Page 74 of Toxic Salvation
“Kovan is different,” I hear myself protesting. “Our father actively participated in the ring. Kovan is trying to destroy it.”
“Is that what he told you?”
“I found proof, Waylen. Documents, spreadsheets, termination letters. He’s been working to dismantle the entire operation for months. He’s close to finishing it now, which is why Ihor and Jeremy are getting desperate.”
He raises an eyebrow. “And you trust this proof you found?”
“Yes, I do.”
Waylen sighs, a sound that seems to come from deep in his chest. “Okay, then.”
“But… there’s more.”
“More?” He stares at me. “Jesus, Vesper. What else could there possibly be?”
“It was Kovan’s father who started the ring. Ihor was his right-hand man. And together… they recruited Dad.”
Waylen shakes his head slowly. “And the plot thickens.”
“Wait; I’m not finished. When Dad got sick, Kovan’s father was going to have him killed. Genrikh basically gave Dad an ultimatum: Refuse all treatment, including my liver donation, or watch his entire family die.”
Waylen goes very quiet. Not the kind of quiet that means he’s thinking—the kind that means something inside him just broke.
“No,” he says finally.
“No?”
“I mean—yes and no.” He coughs, like the words are getting stuck. “It’s complicated.”
“Yeah,” I mutter, “because that clears things up.”
An elderly woman approaches with her cart, and we both step aside. But there’s no way this conversation stops now. We’re too far in.
“Do you remember the day Dad died?”
That familiar ache passes through my chest. It’s duller today, probably buried under everything else I’m feeling.
“Of course I do.”
“He sent you to the cafeteria to get something to eat.”
I nod. “I hadn’t eaten in days. He was worried about me. He told me he wouldn’t die until I got back.”
“I sat by his bed after you left, and we talked. He was really weak, but I still remember it as one of the best conversations we ever had.”
Goosebumps rise along my arms. “You never told me that.”
“Because it was my last memory of him.” Waylen’s face is ashen. “We had a moment where he spoke to me the way he’d always spoken to you. And selfishly, I wanted to keep it to myself. I wanted to know what it felt like to be the golden child for once.”
“Waylen.” I reach out and grab his forearm, squeezing tight. “He loved you.”
“I know that. But I also know he loved you just a little bit more. I don’t blame him for it. I don’t blame you, either. The two of you had medicine in common. You shared a passion that I couldn’t fake even if I tried.”
“Except we didn’t have medicine in common,” I say bitterly. “He was butchering his patients, carving them up for parts and making millions from it. I know I can’t afford to judge him?—”
“Don’t you dare compare what you did for Mom with what Dad did.” Waylen’s interruption is fierce. “Those two things aren’t even in the same universe. Yes, what you did was unethical, but what he did was unforgivable. And he knew it.”
“Did he say something to you about it?”
