GREED(99)

“Spencer?” I heard to my side. I turned. It was Dr. Caldwell. “We need to admit you.”

“What?” Bridge asked, sitting up.

“I’m, uh, I’m giving Cricket a kidney.”

I stood and squeezed Emmett’s shoulder. “I will fix this,” I told him. He clasped my hand so kindly that I almost lost it.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this for my granddaughter,” he said. “Thank you. With everything I have, thank you.”

I shook my head at him. “No, Emmett, thank you for allowing me to.”

I hugged Ellie and she whispered a prayer into my ear. She too thanked me for my sacrifice. I couldn’t believe them, these people I had ruined the lives of. They were so unbelievably generous that it humbled me.

“Jonah, Bridge, if you’ll see me soon. I’d like to arrange for a few things? I’ll need your help.”

“Of course,” Bridge answered.

I walked to Cricket’s side and pressed my hands into her skin. I leaned over and kissed her mouth before whispering in her ear. “I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow. I hope to save your life the way you have saved mine.”

Dr. Caldwell led me to an admitting desk. An orderly made me sit in a wheelchair, which I thought ridiculous, but since I was officially a patient there, they didn’t want to take the risk of my falling or something else inconceivable. They wheeled me into a room a floor below Cricket’s.

As soon as I was in the room, I picked up the phone and dialed my father.

“Spencer,” he greeted coldly, having no idea how he knew it was me.

“What can I do to get you to call this off? I’ll pay for the ranch. Anything you want I will do.”

He laughed. I could hear him in his office chair as it creaked. I imagined him getting comfortable. He loved this part of the game.

“Spencer, there is nothing you could do, beg, offer that would change this decision. I’m doing this solely for my own pleasure. To screw you over as you’ve screwed me.”

“How?” I asked, calmly. “What I have I even done to you?”

“You defied me,” he stated. “And now you must pay.”

“And this is just to teach me a lesson?”

“No, not to teach you a lesson. Lessons are for people I plan on keeping around. This is, like I said, only for my own pleasure. I want you to suffer.”

Suddenly my hate for him seeped out in a muddy, vicious river and was replaced with pity.

“Dad,” I said with mercy, “I forgive you.”

He didn’t respond. I had mystified him.

“I will let you do these things to people you’ve never met before because I hope beyond all hope that you will discover the cruelty and hate that has taken up residence in your heart and soul and you will change yourself.”

He inhaled loudly. “Listen, you little—” he began, but I hung up before he could finish.

I made one more phone call.

An hour or so later, Bridge and Jonah arrived. I was so amped up that Dr. Caldwell told me they may have to postpone surgery if I couldn’t get my blood pressure in check. I knew as soon as I could get Bridge and Jonah to help I would be able to calm down.

“I have seven million, two hundred ninety-three thousand, eight hundred fifty-nine dollars and seventeen cents stashed away in a bank account in Zurich,” I began, shocking them. “And a few hundred thousand more sitting in a deposit box in Kalispell in Cricket’s name. My attorney in New York is aware of what I want and he’s put all the funds in Zurich in your name, Bridget.”

Her eyes blew wide. “Me?”

I laughed. “Yeah, you. Here’s the phone number,” I said, handing her a pad of paper. I had written all the information she needed. “I’ll be in surgery and recovery and we have a limited amount of time before Dad closes the doors on the Hunts for good.

“Jonah, I’m so, so sorry that my family has harmed yours so egregiously, and I know my father has stolen a hundred years’ worth of land that was your legacy.” I sighed, afraid I’d break down. “But I am asking you and your family to forgive mine and accept this money, however much you need, to buy yourselves another ranch.”

“We can’t take this,” Jonah answered.

“Jonah, this is not up for negotiation. You will take this money, or when I get out of here, I will buy one anyway and move all your stuff there. This way is better because you can choose what’s best for your family.”

“I’m-I don’t know what to say,” he said. “Thank you.”

“No, no thank you’s. This is the best way I know how to right a wrong.”