He Accused Me of Stealing, But I Heard the Truth novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: Her Terms

At the hospital Ciara sets four terms for living in his home, tears up the care consent Imogen brings, and Birdie asks Laurence if he is the bad daddy.

At one in the morning, Laurence stood at the glass of Birdie's room and did not go in.

She slept under a tangle of tubes with a stuffed rabbit the nurses had found her.

A nurse had swabbed her cheek an hour ago, and then his, and called it a rush test.

"The lab will say what I already know," Laurence said, without turning around.

*She has my mother's chin. She has my mother's chin and she's been eating from trays.*

I sat on the plastic bench with my hands between my knees, listening to a man who spoke coldly and thought in a rush.

"Then say it," I told him. "Say she's yours, out loud, here."

He turned.

"She's mine. Tomorrow she moves to my home, under my doctors, with a full-time nurse. You'll come too."

*Say yes. Say yes and stay where I can see you.*

That was the offer, and it was an order.

I stood up. My legs shook, so I locked my knees.

"I'll come for Birdie. Not for you. And I have terms."

His eyebrows rose a quarter inch.

"Imogen is never alone with my daughter."

"Imogen has run my house for nine years."

"Then she can run it from another room." I held up a second finger. "You don't touch me unless I ask. Not my face, not my arm, not my hand."

His mouth went flat.

*I put my hand on her face in front of a hundred people.*

He was ashamed of it. I could hear that he was.

"Agreed," he said.

"Third. Nobody tells Birdie what to call you. She decides."

*She called me the bad daddy. She may keep that.*

"Agreed."

"Fourth. I read every paper before I sign it, and so do you."

That one took longer.

"What papers?" he said.

"All of them. Starting with whatever you think I stole."

His jaw moved, and for a moment I was sure he would call me a liar again.

*She says it like she means it. Don't be a fool. Paper doesn't lie. People lie.*

"Agreed," he said, aloud.

The elevator opened at the end of the hall.

Imogen came out of it with her cream coat over her arm and a folder, and she walked toward us wearing the face of a woman who had not slept out of worry.

"Ciara," she said softly. "I'm so sorry about earlier. I know you must hate me. Laurence asked me to bring the paperwork so Birdie can start treatment tonight."

She held out a pen.

It was a heavy silver pen, the kind that makes a signature look like it matters.

I did not take it.

"Give me the folder."

Imogen smiled and handed it over.

*Be careful,* Laurence thought, and I did not know whom he meant.

Page one was a temporary care consent.

I read the first paragraph. Then I read it again.

"This gives the Carrington Foundation every medical decision for Birdie," I said, and my voice rang along the corridor. "Treatment, transfer, even where she lives."

Two nurses at the desk looked up.

"It's standard," Imogen said. "Just until she's stable."

"Which doctor wrote that?"

"The hospital's counsel."

"Then the hospital's counsel can tell me to my face."

I turned the folder toward Laurence.

"Did you ask her to bring me this?"

He took it from my hand and read.

I watched his face and listened to his mind at the same time.

*I told her to bring Ciara the treatment forms. Treatment forms. This is not treatment forms.*

Then:

*Why would Imogen...*

He cut that thought off himself.

"I asked for consent to treat," he said slowly. "Not this."

Imogen's smile stayed exactly where it was.

"The legal department must have attached the wrong template. I'll have it fixed in the morning."

I tore the three pages in half.

I tore them again.

I let the pieces fall on the floor in front of the nurses' station, where everybody could see them.

"Treat her," I said. "Today. Under my name. I'll sign the one that says that."

A nurse put her hand over her mouth to hide a smile.

Imogen bent and picked up a scrap.

"You're upset," she said, gently, to the floor. "That's all right."

Laurence was watching her bend.

He said nothing at all, and his mind said nothing either, and that silence frightened me more than anything he had thought all night.

"Ms. Dray," he said finally. "Go home."

"Of course."

She went, and the elevator took her, and the pieces of the paper stayed where they had fallen.

Laurence looked at me for a long moment.

"You read it before I did," he said.

"I read everything now."

*Because of me,* he thought. *Because I let somebody else handle her.*

He did not say that part.

A small voice came through the door of Birdie's room.

"Mommy?"

I was inside before I knew I had moved.

She was awake, propped against the pillow, her eyes enormous in her thin face.

She looked past me at the man in the doorway.

Her chin came up.

"Are you the bad daddy?" she asked.

Laurence's whole body went still.

*Lie. Say no. Say anything.*

He crossed the room slowly, and he lowered himself to the edge of the chair beside her bed.

"Yes," he said.

← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend