“Father—”
“You heard me.”
He turned his nose up as he said sorry. I didn’t believe him.
“My step-father is living in a manner that suggests he has little money.” I ran over the list I had in my head.
Devyn piped up. “And Roy is chummy with Sebastian. He’s the one arranging this merger, so you’d think he’d have done a deep dive into the company’s finances.”
Roy erupted and charged his brother, his eyes no longer his own but that of his beast.
“Enough!” their father yelled as my phone rang.
Dean’s voice blasted out of the device when I answered it. “Your dad’s been rushed to hospital.”
Chapter 28
The phone call that changed everything.
Devyn
The atmosphere in the room shifted in an instant. Silence filled the air as the news was shared. My mate looked as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words. Instead he stood there, staring, his body language sending out a cry for help.
No longer was my family there with us. It was just us… my mate and I. His eyes glistened and his lashes sparkled with tears. He didn’t need to say anything. Not that he could get any words out. I was thinking it, too. We were too late. Due to financial bullshit, his dad’s time was running out—had been since he got the news he had to have surgery, but now it was sprinting toward the finish line and there was nothing we could do about it.
I crossed over to Heston, his body trembling as I wrapped him in my arms. “It’ll be okay,” I hoped to gods I wasn’t lying.
I didn’t understand so many people being okay living in a world where it wasn’t criminal to withhold medical treatments due to finances. And it wasn’t little money either. Nobody could say, “If you stop drinking coffee, eating avocado, or get rid of cable TV, you’ll be able to afford it.”
And the sick part was, this wasn’t elective surgery by any definition of the word. There was nothing cosmetic about it, nothing frivolous, nothing that could wait while he tried something else first. This surgery was the only way to keep him alive. Every day… every minute… every second without it, he was getting closer to joining his former husband with the goddess.
“My dad…” Heston hiccuped and sobbed against my chest.
“I know, my love. I know. Let’s go to him.” We needed to get there, but more than that, we needed the money and today was my Hail Mary. Tears drenched his shirt, and it was all I could do to hold back my own. We needed the money, and I’d figure out how to get it. If I had to rob a bank, so be it, but right now, we just needed to be with his father, to hear from the doctor first hand what was happening.
“I promise you, I’ll do everything I can,” I said, kissing the top of his head, wishing there was more I could do. “Let’s go. We’ll know more there. We’ll make a plan.”
There were jokes and TV shows about selling kidneys for money. If that were an option, I’d be doing it right now. I’d do just about anything, which was how we ended up here with my father in the first place. He was a last resort, one that failed.
“You really care about him, don’t you?” I twisted around to see my father standing in the doorway, staring at us as if it finally dawned on him that I was telling him the truth.
“I love Heston. He’s my mate,” I said, my voice firm.
My father’s expression changed as if for the first time he understood that maybe, just maybe, he was in the wrong. I didn’t have time to process what that meant. We needed to go. I’d never forgive myself if my mate didn’t get to say good-bye.
“He needs help. They won’t give him the surgery unless he has the money. That’s the way it is. I wish it was different. I wish I could fix it.” My insides were roiling as I scrambled for a solution to the ordeal. “But… why do you have to be such a dick, Father? Why?”
Roy had appeared at my father’s shoulder and he sucked in a breath before mumbling something about being ungrateful.
Asshat.
I went back to comforting my mate, trying to steer him out the door. Him crying hysterically wasn’t what his dad needed to see. They needed to hug one another and whisper anything unsaid.
I intertwined our fingers, ready to push past Father and Roy but my father’s voice had me standing in place, frozen, unable to move.
“Billing department, please.” I looked at him on the phone, and he held up his finger, asking me to wait a minute. What happened next blew my mind.
He talked to three people before he finally got the one he needed. I wasn’t sure what made him do it. He guaranteed the hospital that the money was there for Heston’s father’s care. He also promised a large donation if they made sure the red tape was cleared away and the doctors could ignore all of the usual protocols that might slow Heston’s dad getting the operation.
