from her cheek. “Hey, sweetie. Is it okay if I see my mom while I’m out? Would you mind?”
“Not at all. Is everything all right?”
“Fine. Why do you ask?”
“You sound weird. Like you’re upset. Did something happen at the agency?”
More tears fell as she ached to tell him. But he didn’t need to hear it right now. “Just regular crap.” She cringed as he requested a video chat. Wiping her cheeks again and taking a deep breath to calm herself, she accepted it. “Hey, handsome.”
He frowned at her. “Do you need me to come get you?”
His thoughtfulness choked her. No matter what, he always put her first. “I need you to rest. You’re not supposed to leave the bed. You know that.”
His scowl deepened. “I will come get you if you need me to. Just say the word.”
She traced the lines of his face on her small screen. “Thank you. But I haven’t seen my mom in a few weeks. Do you want me to pick something up for you while I’m out?”
“Nah. I’m good. Just be safe.”
“I will. Now lie back down and rest.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He kissed his fingers, then held them out to her.
Smiling, she duplicated the gesture before she hung up and sat in silence while she ran over every possible legal way to get that amount of money.
I can always rob a bank. Prison was an acceptable alternative to being Anatole’s companion.
The transport stopped outside her mother’s condo building. Felicia paid the fee, then headed for the door. She ran up the stairs and waited for her mother to buzz her in to the complex.
As soon as she reached the hallway, her mother was at the door, waiting.
“What’s wrong?”
Felicia started crying again as she threw herself into her mother’s arms and told her everything. Ever tall, elegant and graceful, her mother led her into her the kitchen and made them tea. She didn’t speak as Felicia unloaded her entire predicament.
“What do I do, Mommy?”
Her mother handed her a box of cookies. “What did I tell you about being a companion?”
“Not to fall in love.”
“And what’s the first thing you do?”
“I can’t help it.” Felicia held her link up to show her mother the lock screen photo of Talyn in his uniform. “Could you say no to this face?”
“He is pretty. But —”
“You don’t know him, Mama. He’s not like other males. He takes care of me like I’m his beloved wife. Talyn’s precious and kind. Funny. Warm.”
“And your father once took care of me, too. Until his wife forced him to leave us. Even though I’d given up everything to be with him, including my family’s support and a staggering trust fund, he didn’t look back.”
That was true. But Talyn wasn’t her father. “Talyn can’t legally marry.”
“You think that makes this better, Felicia? You stay with him and you’ll never have children of your own.”
She shook her head. “I can’t be the mistress to Anatole. Not for five minutes, never mind ten years. He’s a beast like his brother… who he’ll probably share me with. I’d sooner kill myself.”
“Don’t be melodramatic.”
“I’m dead serious. The thought of it makes my skin crawl.”
Her mother sighed wearily. “I have fifty thousand I can loan you, but it has to be a loan. I don’t have that kind of money and it’s every bit of what I have in savings. Maybe we can work out a payment plan with your agency?”
She gave her mother a droll stare.
“I said maybe.” With a heavy sigh, her mother sipped at her tea. “Since the day you were born backwards, you’ve been impossible, child. You’ve never, ever done anything the easy way.”
“I know. I’m working on shaving more years off your life.”
Her mother snorted. “Yes. You are.” She took Felicia’s hand into hers. “But you are ever my beautiful baby girl. And I will do everything I can to help you. You know that. Give me a few days to talk to your father, and see if I can work something out with that old goat.”
Felicia choked on another sob as the uselessness of that cut her to the bone. “He didn’t pay for my school. Why would he do this?”
“You didn’t ask him to pay. You didn’t want to.”
“Fine. Assault me with the truth. But he doesn’t love me. Not the way he loves his legal children. You know that.”
“Still… you are his flesh and blood. I’ll ask him for a personal loan. If he doesn’t have it, maybe he’ll cosign a loan