Unchained Memories (30 page)

The pieces fell into place. Brad purposefully brought her into this case, not only counting on her warmth and gratitude toward Dr. Collins, but also knowing Dr. Collins must have felt a special bond with her. Why else would he have funded her trust? Their mutual admiration would play well into Brad’s plan to manipulate a settlement, with Charlotte and Dr. Collins, as his pawns.

Tears of frustration struggled to get out, but she wouldn’t, couldn’t, let Brad see any weakness in her, for she knew he would pounce on injured prey and hold up the carcass in victory.

“Don’t be so naïve, Charlotte. This is the real world. If I can use something to our advantage in a case, you know me well enough to assume I’m going to use it. I hired you for this reason. You’re our ace for any lawsuits against Nassau General. You have a personal connection to the doctors there, yet you’re willing to sue them to seek justice for our clients. How nice it’s come out through a press conference. This revelation will prove to the community that our firm will stop at nothing to protect their rights. That not even a personal relationship with the chief of surgery will throw us off course. It’s a brilliant piece of PR and something our marketing firm could never have come up with.”

Charlotte’s brain scrambled and her tongue tied. There was nothing, absolutely nothing to say to this man, this barracuda. An overzealous reporter had managed to uncover some very personal information about her, and instead of commiserating with her, Brad reveled in it because it brought recognition to him and his firm. He was beyond discussion, beyond reason.

The pounding in her head was nothing compared to the pain in her heart. She had been manipulated into becoming involved in a lawsuit against the person she had fallen in love with and encouraged to convince her protector, Dr. Collins, to interfere in that suit. Neither of them deserved her betrayal. Dr. Collins had taken her under his wing ten years ago, and without presuming to step into the shoes of her parents, had done so much for her without her even knowing it. And Clay…

“When we get back to the office,” Brad broke in, “I want to discuss your strategy for Montgomery’s deposition.”

Was he insane? “I’m not taking Clay’s deposition. I can’t. As a matter of fact, I can no longer work on this case. There are too many conflicts.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. There is no conflict. Collins isn’t a defendant. And I’ve already gotten a written statement from our clients’ waiving any potential conflict they might have perceived because of your prior relationship with Montgomery. I assured them you were the lawyer for the job and that nothing would interfere with your representation of them.”

So Brad knew about her friendship with Clay. If Charlotte could have yelled, she would have. Instead it echoed through her head like the silent scream of Edvard Munch’s famous painting. It was coming down to a duel between she and Brad, and Charlotte realized she was up against a master. He was painting her into a corner, and the only choice she would have would be to quit.

Yet, Charlotte wasn’t a quitter. She was a fighter, a survivor. She chose to struggle through rough times with the goal of becoming stronger. While she wanted to fling the words fuck you in Brad’s face, she knew the only person it would hurt was her. She needed time to think this through, to make sure that whatever decision she made, she would be able to handle the consequences.

“If you’re thinking about resigning from the firm,” he said in his wickedly slick voice, which she now knew was that of the devil, “just know I’ll black ball you so no firm in a hundred mile radius will touch you.”

The devil was laying it on thick. Interesting. “Why would you want me to stay if I don’t want to?” What benefit could it possibly be to him to have an associate working for him who now despised him?

“Your history with the doctors at Nassau General will benefit us, as well as our clients. Besides, you owe me.” He reached over and patted her on the knee as if they were good friends.

She batted his hand away. “I owe you? For what?”

“Your parents brought me into the firm fifteen years ago as a new associate, mentoring me, grooming me for partnership. And just when I had it in my grasp, the very day of the partnership meeting when the Taylors had promised to nominate me, they got into an accident on the way back from one of your silly choral group shows. It took another whole year for one of the other partner’s to nominate me.”

So this was a vendetta. He had planned her hiring all along. Gone after her specifically to litigate cases against Nassau General. Gone after her to make up for some sick, perceived wrong inflicted upon him because her parents had gotten into a car accident and died. Pinpoints of fear pricked her skin. She was in the presence of a mad man.

Refusing to comment on his vapid remark seemed to make him uneasy.

