Stolen Vengeance: Slye Temp book 6 Read Free Page A

him in Logic Land. “We’re talking about Ronaldo, not the rest of the world.”
    “I didn’t come here to be reminded of how sick my dad is. I get confirmation every time I walk into the assisted living facility and see him shrinking before my eyes.”  She stood and leaned forward, dropping her hands flat on the desk. It was that or lunge across the wide mahogany surface to throttle the man who had been her dad’s savior.
    Until now.
    She kept her voice calm, but determined. “I just need to know how much the treatment will cost.”
    Dr. Bowen’s silver hair never seemed to grow, always trim and neat as if he’d just stepped out of the hair salon, because LA doctors didn’t frequent barber shops. He placed his gentle  fingers on top of her chilled ones and said, “I’ve gotten to know Ronaldo, and you, over the past seventeen months. Your father made one thing clear to me during our last meeting. When it came time to call it quits, he did not want me to drag this out– his words, not mine–and he did not want you sacrificing any more than you have. Your dad’s health has spiraled down faster than I would have expected over the past two weeks. He doesn’t want you doing this. He wants you to ... let him go.”
    Her throat muscles locked at the idea of being left behind once more. She couldn’t face tomorrow without her dad.
    She would not cry.
    Crying about things out of your control is wasted tears , Hot Stuff , her dad had told her the day her mother drove away from Los Angeles, taking Valene’s brother and only sibling to live with their maternal grandparents in Syracuse, New York.
    Her mother had hurt her father deeply, much as Dingo had hurt Valene when he vanished seven years ago. But Dingo had never said vows and very likely never would to anyone.
    Certainly not her.
    Did she really need this reminder of the unbearable pain she’d suffered when he left without a word? Sure, she’d shed this room full of tears at the time. But she’d bucked up and taken her father’s rule to heart once she realized keeping Dingo in her life had never been in her control.
    She’d dried her eyes and pushed on at that point.
    There would be no tears today either, because she was not about to give up on her dad.
    Getting him into an experimental treatment plan was in her control.
    She hoped.
    Valene stood straight and crossed her arms, prepared to do battle. “It’s my father’s right to have a say over his medical treatment, just as it’s my right to spend my money any way I choose. He was improving until four weeks ago. Before I do anything final, I’ll talk to him myself and respect his wishes, but right now all I want to know is do you, or do you not, have a treatment option for my dad?” 
    Dr. Bowen sat back and scratched his forehead, sighing with a disgruntled rumble. “Yes, my assistant found an experimental program that has a test running for mediastinal tumors, but the tumors in your father’s lungs are unlike any other mediastinal studied so far.”
    “I understand that it’s a rare form of lung cancer.”
    “Yes, you do, but my point is that this is really a long shot. They have an opening in five days, but the treatment is so risky and–”  He lowered his hand. The sucky news to follow was written in his sad face. “Expensive. It will cost thirty-seven thousand to cover everything he’ll need. This requires a ten thousand deposit by the day before the opening.”
    She sat down hard.
    Thirty-seven thousand. As in dollars.
    She had almost eight thousand in her checking account, but she needed that to keep her dad in the assisted living facility and a roof over her own head, meager as her home was these days. “Uh, okay... I’ll–” 
    What?
    Whip out a magic wand and conjure up thirty-seven thousand dollars in gold? That was as realistic as coming up with money any other way. At one time, she would have had triple that amount sitting in a stock account where she could put her hands on