“Look, we had a deal. You handle the money, and I?—”
He stopped and turned to face her. Icy blue eyes bored into her. “You can’t ignore what we’ve built.”
“I don’t want anything to do with that money. It’s tainted.”
“Tainted, my ass.” He cocked his head, and his voice rumbled. “We earned every fucking cent.” He lifted his hand and pressed it to his head. “We’re not arguing about this. If something were to happen to me?—”
“Nothing is going to happen to you.”
Others saw a fierce warrior when Forest Summers stared them down. He didn’t care what anyone thought, which made him formidable in the boardroom, but all she saw was the scared,sodomized little boy curled in a ball on the basement floor. He knew this and allowed it but only because what he saw when he looked at her was much worse.
He leveled out his tone, smoothing out the rough edges. “If something ever happened to me, who would carry on our work? What would happen to the charities? What about the children? I know you’re busy with your medicine, and I don’t expect you to run the businesses, but you can’t continue to be oblivious to what we’ve become.”
“I don’t need this right now.” She shifted her focus, weighing his words, looking for hidden meaning.
Her stomach dropped as the doctor inside reared its head.All those drugs, needles, and rampant sex?He tried to be safe, but trying was lying in her book. Accidents happened, and viruses killed. She dealt with that every day.
“Is there something I need to know? Are you sick?”
“Damn it, Skye. Don’t doctor me. I’m not sick.”
“Are you sure?”
He tilted his head and stared at the ceiling tiles.
He breathed out slow and tucked his chin to his chest. His shoulders drooped. “I get tested every three months, like I promised. My last checkup was a month ago. I’m not dying. I don’t have HIV or hepatitis or any other STD. Stop playing doctor, and be my fucking sister for once.”
“Forest, what’s going on?” When they got serious, nicknames disappeared.
“You got married. That’s what’s going on. The legal ramifications alone are staggering. He’s entitled to half of what you own.”
“I don’t think he cares about money. Ash has plenty.”
“Not compared to you. Does he even have a clue? Have you told him?”
She never talked money, and even though the hospital she worked in carried a piece of her name, no one had figured out the connection behind the endowment and the newest emergency doctor on staff. Her life remained compartmentalized on purpose.
She squinted. “You said I could get it annulled.”
Forest started forward again. “The jet’s waiting.”
“You said we owned the damn jet. It’ll leave when we get there.”
With another frustrated shake of his head, Forest rocked back on his heels, releasing a pent-up sigh. “If I’d had them park at the private concourse, then yes, but we pay for every minute the jet sits at this one. You think I throw our money away, but that’s not true.”
No, he multiplied money without thinking. Forest had taken the cash their foster father had collected while stealing their innocence, and with a computer, the Internet, and a self-education in day trading, he’d doubled it, then doubled that, and done it several more times. It wasn’t long before he’d added several zeros to their net worth.
While she had gone to college and earned her degree, Forest had turned thousands into millions. He’d invested in companies and soon added a ninth zero to their net worth.
“Says the man who bought an airline we don’t need,” she mumbled.
“I bought the corporation that owns the airline, not the airline. If you had bothered to read the memo, you’d know that. They have a charitable track record with battered and abused women and fund children’s cancer research. I thought you’d be interested in that. Now, are you coming or not?”
She counted to three. He wasn’t the only one who knew how to count. Well, one thing was certain. Within moments of being around Forest, she wasn’t worried about Ash anymore.
Forest led her through the concourse until they came to their gate.
A young woman in her early twenties, dressed in a pencil skirt with a blue silk blouse, greeted them with a smile. “Mr. Summers, the pilots told me they’re ready when you are.”
