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I groaned and dropped my head.
“Is everything all right, Tavish?”
I shot up straight on the chair and smiled at Judah’s mum, Elizabeth Dailey, as she strode into the kitchen like the confident woman she was. She was playing with her earlobe as she put in a gold loopy earring that glittered under the sharp lights. Decked out in a pencil dress in a subtle rose color, she looked ready to either dominate the world or take on her parents-in-law. She’d told me more than once it was a constant battle with them.
“I’m fine.” I offered her a small smile, then quickly came to a decision. “Mrs. Dailey, do you... need any more help around the house? Maybe someone to mind the garden?”
She tilted her head, her earrings nearly blinding me as the light hit them directly and the gold flashed in my eyes. She patted down her hair, but she didn’t need to because it wouldn’t move, since she had it pulled into a tight bun. “Why do you ask?”
I hesitated, then shook my head. “Never mind. I’m sorry for bein’ a bother.”
She stalked to the other side of the island and reached over to grab my hand. “Tell me.”
I swallowed around the shame that built up in my throat. The Daileys were rich, but I’d never asked anything from them. I’d never cared for money. “Mum has a hospital bill,” I murmured quietly, peeking at the door to the kitchen and hoping Mum wouldn’t enter. “From the last time she was in there. And there’s also this medical trial comin’ up, and I’d really like to help her.”
Mrs. Dailey smiled, but it wasn’t warm. I didn’t think she knew how to be anything except a shark, but I still liked her. She was driven, like Judah. “Hmm, hospitals are very expensive, aren’t they?”
I nodded. “I will do any work you’d like. I’ll accept any pay.”
“Hmm.” She squeezed my hand. “How about I give you the money, Tavish?”
My stomach clenched with guilt. “No, I couldn’t.”
“But you could.” Her smile twisted higher on her face, and I frowned, a sick feeling growing heavy in my gut. “I could fund your mother’s hospital bills and the experimental treatment and a comfortable amount of money she could use to recover instead of working.”
I licked my dry lips. “I.... Would you?”
Her eyes glittered with something I’d never seen in them, and I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. “Yes. I’d only ask for one thing in return.”
“What?” I whispered, scared that speaking louder would take all this away.
She patted my hand again and her smile turned my stomach further. “Leave Judah.”
I shot back, nearly tumbling off the chair and dropping the bill in the process. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged, unrepentant. “You’re eighteen. You have a whole lifetime to find the one, but it isn’t Judah. Take this money I’m offering and get your mother healthy so she can live a very long life. All you need to do is break up with Judah. That’s it. Your mother won’t be able to work here after this, of course, but she doesn’t have to know why. I’ll give her a severance package. This deal can be between us.”
I stared at her, my mind processing the words in disbelief. The urge to vomit rose in my throat and I swallowed to tamp it down. “I love Judah.”
She laughed. “Tavish, you’re a teenager, you don’t know what love is. Take this deal. Think about your mother and all those bills. She’ll be drowning in debt her entire life. Would your father have wanted that for her? Do you?”
Guilt settled deep into my chest, and I rubbed across my heart, hoping to ease some of the pain. Nothing changed. I was caught between the desire to cry and scream, but she was right. We needed the money, but Judah... was the love of my life. Mrs. Dailey didn’t understand.
“Think about it. The offer is only on the table for forty-eight hours. I’ll have a contract drawn up.” She patted me on the shoulder as she walked past me, and all I could do was stare at her retreating back in shock.
“Tav, where are you?” Judah’s yell from upstairs startled me, and I forced my throat to work.
“In the kitchen.” I shoved the piece of paper back into my pocket.
Fuck. What was I meant to do?
* * *
It took me forty-seven hours to decide before I went to Mrs. Dailey and agreed to her terms. With a shaking hand, I signed a paper that stated I would never go near her son again. There were witnesses, and my head was really done in.
“Good boy,” Mrs. Dailey said, once I’d signed the contract in front of her lawyer at the kitchen island. There was another woman there, also, who was quiet and mostly seemed to exist to make Mrs. Dailey’s life easier. She’d been the one to hand over a pen and make Mrs. Dailey a coffee. She passed the thick stack of papers to the lawyer standing next to her.
Mrs. Dailey waved at me. “You’ll get a copy of this information. I’ll have it delivered. Now, go break up with my son. I’ll handle your mom.”
