Her spine straightens. “You’d be wasting their time.”
“I think I’m willing to take the risk.” Pushing the nurse call button on River’s bed, I cross my arms and have an epic staredown with one of the most intimidating people I’ve ever met. She might be a pretty good actor, but I refuse to back down because I know I’m right.
Now, I need to figure out how to prove it to the police.
“Is there a problem?” the nurse asks. Her kind eyes bounce between an unconscious River, a thoroughly pissed off Monet, and me. The girl who’s about to toss out an accusation that could be detrimental to everyone in this room.
“Hi,” I greet her. “Is there any way I could speak with a police officer? I don’t have my phone, and I don’t feel comfortable leaving the patient alone with”––I look at River’s mom––“her.”
“Is there a problem?”
“Of course not,” Monet starts at the same time I answer, “Yes.”
Not moving a muscle, the nurse catches onto the precarious situation and calls out, “Bethany!”
Footsteps echo from the hall before a cute brunette pops her head into the room. “Yeah?”
“Can you call security for me?”
“You can’t just go around accusing people of things like this,” Monet tells me, her anxiety ratcheting up a few notches while completely ignoring the nurses. “Especially people like me. Don’t you understand what this could do to my reputation? I will not allow you to make a silly allegation like this.”
The first nurse stays quiet, watching the entire ordeal unfold around her while Bethany disappears down the hall to hopefully find a security guard to help us. Because Monet reeks of desperation, and desperate people are capable of anything.
With my hands raised in defense, I murmur, “They’re just going to ask you a few questions.”
“And what? Cart me away in handcuffs? Do you know what that will do to my reputation? The paparazzi are practically flooding the parking lot. Hell, I invited them here. I wanted them to cover the story, but I will not be made a spectacle. Do you hear me? Besides, everything is ruined. River won’t be able to keep the role now. They wanted an attractive rockstar for the part, not a hideous beast. You ruined him.”
“You ruined him,” I spit. “You cut the brakes. You put him in this position. This is on you. Not me. And it’s all because you wanted to ride your son’s coattails, and he wouldn’t let you.”
“It was supposed to be a fender bender, not this!” she shrieks, tossing her hands into the air as her beautiful face becomes tainted with outrage.
“Yeah, well, sometimes we can’t control the consequences of our decisions. And now, you’re going to have to pay for it. And so will River.” I clear my throat and blink back my tears. “Tell me, who did you hire to follow us? Because it sure as hell wasn’t my ex. Was it whoever you paid to cut the brakes? Did they want to make sure they finished the job? Is that it?”
“Of course not!”
“Then who was it?”
“You don’t understand––”
“Then why don’t you explain it to me?” I demand.
“I’ve already told you!” she screams. “It was supposed to be a simple fender bender. Javier wasn’t trying to run you off the road. He was there to take pictures of the damage and run an article on the situation, weaving the palatable story for the media that would help him with his big break.”
I clench my hands at my sides to keep from slapping the bitch in the face.
She’s lost her damn mind.
“Stop hiding behind that bullshit excuse for what you did,” I snap. “You wrecked your son in a way that is almost irreparable. You used him. Then you broke him. The fact that you still consider yourself to be his mother is laughable. A mother doesn’t do this. She doesn’t use her child for her own personal gains. You mean nothing to him. And you never will.”
Lips curling in disgust, she stalks closer to me, but I stand my ground.
With my head held high, I keep my voice calm and add, “Don’t worry, though, Monet. He’s picked himself up before, and he’ll do it again with me by his side. And where do you think you’ll be? Hmm?”
Her nostrils flare.
“I have one word for you. Prison.”
Hurried footsteps slap against the linoleum floors before a big, burly security guard enters the room without waiting for permission and cuts our conversation short.
The nurse breathes a sigh of relief when she sees him. “Hey, Len. Would you mind escorting this individual to one of the back offices, please?”
Her overly-inflated lips purse before she interrupts, “My name is Monet Cavier.”
“Of course,” Len replies diplomatically. “I apologize, Miss Cavier. If you could please come with me? I’d greatly appreciate it.”
Her posture could rival a runway model’s as Monet follows his suggestion and exits the room. I cover my mouth and heave out the pent-up oxygen I’d been holding hostage in my lungs for far too long as she retreats.
“Are you okay?” the nurse asks, rushing over to me as soon as we’re alone.
I shake my head. “I didn’t imagine that, right? She did it. She did this to her son––to me––all because of greed?”
A soft sigh escapes her before she rubs her hand up and down my back. “Yeah. I think she did.”
“What if they can’t prove it? What if she gets away scot-free? It’ll be her word against mine. There’s no way they’ll believe me over her––”
“I heard it too. It’ll be our word against hers. Don’t worry. It’ll be okay.”
Looking over at River’s broken body, a sob escapes me. His angry, raw skin peeking from beneath the white bandages. His bruised face. The IV attached to his arm dripping much-needed painkillers into his veins so that he can be at peace for a few more minutes before reality hits him harder than the truck ever could. The combination paints a picture of our future that’s bleak at best. At least for a little while. And it’s all because of his mother’s greed.
“No, it won’t,” I rasp. “Because I’m not the one who’s going to have to live with the repercussions. He is.”
And it’s not fair.
45
Reese
A soft groan from the bed rouses me from another restless sleep. My eyes are still swollen from crying as I pry my lids open and look at River.
He tosses his head back and forth, slowly coming out of the sedation with pinched brows and a slight frown. The combination manages to make him look twenty years older than he is while reminding me of a confused little boy at the same time. Like two opposites of the same coin, though neither one is my River.
“Sh…,” I soothe. His skin is a little hot as I run my hand across his forehead in hopes of wiping away the wrinkles etched into it. “It’s okay.”
His eyelids flutter before he looks up at me and tries to focus.
“Reese?” he croaks.
“Hey.”
“W-what happened?”