Chapter 6 - The Morning Confrontation
The storm arrived at nine-fifteen in the form of my parents.
Imogen did not knock. She pushed the heavy hospital door open with such force that it bounced off the rubber wall stop. Gideon followed her, his expensive Italian loafers squeaking on the linoleum, a dark scowl etched across his weathered forehead.
"You spiteful, ungrateful little monster," Imogen said, keeping her voice pitched low but dripping with venom. She threw her designer handbag onto the foot of my bed, jostling the cast. Pain flared through my shin, but I didn't flinch.
"Good morning, Mom. Dad," I said, leaning back against the raised bed frame.
"Don't you 'good morning' us!" Gideon barked, stepping toward the bedside. "What did you do with your corporate card?"
"I didn't do anything with it, Dad. It was in my luggage."
"The resort finance office just declined the final vendor payments!" Imogen snapped, her eyes wild with fury. "The florist, the string quartet, the ice sculptors—they are refusing to set up the terrace until the forty-seven thousand dollars is cleared! The general manager came to the bridal suite in front of Callum’s mother and informed us that the charges were flagged as suspected fraud!"
"They were flagged because they *are* fraud," I replied smoothly. "I didn't authorize those transactions."
"You authorize them right now!" Gideon ordered, slamming his palm down on the rolling meal tray. "Your sister is in tears! This is the most important day of her life! You earn over two hundred thousand dollars a year working on those miserable rust buckets, and you can't contribute to your own sister's wedding?"
"I contributed six thousand dollars to her horse when I was nineteen," I said, looking Gideon dead in the eye. "You stole my college tuition from my savings account. You never paid it back. You flushed my post-operative painkillers down a toilet twenty-four hours ago, Mom. And then Darcy kicked my leg down a marble flight of stairs."
"She didn't kick you!" Imogen shouted. "You tripped! You are an uncoordinated, jealous girl who has tried to tear down Darcy since the day she was born! Darcy is special! She has charm, she has grace, she represents this family in rooms you could never dream of entering!"
"And she is a thief," I said quietly.
"You call your bank right this second and authorize those charges," Gideon commanded, leaning over me, his face turning an apoplectic purple. "If you ruin this day for Darcy, if you embarrass us in front of the Vance family, you are no longer part of this family. We will cut you off completely. You will never set foot in our home again."
I reached over, picked up the bedside landline receiver, and handed it toward him.
"Here's the phone, Dad."
Gideon smirked, thinking he had won. "Good. Call the authorization line."
"I’m not calling the bank," I said, my voice dropping to a glacial whisper. "I’m calling the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Department to report that you are currently trespassing in my hospital room after committing domestic battery and medical theft. And while they’re on their way, you might want to check the news alert for the Oregon coast."
Gideon’s hand froze mid-air. "What are you talking about?"
"Get out," I said. "Get out of my room before I have the trauma floor security restrain you both."
Imogen stepped forward, her hand raised as if to strike my face, but the door behind her swung open.
Two burly hospital security guards stood in the frame, flanked by Callum. Callum did not look at my parents. He simply nodded to the guards.
"These individuals are harassing the patient," Callum said clearly. "Escort them off the premises immediately."
"Callum!" Imogen gasped, her face draining of color. "What are you doing? We are your family!"
May you like
"You are not my family," Callum said coldly. "And after today, you won't even be an unpleasant memory."
***