“So, Charlotte, what’s going on in that brilliant mind of yours?”

If she responded, what would come out? She opted to ignore him and kept her eyes straight, her chin held high.

He chuckled, clearly believing he had won this round.

He clearly didn’t know Charlotte.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Did you know there wasn’t enough money in Mom’s and Dad’s trust for both of us to finish school?” Charlotte had barely gotten through Renee’s front door when the accusatory question came spilling out of her mouth. So much for diplomacy.

“What are you talking about?” Renee stopped picking up dollhouse furniture and focused on Charlotte. “I wasn’t involved in their trust. That lawyer…what was his name?”

“Paul Diamond.”

“Right. Paul Diamond. He was the trustee. I sent my school bills to him and they got paid. He never said a word to me. I just assumed. Mom and Dad were both lawyers. We had a nice house, went to private school, had some great vacations.” A frown creased her brow.

“I learned yesterday our parents didn’t have any life insurance, and they’d been very generous during their lifetimes to the charities they’d supported. Which left us with a modest trust that covered your education, but not mine.”

“What are you saying? That you have college and law school debts?”

“No.” Charlotte sank onto the sofa and put her head in her hands.

Renee came over to her and stroked her arm, like she’d seen her do dozens of times to her kids when they’d been upset. “Tell me what’s going on. You’re scaring me.”

Charlotte sat back and sighed. Then she poured out the story.

“How awful. I can’t believe you found this out from a reporter. And your boss.” Renee shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Charlotte. I swear I didn’t know. I never looked at anything the trustee sent me in the mail. I threw it away. I didn’t want to deal with it. Or be reminded of their deaths.” Renee paused while staring into space, as if trying to piece together the puzzle, all the while continuing to stroke Charlotte’s arm. “Did you talk to Dr. Collins?”

“Yes,” Charlotte croaked, her throat so tight, it hurt.

“What did he say?”

Charlotte laid her head back and closed her eyes, feeling the weight of all she’d learned in that meeting, all she’d felt as a result of it, and all she needed to do, come crashing down on top of her.

“He made it easy.” She inhaled, garnering the strength to talk about this out loud. “I must have been as white as a sheet when I arrived. He jumped out of his chair and immediately rushed to my aid. I started crying.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe I did that. I felt like a child again, looking to an adult to comfort me. And there I was, leaning on the man who cares so much about Nassau General and its doctors. I had betrayed him by filing that lawsuit. But he didn’t push me away, or tell me to get out, or even snub me. No. He ushered me into his office, sat me down, got me a glass of water, and closed the door so I could have a breakdown in private.”

“Did he know why you were there? Why you were so distraught?”

“No. He waited patiently for me to get myself under control, sitting next to me the whole time, trying to calm me down. In fits and starts, I told him about the press conference. And do you know what he did?”

“What?” Renee was now sitting on the edge of the couch, hanging on every word.

“He smiled at me and said, ‘Charlotte, I invested my money well. You’re a good, hard-working attorney. You care about people, and you will always do the right thing.’ Can you believe that? There was no animosity, no lecture on my choice of career. Not a question about how I could do this to them.”

“He’s a class act. So, how did you leave it?”

“I told him I would get out of the case.”

“What did he say?”

“That I shouldn’t make any hasty decisions. That I was a reasonable lawyer who would deal fairly when presented with the evidence. That I shouldn’t burn any bridges with my law firm unless I was ready to face the consequences.” Charlotte wrapped her arms around herself, warding off the chill enveloping her. The Brad Carlton chill. “He acted like a father.”

“So, you are going to turn the case over to someone else, aren’t you?”

“Yes. And then I’m going back to California.”

“No. You can’t.” Renee paled and grabbed onto Charlotte’s arm and squeezed it. “We need you. I need you.”

Charlotte managed a smile. “You don’t need me. You may want me because I’m a great babysitter and I help you clean.”

Renee burst into tears, throwing Charlotte totally off kilter. Charlotte had been trying to lighten the mood, not make it worse.

