Page 78 of The Arrogant's Redemption

She stands and lifts her chin like she’s about to challenge me, but then she backs down, realizing the situation. I see her face flush. "That woman . . . the patient . . .”

"Her name is Alexis Gillis. She’s my ex-girlfriend. She had heart surgery and almost ended up back in the ICU because of you. So now you’re going to tell me why the hell you didn’t recognize her after you told me you two met? And more importantly, I want to know why the fuck she panicked when she saw you. What did you do?"

She starts crying and tries to come to me, but I take a few steps back.

"Don’t touch me. If you think your tears are going to work on me, then you don’t know me as well as you think."

I can tell by the way she’s sobbing that Lois isn’t faking. She’s really crying. But I feel no pity.

"I never went to Cape Cod," she confesses, confirming what I’d already suspected. "Jodie was my friend. She told me that someone we knew said you were with another woman in Cape Cod."

"Another woman?I was free, you lunatic! Alexis was never 'the other.'"

"I thought differently."

"Fuck what you thought! How could you interfere in my life like that? Tell me what you did, Lois."

"I told her your fiancée and your child had just died. I told her to back off because I was grieving and I hated her."

"Out."

"LJ—”

"Out of my hospital. You’re banned until further notice."

Lazarus

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

"Marla, can we talk for a minute?"I call out to Alexis’s mother as soon as she steps out of her daughter's room.

Her eyes instantly fill with worry. "Is it about the surgery? Is Alexis okay?"

"Nothing about her recovery. Your daughter’s doing great. If everything keeps progressing like this, she’ll be discharged by the end of the week, just like we planned."

"Then . . . I don’t understand. Is it about the apartment? If you changed your mind . . .” She trails off, avoiding my eyes, and I wonder why. She looks uneasy, like she’s hiding something.

"It’s not about the apartment. I haven’t changed my mind, and I won’t. I just need a few minutes of your time."

She follows me silently into the private elevator that leads to my office floor.

"Please, have a seat," I say, pointing to a chair and taking the one across from her. "Can I offer you something to drink?"

"No, thank you. I need to get back to the hotel."

Again, she looks at me like she’s carrying a secret, and it puts me on high alert. But before I dig into that, I need to find out just how much damage Lois has done. "Did Alexis talk to you today?"

"No. She slept the whole time I was here, and I didn’t want to wake her up."

"The reason I brought you here is because I don’t think your daughter’s strong enough yet to have this conversation herself. My youngest sister went into her room earlier today, looking for me, but the moment Alexis saw her, she got upset and asked me to get her out of there."

"I wish I’d been there. I would have loved to tell your sister exactly what I think of her."

"I know Lois told her lies."

"Lies?"

I nod. "Almost two years ago, I spent a weekend with your daughter at my cousin’s place in Cape Cod."

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