."

"Reporters aren't always bad," Delancy said, speaking for the first time. "I even have a few on speed dial."

"You're married to a mobster," I pointed out. "Why would you be speaking to reporters?"

Wasn't that bad for business? And his husband's ability to stay out of prison?

Delancy smirked. "Sometimes, you need a reporter to spin a wild tale, even if it's not a complete lie."

Alejandro chuckled. "Delancy is a master at taking the truth and twisting it to say what we want it to say. He doesn't lie, but he's very good at making people see what we want them to see."

When I glanced at Delancy, the man wagged his eyebrows at me.

"Alejandro gets invited to all of the social events of the season because the public sees him as a great philanthropist, strong business owner, and the grandson-in-law of the legendary businessman Delancy Matisse. Very few people actually know what he really does for a living."

After saying that and making me wonder if he was Batman, Delancy sat forward and grew serious. "There is another part of this that I want to discuss with you, a part that comes strictly from me and would be paid on a case-by-case basis."

"I'm listening."

"I belong to an organization that helps battered men and women escape their abusers. Most of them—"

I held up my hand. "Say no more. I'm in. Except for the cost of medicine, I won't charge you anything to treat them."

I'd seen enough battered men and women pass through my hospital to know there was a need out there for caring doctorsthat wouldn't look the other way or return the victims to their abusers. If I could help Delancy save a few of them, I was all in.

"Before you agree, you need to know that the work I do is for people that can't escape their abusers through normal channels, like say if the abuser is a police officer or something. My organization helps them escape, get the help they need, get the evidence to take their abusers to trial, and then get them set up somewhere that they can start a new life."

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