“We finally found each other again,” Renee sobbed. “You’re my family. I never knew what I was missing, not having you around. During this past year you’ve been my rock, my lifeline. I owe everything to you. You can’t leave.” She pulled Charlotte into her embrace, and hugged her hard.

Charlotte had been trying with herculean effort to hold on, but her sister’s words opened the floodgates, and hot tears fell on Renee’s shoulder as the two of them clung to each other.

When they were finally able to breathe again, Charlotte pulled away, but held onto Renee’s hands. “I know this is hard. It’s hard for me, too. I just don’t know what else to do right now. I told Paul Diamond what’s been going on, why Brad hired me, how he’d asked me to speak to Dr. Collins about settling the case. How he knew about my trust being funded and figured Dr. Collins would want to help me in any way possible. Paul was livid. He and his other partners are having a meeting tonight and he assured me Brad would be gone by week’s end.”

“So there’s no reason for you to leave.”

“Yes. There is. I can’t do medical malpractice here. I don’t want to be involved in any other lawsuits against Nassau General, or their doctors.”

“You could do something else. There are dozens of areas of law you could practice. You’re so smart. Any firm, including Cooper, Smith, would be lucky to have you.”

Charlotte knew Renee was just being supportive, and she didn’t have the strength to dissuade her of her idealistic views. At least not now. “I’ll think about it.”

Renee wisely seemed to take those words as the best she was going to get, and nodded. “Okay. Good. I’ll think about it too. I’m sure, between the two of us, we’ll manage to come up with something that will work.”

Charlotte released Renee’s hand. “You better go wash your face and fix your mascara. Won’t Matt be here soon?”

Renee glanced at her watch. “I have five minutes.” She stood and looked at Charlotte with pleading eyes.

Charlotte held up her hand. “Please don’t say anything. We’ll both start crying again, and I don’t want Matt walking in on that scene.”

Renee nodded and started toward the steps. “I think I already told you, Eva is at her girlfriend’s house. She’s sleeping over there tonight. Jake must be getting into trouble upstairs. He’s too quiet. Jake?” she called, now taking the steps two at a time.

Charlotte found a tissue and wiped the stray tears from her cheeks. Glancing in the hall mirror, a pale, tired face looked back. She hadn’t slept more than an hour or two last night, wrestling with the decision she had to make.

There was no good answer.

The doorbell rang and her sigh was audible. Matt. The last person she wanted to see right now.

Answering the door, Matt nodded to her as he came in, but only said, “Is Renee ready?”

“She’ll be down in a minute.”

He averted his gaze, and instead inspected his shoes, or maybe the carpet. Then he found his voice. “I’ll wait out in the car.” With that, he turned and walked back out the door.

Great. He couldn’t even stand being in the same room with her.

Renee came down the stairs with Jake in tow. “He was standing on his bed, tossing play money from one of his games to the floor, one by one. Apparently, he likes the way it floats in the air. His floor is covered. Maybe you can make a game out of picking it all up.”

“Sure.” Charlotte went over to ruffle Jake’s hair. “What do you think, buddy? Shall we go back and clean up your room?”

Jake bounded back up the stairs. “Come on, Aunt Charlotte, I have a new game to play.”

“I thought I heard the doorbell. Where’s Matt?”

“He’s waiting for you in the car. Apparently, it was too much for him to make small talk with the enemy.”

Renee turned her lips down. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. Go. Have a good time.” Charlotte tried to ignore the tension in her chest. “Jake and I have a new game to play.” She gave Renee a smile and pushed her toward the door. “I’ll see you later.”

For the next half hour, Charlotte attempted to engage Jake in helping to clean his room, but at some point realized it was futile. So she picked up the paper money, which was scattered in every nook and cranny. After all her hard work, he was hungry, so they travelled to the kitchen by piggy-back.

“How about some comfort food,” Charlotte suggested. “Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You can help make them.”

After looking in every cabinet, she finally located the basic ingredients.

“I never had this before,” commented Jake, sticking his hand into the jar and coming out with a gob of peanut butter on his index finger. “It’s good.”

“Hasn’t your mother ever made you a PB and J sandwich?”