Exposed - Part Three (The Exposed Series, #3) (3 page)

"Why did he say he loved you then?" I hear the irritation in her tone. I know she wants me to fight for him but what is there to fight for? A man who repeatedly lied to me? A man who apparently thought it was okay to fuck me while he was planning a wedding with someone else?

"I don't care, Alexa." I turn to straighten the napkins on the counter. "I have to forget about him. I have to."

She wraps her arm around my waist, pulling me into a tight embrace. "You can't. You love him too."

***

"I
'm going to meet the mother of my heart donor tomorrow." I throw the words out casually as if I'm announcing that I have an appointment to get a manicure.

Both my mother and Maria turn in unison. "You're going to what?" My mother drops the apple she's been peeling onto the counter. It starts to roll before Maria scoops it up in her hand.

"I'm going to have dinner with Coral's mother," I say the words proudly.

"Coral?" she asks tightly. "Who is that?"

"It's the name of my heart donor." I tap my foot in frustration. "Please don't act like you don't know her name."

"Don't take that tone with me." She drops the paring knife she's holding onto a plate. "I don't know her name. I've never known her name."

Her reply jars me. How could she have not known? My father knew who Coral was. He even knew Hunter.

"Dad knew," I spit back. "You're telling me you had no clue."

"Your father knew?" she asks, her voice trembling slightly.

"Yes." I don't move from my spot near the kitchen's entrance. "He knew all about Coral and how she died."

"For how long?" She pulls her hands into her lap to hide the fact that they're shaking.

"I don't know." I suddenly feel a pang of guilt for throwing this at her in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon. I thought she knew. I thought she and my father had agreed to hide the truth from me.

She bows her head towards her lap. "Why didn't he tell me?" she mumbles in barely more than a whisper.

"Do you want to come with me?" I know the timing is horrific. She just found out that my father had knowledge of my heart donor and now I'm asking her to face the mother of that woman in a little more than thirty-six hours.

Her eyes dart up and lock with mine. I see a faint hint of sadness wash over them. "I can't. I can't, Sadie."

"I
'm so glad you came, Sadie." Christina greets me as I walk through the door of Axel NY. When I spoke to Clive on the phone and he suggested the restaurant as the destination for my dinner with his mother and sister, I almost hung up on him. Finding the strength to board the train and travel back to Manhattan, and this place in particular, wasn't an easy task.

I don't look at her. I can't. This is the woman who is going to marry Hunter. She's going to have a life with him. All I had were a few fleeting weeks when I believed he could actually be my destiny.

"My mother is over there." She points to a small table tucked away in a corner near the back of the room. "She's so excited."

I nod silently as I follow Christina across the crowded space. I breathe a small sigh of relief when I realize that the table is only set for three. Hunter won't be here.

"You were never properly introduced." Christina stops as we near the table. "This is my mother, Faye Parker."

The petite woman stands and reaches to embrace me. I pull her into my chest knowing that this is just the first moment in an evening that is going to be filled with deep and difficult emotions.

As she pulls back I'm instantly aware that she's staring at my chest. I chose a black dress that completely covers my scar for tonight. I didn't want the constant reminder of her daughter's heart to overshadow our time together.

"Do you always cover it up?" She motions to my chest.

I'm staggered by the boldness of her question. "Normally, yes."

"Are you ashamed of it?" She sits next to Christina.

I lower myself into a chair opposite them. "Not at all." I know my voice is trembling. I had imagined the evening in my mind all afternoon as I rode the train into the city. This particular scenario, of Coral's mother launching, without any small talk, into a conversation about her daughter's heart, wasn't what I anticipated at all.

"You're a very lucky young lady." She takes a heavy swallow from a glass of red wine. "If it wasn't for us you'd be dead."

I cringe at her words. How dare she? How does she expect me to respond to that? For a brief moment I wish I had asked Alexa to come with me. "Excuse me?" I ask hoping that by some small and unexpected miracle I misheard her cold and insensitive words.

