He Cheated With My Friend, My Parents Helped novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Four Minutes

Nathan's POV

I came off a fourteen-hour shift at nine on Sunday night and found Simone Kinross leaning on my truck.

The parking garage was nearly empty.

She wore a long camel coat open over her belly, and she held a white envelope in her left hand.

"Dr. Brenner," she said. "I've been waiting an hour. My feet hurt, so let's not make this a show."

"Get away from my truck."

"I'm eight months pregnant, Nathan. Where would you like me to go?"

I stopped ten feet away and kept my keys in my fist.

She smiled and held out the envelope.

"Take it."

"What is it?"

"A cashier's check for two hundred thousand dollars, made out to you."

I didn't move.

"It's from the Medina escrow," she said. "Colin thinks it's a deposit. It's not, it's yours, and it's yours if you stop."

"Stop what?"

"Driving over there. Having dinner in her kitchen. Teaching her to think she can win."

Her voice stayed soft and reasonable the whole time.

It was a patient, reasonable bedside voice, and I understood how three years of it had worked on my brother.

"You're offering me money to leave Jean alone," I said.

"I'm offering you a way home. Your brother is a mess. Your parents want you at the table. All you have to do is skip one dinner."

"Christmas Eve."

"A single dinner."

"No."

She tilted her head.

"I thought you might say that, so here's the other thing."

She put the check back in her pocket.

"You were in the ER that night," Simone said. "Colin told me all of it. Everyone remembers the blood. I remember something else."

"Simone."

"I remember you standing in the corridor in your scrubs while she got into his car. You had your hand on her arm, and she looked at you, and you let go."

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