Page 5 of Hacker Auction

“I bet your wife inherited it from her father.”

Relief washed over me, knowing my son would never meet his narcissist dad. My ancestors held tons of land in England. The government paid them monthly to use it. We still got huge checks each year from the municipalities in England. My grandparents set up a trust years ago. Mom gets fifty percent of the yearly check, and the other fifty percent is divided between Raphael and me. I had more money than I would ever know what to do with, but I also wanted to work and do good in the world.

Dad watched Calvin for a minute. The man squirmed in his chair.

“Nope, but it really doesn’t matter because you will never understand what it’s like to have a woman standing next to you. Only a weak man can’t ask for assistance. As for these lawsuits, the hospital is no longer going to back you. Effective immediately, you no longer have privileges at this hospital, and we are turning everything over to the medical board for review.”

When I glanced to the side, I didn’t expect Calvin to be grinning. “Your name might be on a wing of the hospital, but I run this place. I have things on this place that make it impossible for you to fire me.” He tapped his finger on the chair. “I think it’s time the hospital promotes me to Chief of General Surgery.”

Dad reached into his drawer and tugged out an envelope. “Oh, you mean the blackmail you had on the doctors and administrative staff? You know that money you laughed about—the billions my wife has. You can hire some really good hackers and investigators with that kind of money. Each of the doctors you set up we were able to clear, and the ones you did have stuff on, you helped us clean house. What I really liked was when my guy dug up the debt you are in. Gambling was an awful way to spend the money my daughter gave you. I wonder what you’re going to do about the debt you owe this month to your bookie. Don’t forget. You will be battling your own cases going forward.”

Calvin jumped out of his chair and turned toward me. “You did this. I’m going to come after my son and make you pay for this.”

My stomach dropped thinking about my boy being subjected to this monster.

“I don’t think you understand, Calvin. I know every secret you have. Think about that one you don’t want the world to know. The one you are worried will get out. If you even consider looking at Rachelle the wrong way, I’ll make sure the world knows what kind of monster you are.”

Calvin’s face paled. “You can’t…”

Dad steepled his fingers together. “Try me. I want you out of my office. I suppose you don’t want your secret out. You need to be out of this state by tomorrow.”

His hands were shaking. “If I leave, you won’t let my secret out?”

Dad nodded once, and Calvin practically ran out of Dad’s office. When the door slammed behind him, I turned toward Dad, wanting to know what he did. “Spill it, Dad.”

“One thing I learned to do over the years is to watch people. The ability to tell when they were keeping something from me made it easier for when complications came up during surgery. I look for tells. As for his secret—I have no clue what it really is, but after reading his personal file, I knew it had to be bad.”

For the next hour, Dad and I talked about the hospital and all the doctors he planned to relieve of duty. He also explained how Calvin fabricated photos of my attending, making it look like he had an affair so he would get rid of me. I’d met my attending’s wife a few times, and she was very jealous. Dad said he worried she would believe the photos and he would lose his kids. I understood how he did what he needed to keep close to his kids.

When my stomach growled, I looked down at the time, it was almost one. “Hey, Dad, you want to go get a sandwich across the street.” There was a little deli I loved to go to.

Dad shook his head. “Mom wants to talk to you.” As if on cue, his phone lit up. “She’s at the sandwich shop waiting.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Two setups in one day.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Dad held up his hand but didn’t cover up his smile.

One thing about money, my parent’s house was so big I had my own wing, and my parents respected my privacy. For the last week, I used my son’s teething as an excuse not to assist with the next charity event. But I knew my mom wanted to discuss the fact I hadn’t gone out on my date, I had passed the month deadline, or she was going to corner me about telling Betty from accounting I went on the date and to process the funds to the charity.

Yep, Mom was going to make me answer her. How could I explain every night I went to bed with a fantasy about the sexy man I’d bid on? I almost melted into a puddle outside the country club. No way I could make it through a date and not fall in love with him.

So I didn’t temp myself. I’d thrown his number in the trash the second day after the auction. I’d almost called him on my way home and set up the date, but it would have been dumb. No way a man that sexy would want to date me—a single mom with more curves than most.He reminded me of the men I went to school with. Extremely good looking with the ability to have any woman fall at their feet.

I couldn’t dodge her anymore. “I’m going.” I stood and looked back at Dad. “Thank you, Dad. I know you did all this for me. Let’s have coffee tomorrow, and we can talk about this more.”

Dad nodded, and I left his office. The girl behind the receptionist desk nodded as I passed. With each floor, I went down the elevator filled with more nurses and doctors. A few smiled at me, others I’d never met before looked forward. The doors opened again, and everyone filtered off, meanwhile, a blond with boobs I swore were going to rip her shirt open stepped onto the elevator.

She smacked her lips together before she looked at me a second time. “Aren’t you Rachelle Carlton?”

“Yes, I don’t think we met before.”

“Oh, we haven’t, but I’ve heard the stories about how you killed a mom and her baby. I’m not sure how you can show your face in this hospital.”

My mouth hung open in shock. The doors to the ground floor opened and I stepped out. Not sure if I should even reply to the vile woman. She didn’t give me a chance as her whiney voice rang out. “Security. You need to arrest this woman. Dr. Cobb has a restraining order against her, and she was harassing him.”

Two security guards rushed across the main lobby. Everyone around us stopped and watched. A few even had pulled out their phones and recorded. When the security guard reached me, he wrapped his hands around my wrist. “Ma’am, you need to come with us.”

I tugged at his grip. “Sir, there is a misunderstanding.”

---