“It’s disgusting. Did you ever get the money?”
“A year or so later, and she ended up charged with a crime. It was awful on top of everything else I was dealing with.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you. Losing your husband at twenty-four is more than enough trauma without it being compounded by greed.”
“For sure.”
Our entrées are served—chicken enchiladas for him and tacos al pastor for me. The food is blah compared to what I’m used to, but there’s no way I could take him home to the family restaurant, even if the food is way better. I don’t need them making this into something it isn’t.
“Tell me about the night he caught you with her.”
“Ugh, do I have to?”
“I want to make sure I know the whole story so I can help you figure out the best plan.”
He pushes his half-eaten dinner aside, takes another sip of his drink and speaks in a dull, flat tone. “She planned everything about that night to ensure maximum carnage.”
“How do you mean?”
“When he walked in on us, she was on her knees giving me a blow job.”
I wince. “Damn.”
“I heard the bedroom door open, and I looked down at her in time to see the calculating look she sent his way even as she continued to suck my dick with great enthusiasm.” He glances at me. “Sorry for being so blunt.”
I wave off his apology. “What happened then?”
“My first order of business was getting my dick out of her mouth, and then I was focused on defending myself because he came at me with fists flying. I had no idea what was happening, but she did. She knew exactly what was going on, because she’d planned the entire shit show.”
“Where were their children?”
“I don’t know. I only found out she had children the next day when I heard from my boss that my privileges at the hospital were suspended and I was to stay off the hospital campus until the board had a chance to meet and discuss the sordid mess. He’s the one who told me that all this time I’d been screwing the married mother of two teenagers and that her husband was the chairman of the board of my freaking hospital.”
“I can’t imagine how shocking that had to be for you.”
“It took days for me to realize our entire relationship was a setup on her part. I finally did what I should’ve done when I first met her and looked her up online. I found out that she’d been trying to get out of the marriage for years, but he refused to divorce her because all their money came from her family. If he divorced her, he’d lose everything, because they had a prenup. He was holding her hostage in the marriage, so she set out to humiliate him in the biggest way she could think of.”
“That’s so awful.”
“It really was. It’s one thing to go through a rough breakup when a relationship dies of natural causes, but this . . . This was on a whole other level. And then it got really fun when the New York media picked up the story and plastered it all over the city. The headlines were brutal. Brain surgeon seduces hospital board chairman’s wife. I think the source on that story was one of my colleagues who was always trying to prove he’s better than me when everyone knows he isn’t. He took great pleasure in my downfall, especially when I got suspended.”
“Have you considered a lawsuit against her?”
“I have, and I even went so far as to meet with an attorney who told me I’d have a very good case.”
“So you’re doing that?”
He shakes his head.
“Why not?”
“Her kids have been through enough. I just don’t have it in me to drag them through the mud again.”
“Jason . . . She ruined your life. She shouldn’t be allowed to get away with that.”
“She hasn’t ruined my life yet.”
“She ruined your life in New York.”
“I just want to put it behind me, and a lawsuit would keep it alive for years. I had the lawyer reach out to let her know I was considering litigation, and he said she totally freaked out about that. It’s enough for me that she’s worried I might sue her. My only goal now is officially landing this job at Miami-Dade and having the chance to restore my reputation through the work. That’s all that matters, and I can’t do the work without hospital privileges. In many other specialties, I could fly solo, but not in neurosurgery.”
“Does it have to be neurosurgery?”
CHAPTER 5
CARMEN
He looks at me like I’m insane, and maybe I am. “It took years of training to get to where I was before this happened. I’m board certified, which is the holy grail. I’d be a fool to walk away from my specialty, not to mention the research I’ve worked on for years.”
“I’m not suggesting you walk away. I’m just wondering if you have options.”
“Of course I do, but I’ve been on this path for most of the last decade . . .” He shakes his head as his cheek pulses with tension. “I can’t let her destroy my career, Carmen. I won’t let her.”
“Is your goal to find a way back to New York?”
“That’d be my preference, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I’m persona non grata there after the board chairman personally saw to it that I was exiled to Miami. And now they’re balking at being stuck with me.”
“Is that what they said?”
“Mr. Augustino was rather blunt. He said the board isn’t interested in dealing with me or my scandal, but they are interested in my research. Apparently, that’s the only reason they’re even considering granting me privileges at Miami-Dade.”
“Did he say what happens at the end of the two weeks?”
“I assume they’ll decide my research isn’t worth the stink I bring with me. I think they’re basically giving me lip service but have no intention of granting privileges.”
“Is there any chance at all you’d consider doing an interview with someone here in Miami to set the record straight about what happened in New York?”
He ponders that for a minute. “I’d do it in a hot second if there was no chance of it being plastered all over the New York media. That’s not going to happen, though, with the internet. And in order to clear my name, I’d have to trash hers.”
“And you won’t do that because of her kids.”
“Right.”
I totally respect him for doing what he can to protect her children from further humiliation. This day has been a good reminder about the danger of leaping to conclusions about people. “What about asking her to contact the Miami-Dade board directly?”
His grimace tells me what he thinks of that idea. “That would require me to speak to her, and I’m not willing to do that.”
“Even to save your career?”
“I wouldn’t do it to save my life.”
“Could you text or email her so you wouldn’t have to speak to her?”
“Ugh, I really don’t want to have anything more to do with her if I can avoid that.”
“Maybe have the lawyer do it in exchange for possibly not suing her?”