Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 97525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Lee: seeing multiple women. Risking our relationship, and exposing us both to STDs. Lee: often drunk, getting in fights, coming home bloody and bruised. A liability nightmare as well as danger to himself and others. Lee: prone to tempers and driving under the influence. More liability. More risk.
"Did I?" Brant pulls my face back to him.
"In ways," I answer carefully. "Lee is a loose cannon. He doesn't have your level of control, nor intelligence. He acts without thinking things through. But … he isn't going to walk into your bank and withdraw your money. He has no idea that he’s you, so he isn't going to mess with your business or finances. The risk he poses to you are mostly liability. I could see him doing something that Brant Sharp is then sued for. He’s reckless and he acts like he doesn't have anything to lose.”
Brant groans and drops his head back. "That sounds disastrous."
"And this already happened? The competency thing?”
"My memory is a little confused due to the medication. But I think got something in place temporarily, and it’s being signed off on Monday. What’s today?”
“It’s Monday.” This is good. We can stop it, if we move fast enough. My mind ticks through who we should call.
Behind us, the sliding glass door moves and Anna's head tentatively sticks out. "Mr. Sharp? Ms. Fairmont? The doctor is here whenever you're ready."
"Thank you." I smile at her, then I meet his eyes. "Let me call my family's attorney. Have him stop Jillian. I don't want to trust BSX legal—"
"I don't either," he interrupts. "I agree. Use an outside attorney. Your father's will work until we can find permanent counsel."
"You should call your parents."
He frowns. "I know. It's not a conversation I'm looking forward to having."
"Do you think they'll side with Jillian?” I untangle myself from his lap and stand.
He shakes his head. "I don't know," he says slowly. "We've all let her run things for so long, without questions. I don't know if I would have believed it myself if she hadn’t chained me to a bed."
I offer him my hand and pull him to his feet. "I love you."
"I love you. Thank you for sticking with me through this."
I grin. "Thanks for not giving up when I turned down your proposals."
He turns over my hand, running his thumb over my bare ring finger. "Your ring is at the office. I’ll get it for you as soon as I can."
“I know you will." Through the glass, I can see Dr. Renhart, standing by the coffee bar, speaking to Anna. "Ready to see the doc?"
He nods. "Absolutely."
Chapter 76
Dr. Susan Renhart is dark-skinned and almost as tall as Brant, and she greets us both with a tight nod, showing none of the bright smiles she showers on the HYA children. I introduce the two of them, then we sit at the leather seating cluster by the two-story fireplace in our bedroom. After Brant gives her a quick recap of his psychological history, he passes her the bottle of pills.
"I've been on these pills for almost twenty years.”
Her eyebrows rise at the name on the bottle, her hands opening the lid with a practiced efficiency. She sprinkles a line of the white pills along her brown palm. “What do you think these are?”
“I was told that they were a depressant, one with caffeine in it. Something to keep me productive while keeping me calm enough to avoid a blackout. I take two each morning, and one whenever I get stressed.”
The doctor rolls the pills in her hand before keeping one and dumping the rest back into the plastic vial. "When's the last time you took one?"
“I think it’s been about three days? I’ve been drugged with something, so it’s hard to tell. And ... since I haven’t been taking them, I may have had blackouts when I was at Jillian's. I'm not sure."
"Blackouts?" she frowns. "I thought the issue was DID."
"It is." He pauses and sends a quick glance at me. "I'm sorry. I'm so used to thinking of them as blackouts, that's what I’ve always understood them to be."
"Did you take any medication at Jillian's?"
I stand and move a few steps away, aware of our need to contact the attorney. I scroll down to Damon Forsyth's cell number and press Send. I haven't spoken to the high-powered attorney in years, but I know he will answer my call. While I hate the weight of my family name, there are times when it comes in handy.
Brant’s gaze follows my movement. “Not willingly. But the doctor there injected me with something. At least once, maybe twice, I'm not sure. I want to know what's in my system and have documentation of that, should we need it."
She nods and reaches down, unbuckling the leather strap of her sleek doctor bag. "Let's pull some blood and get a urine sample."