Watching Them Burn: My Rebirth Story novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Seven Fifty-Eight

"What about my brother?" I said.

Dane's father gestured at the empty chairs by the vending machines.

"Sit. Please. I'd rather do this where nobody has to shout."

Luka did not sit.

He stood behind my chair with his arms folded, and Bree watched us from across the room with the pastry halfway to her mouth.

"Your brother had his appendix burst two years ago," the man said. "Eleven days in the pediatric unit. Four of them on a ventilator."

"How do you know that?"

"I know a great deal about you since Monday." He opened a slim leather folder and turned it toward me. "The hospital balance is still open. Your mother pays it off in small amounts every month."

I looked at the number.

It was larger than anything my mother would ever say out loud.

"It could be closed by Friday," he said. "Paid in full, no strings you'd ever see on paper."

"And what do I do for it?"

"Very little. You stay away from my son. You stop giving the dean videos. You resign from the pool."

"And Luka?"

"Mr. Hanlon is a good swimmer who has made some poor friends." He smiled at Luka. "He'll be looked after."

Luka said nothing.

I took out my phone and set it on my knee, face up.

The red dot was already running.

"I'll say that again for the record," I said. "You are offering to pay my brother's hospital bill if I leave your son alone and leave Luka's scholarship open."

The pleasant look did not slip.

"You can delete that."

"I can post it."

"Then you'll lose the money, and your mother will go on paying a little every month."

"She has for two years."

"Your friend Mr. Hanlon will lose more."

He closed the folder.

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