"If my Coral hadn't died that night, you wouldn't have made it." The words spill out of her with very little discernable emotion.

I move my gaze from her face to Christina's and I'm instantly struck by how gleeful she looks. She's nodding in agreement. I feel as though I've stepped into a lion's den and I'm their bait.

"I would have stayed on the donor list until another heart was available," I whisper.

"Your dad said you were on the list for months."

Christina's mention of my father so casually bites into me. I silently wonder how long he's been in contact with them. He knew I was meeting them tonight, why didn't he warn me they were vultures who would instantly be circling my heart?

"I was sick for a long time," I offer. I feel vulnerable and exposed. Sharing details of my illness with them feels like too much. It's obvious, by the first five minutes of our time together, that who I am matters little to them. It's Coral's heart to them.

"Now you're fine because of my daughter." Faye empties her wine glass in one quick gulp and I watch silently as Christina reaches over to refill it without any prompt.

"I'm very grateful." I try to sit up straighter.

"You should be," Christina spits back. "If Zander hadn't killed her, you'd be the one in the ground."

The words are so bitter. I don't respond. I stare into her face. He's marrying her. He's choosing her over me. This spiteful, mean woman is going to walk down the aisle and he's going to promise to love her forever.

"I'm sorry I'm late." As if on cue, I feel his hand lightly brush my shoulder as his voice greets me from behind.

"That’s typical for you, Zander," Christina snaps. "Sit down. We were just getting started."

"W
hat did I miss?" He lowers himself into the chair next to me. I watch Christina's face as he sits. They don't acknowledge one another at all.

"We were just telling her how grateful she should be to us." Faye motions for a waiter. "You took so long to get here, Zander. I think my blood sugar is dropping. We need to order."

I clench my fist on my lap at her mention of my need to be grateful yet again.

"Sadie is very grateful," he offers as he reaches to fill both of our glasses with wine. "We've talked about Coral a lot."

"Why didn't you tell me that you found her?" Christina hisses in a hushed tone as her gaze is locked on him. "How long ago did you talk to her?"

"Not long." He nods at the waiter as he finally approaches.

I order and sit in stunned silence watching the three of them casually order their dinners. I can smell Hunter's cologne. The table is tucked into such a small, cramped space that his leg is pressed against mine. I know I should pull it away but it's offering me comfort and a sense of stability right now. As much as I know that Hunter has lied to me, the cruelty that these two women have exhibited is disorienting me to the point that I'm unsure whether I can even make it through dinner.

"When Zander?" Christina asks as soon as the waiter takes his leave.

"When what?" He swallows half of the wine in his glass in one swift movement. I stare at his hand as he lowers the glass to the table. That hand. It's the hand that cradled my face, and held mine and brought me so much pleasure.

"When did you find her?" She enunciates each word in between clenched teeth.

"Recently," he offers. "How was the train? Did you get in on time?" He shifts his entire body so he's facing me directly.

I look into his eyes knowing that if I don't temper what I'm feeling for him, both of these women are going to realize that there's more to Hunter and my friendship than a shared interest in Coral's heart.

"Zander." Christina exhales loudly. "Don't ignore me. Answer the question."

"I did." He loosens his tie, never once shifting his gaze from my face. "Did you travel alone or is Alexa in Manhattan too?"

"Who the fuck is Alexa?" Christina slaps her hand against the table. "Stop talking to her. I'm sitting right here."

"She's Sadie's friend." His voice is calm and controlled. I stare into his eyes and I see a veil of darkness there. His body is there, next to me, leaning into mine but his mind is somewhere else.

"No," I whisper. "I'm here alone."

"Is she old enough to travel alone?" Faye asks flatly. "She's a teenager, isn't it?"

"She's older than that." Christina blurts out. "I heard she goes to college."

"She's a student at Harvard." Hunter's hand brushes against my leg and I flinch. "She's studying to be a doctor."

I pull my eyes around the table, stopping to study each of their faces. I feel as though I'm invisible to these two women. The way they're carrying on a conversation as if I'm not present is disheartening. I had such high hopes for this evening and they've all crumpled into a messy heap.

