“You haven’t had time? And what about me, Dr. Turner? You dragged me into this. My phone has been on silent all day because I can’t bear to look at the messages. My friends, my acquaintances… my name is all over the media as the mother of Logan Turner’s secret twins! We agreed I would do this forone weekend.”
“It can’t be just a weekend anymore, Evelyn. I’ll need your help for longer. I’ll double your pay. Two million.”
“Can’t you understand it’s not about the money? It’s about the very public lies attached to my name. And it’s about those two little girls out there!”
What nonsense. Everything in life, in the end, came down to money. She talked as if two million dollars was nothing…
“I already told you, the girls like you. They’ll be happy to have you around longer on our trip to New York.”
“I amnotgoing to New York with you.”
“Please, Evelyn… I need your help. It will only be for a few days…”
“A few days?”
“Maybe a few weeks, or… How about two months?”
“I can’t go to New York. I have a steady job.”
“Quit. I’m offering you a life-changing amount of money.”
“For God’s sake, I told you it’s not about the money! I work for Camila’s grandmother; I can’t just abandon her.”
“I’ll hire her a replacement. I’ll even pay the new person’s salary for the duration of our agreement. Please, Evelyn… This position is my dream. Have you ever had a big dream?”
She let out a sound of pure frustration and started pacing the limited floor space of the large bathroom.
“You know the worst part?” she said, whirling around to face me. “You’re not even giving me a choice.My picture is already all over the internet. People are already speculating that we’re a couple, that I’m their mother.”
“We can fix all of that. My lawyer will draft a perfect plan. We’ll pretend we’re together until my position is secure, and then we’ll stage a coherent, amicable breakup. Everything will go back to normal.”
“So, I get to be the mother who abandoned her daughters and walked away?”
“No. Well… we’ll figure that part out. And there’s Eleanor; I have a detective looking for her. We’ll make a public statement to explain everything, and by then I’ll be settled in my new role, doing great work, and—”
“It’s all about public perception, your job, your money… You can’t fix a human mess with a PR strategy.”
“Yes, I can. I promise you, I can. And like you said… we’re both out of alternatives. I’m sorry.”
“You know what?” she said, her voice trembling with fury. “I thought this would be a great opportunity. I thought it would be cool to work for my best friend’s brother-in-law. But my God… if regret could kill.”
“Does that mean you’ll help me?”
“No, it does not. Have your PR team figure out how to clean this up.” With that, she grabbed the door handle and yanked it open.
“Evelyn, wait… I’ll triple the offer. Three million.”
“And I’m not telling you where to put those three million out of respect for the children in the next room.”
She left, and I was left completely adrift. I dragged my hands over my head, desperate for a solution. What else could I do? I’d tripled the money, and she’d refused… which meant throwing more cash at the problem was useless.
But everyone had a price. Whether it was money, power, or achievement—like my dream job, since money was something I’d never lacked and probably never would.
But this woman… she was an unemployed teacher, a bookstore clerk doing weekend gigs. There was no way three million dollars shouldn’t have swayed her.
I stood there for another minute, utterly perplexed, before finally stepping out of the bathroom.
The scene in the room made me stop dead.
