Hell fucking no.
“What?”
“Have you given what I suggested any further thought?”
“No,” I said, trying to be as cold and blunt as possible. It wasn’t in my nature to be that way, so this likely wasn’t going to go well. “Why would I?”
“Well, I talked to my client, and he said he’s willing to pay you a cool million a year to provide private care for him and anyone else that needs it. Pretty nifty, huh?”
I shrugged. A million a year would definitely be nice. But then again, it wasn’t like I wasn’t making good money already, and it wasn’t like something was just financially out of my reach. Quite the opposite, actually—I had a little bit too much money on hand, and while I didn’t mind saving it, I would have much preferred to work fewer hours for the money I got.
“I told you once, and I’ll tell you again: I’m not interested.”
“You can’t possibly be this dense, Dr. Elks,” the man said with a fake smile. “A million a year? Who turns down money like that?”
“A doctor who values her ethics and morals above whatever dollar amount you can offer.”
The man tried to keep the fake smile on his face, but he clearly had not anticipated that I wouldn’t be backing down like this. Maybe he had heard that I was an easy pushover, or maybe he assumed that a million dollars a year could buy just about anyone.
“Do you value your ethics and morals above everything?” he said, his eyebrow rising.
“You’re wasting my time.”
It was odd for me to say something so harshly, but it was even odder to be in this situation.
And it only got odder when the man briefly pushed his jacket back, long enough for me to see the gun in his pocket.
He wasn’t going to be so stupid as to start shooting here at the hospital. He’d get arrested and sent to jail for life, and it didn’t matter who the fuck was backing him, it would fall apart right after.
But the threat was clear, and I would be equally foolish if I thought that somehow pretending he wouldn’t fire here meant that I was completely safe otherwise.
“No, you are wasting my time,” he said. “We’re trying to make this as easy as possible for you. Frankly, I think one million a year when we could just drag you in isn’t worthwhile, but I’m not the one writing the checks.”
He walked up to me as if he were a member of my family. God, I wanted to punch him in the nuts.
“You will go to 58 Lenoir Street out in Santa Maria, just east of here, in a week’s time at the end of your shift. It’s a small neighborhood, and you’ll know immediately you’ve come to the right place. When you get there, ask to speak to Eduardo, and tell him King sent you.”
“I’m sorry, what makes you think I’m going to do that?”
The man nodded his head toward his hip. Subtlety was completely gone by this point.
“Up to you what happens next,” he said. “And just think, you have a full week to decide. But I would advise you, for everyone’s sake, to keep this as simple as possible. And you’re getting a pay raise out of this.”
Maybe in the short-term.
But this was the kind of shit that could derail a career. And on top of that, this wasn’t the kind of job that, once you started, you could just easily get out of. I had a sickening feeling that if I went to that neighborhood, I was trapped.
And once I was, that offer for a million a year would magically turn into something stupid, like a million pennies a year or something even worse.
But if I didn’t go to that neighborhood, I’d have a man who was unafraid to flash a gun at the largest hospital in New Mexico coming after me. And he seemed to know where I would be at all times.
I went back inside as the man remained where he was, waving like he was a cousin who hadn’t seen me in some time. I flipped him off, though I didn’t have the courage to show him that I was doing that. When I got inside, I headed straight for the break room and did something I didn’t do very often.
I grabbed my phone.
I pulled up my contacts list.
I texted Zack.
“I want to see you,” I wrote. “And I want to see you tonight. I’m off at six.”
The reply came back in the affirmative almost immediately.
And just like that, I had a feeling that I’d gotten myself entangled in the very thing I’d tried to avoid for so long, all without my choice or my consent.
And I was wondering if telling Zack that I’d now have to serve a man named Eduardo was really what was best for my long-term safety.