"She goes to Harvard?" Small droplets of wine shoot from Christina's mouth onto the stark white tablecloth.

Hunter finally turns to look at her. "Control yourself, Christina."

The blush that rushes over her face isn't from embarrassment. The rage in her eyes is unmistakable. "Don’t humiliate me. You'll regret it."

The threat sits in the air with a heavy silence. I glance at Hunter and I see him roll his eyes in exasperation.

"I wanted to do something substantial with my life," I spit the words out hoping that they'll shift the conversation to a brighter place. If I can just make it through this dinner, I'll be free from having to see any of these people again.

"With Coral's life you mean," Faye reaches across the table to tap my hand. "It's Coral's life."

"No." I lean back to gain distance and hopefully some perspective. "It's my life."

"Sadie. You would be dead if it weren't for my daughter." The muted chuckle that accompanies her words bites into me. She truly only sees me as a vessel for Coral's heart.

"That's enough." Hunter pulls my hand into his under the table. I know I should pull away but I can't. I'm so close to falling apart.

"What's enough?" Faye's eyes bore into him. "What? We wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you."

"I didn't find her so you could treat her like this." He squeezes my hand.

"That's not what I meant." She flippantly waves her hand in the air. "We wouldn't be here if you hadn't killed my precious Coral."

T
here are no words as the waiter sets each plate down on the table with a flourish. He explains in pointed detail what each dish contains. The smell of the food should be making my mouth water but al I feel is a deep and penetrating sense of nausea.

No one speaks as they each eat in silence. I move the salad I ordered around on my plate, never once bringing the fork to my mouth. How could she speak to him like that? How could she blatantly accuse him of killing Coral right in front of me? She said it so effortlessly. It flowed off her tongue as if she's said it countless times before. Maybe she had. Maybe that's all he's heard for the last ten years.

"He didn't kill Coral." I drop my fork onto the plate and the sound echoes through the silence hovering over our cramped space.

They look up in unison. I can't look at Hunter. I can't pull my eyes away from Faye's face.

"You don't know what happened that night," Christina jumps in. "You weren't there."

"You think he killed her too?" I snap. "You think he killed your sister?"

"Why the hell are you defending him?" She pushes her plate away from her as if she's readying herself for a fistfight. "Who are you to stick your nose in our business?"

"You don't seriously believe he intentionally killed her, do you?" I push back. I can't believe that they've spent most of our time together, pointing their fingers at Hunter over an accident that happened more than a decade ago.

"What do you know about it?" Christina takes a long drink from her wine glass and my eyes settle on her massive engagement ring.

I pull in a deep breath, trying to calm my pounding heart. "I know that Coral died in a tragic car accident. An accident." I say the last word slowly as if I'm hoping she'll magically comprehend the meaning of it.

"If he had been paying attention that night, Coral would be here," Faye's voice cracks. "He killed her."

I bite my lip trying to temper my emotions. It's as if these two women are stuck on the side of the road next to the smoldering remnants of Hunter's car. They haven't moved past that point in time emotionally. Why did Hunter tell me Faye was amazing? She's amazingly cruel; maybe that’s what he meant.

"It was an accident," I repeat.

"You're saying that to make yourself feel better. That's your guilt talking." The calmness in Christina's voice is jarring.

"My guilt?" I raise my brows. "What guilt?"

"The guilt you have to live with every day." She pulls in a heavy breath. "The guilt of knowing that my beautiful sister died and that you're alive because of that."

"I don't have any guilt," I say defensively. "It was an accident. Accidents happen."

Hunter shifts in his seat so his leg is pressing harder into mine now. I'm finding strength in his touch even though I can't bring myself to look at him.

"You should feel guilty every time you take a breath," Faye seethes as she points her finger at me. "My baby is dead. You should be dead and not her."

I feel as though my lungs collapse at the contempt in her words. I can't speak. I look down at my lap.

"That's disgusting." Hunter's voice carries over my head. "Don't talk to her like that."