Unlawful Escort (Unlawful Series book 1) (2 page)

“Not to worry, you’ll be rewarded handsomely”, he named an exorbitant amount and she coughed indelicately.

Then she did something he’d least expected; she threw her head back and laughed; not the ladylike giggles he was accustomed to but a rich sound that was contagious in its honesty.

“This is very fun
ny. Did Maya put you up to this?” she babbled between bouts of laugher, “you can tell her I…” she halted midsentence as she realized that he was dead serious.

“You’re serious”, she said, nonplussed.

He was silent for a moment, his cold brown eyes goring her. “There is no need for this charade, we both know that you’re an escort”, her mouth fell open at that, “I have no intention of telling anyone. That said, let’s be open with each other”.

She stared at him a
s if she had no inclination as to what he was saying.

“I’m sorry
Mr. ..?” she fished, staring at him as if she thought he was crazy.

“Bradley…
” he supplied, his voice tinged with annoyance.

“
…I think you have the wrong person."

His eyes narrowed suspiciously, “are you telling me that you’re not the woman who accompanied me to a dinner party two weeks ago..? You don’t know Roberta?” he continued when she sta
red at him blankly, “…the name Moonlight Ladies does not ring a bell..?"

She shook her head in confusion; suspicion dawning in her green eyes.
God, she was a good actress; either that or she was not the same woman who had jilted him two weeks ago and that was simply absurd. She should be jumping at his offer, instead she was behaving like a fool; denying what they both knew to be true.

He considered
abandoning this whole pursuit but then thought of Helen. He had been putting her off for more than a week but she was insistent that he should take Paige to dinner. It was his own fault for deceiving Helen but he intended to remedy the slight misdemeanor.

He groped in his jacket pocket for a business card and handed it to her. “In case you suddenly remember a little about what I said earlier”, he said wryly, rising from his chair, “I’ll give you a week to decide
”.

With that he strode from the café
, leaving her gaping after him, in nothing short of sheer disbelief.

WHAT AN ODDITY, PAIGE THOUGHT AS
she left the Café
shortly after Sebastian, rushing to her father’s old Chevy as she realized that it was almost six o’clock. Damn! She should have been at the hospital more than half hour ago. Her eyes stung as she thought of Joshua lying helplessly in a hospital bed. If only her father was here; he would give her the courage she needed to carry on; he always knew what to do.

Seven
years ago she had been a normal teenager; her only worry, keeping abreast of the latest fashion and dating the hottest guy in school. That was, until her father had a heart attack and died when she was only fourteen years old; a tear slid down her cheek at the painful reminder.

Her father had been an excellent
Gourmet Chef and a dedicated family man; he loved his children dearly and spoiled his little princess rotten but in his words exactly, ‘he didn’t care’. While he and her mother had been married before Paige was born and remained so until his tragic death; her only memory of Katherine was her constant absence.

Katherine was a socialite; the parties, the most expensive clothing and living in the limelight defined her. She
had often wondered as a child, how her parents managed to stay together as they were total opposites.

John had always been the
consummate parent; present at all school functions and always present when they needed him. Once it was of importance to his children, it remained foremost in his life. Paige always knew that she was a daddy’s girl; she could talk to her father about anything and he would always steer her in the right path.

And then he had died.

At first she had been angry that he had left her all alone in the world; further strained with the added responsibility of caring for her then, three year old brother, Joshua as her mother had become even more lackadaisical, if such a thing was possible. She drank more, returning home in the morning, more often than not, drunk and always exhausted, then sleeping throughout the day and waking up to do it all over again. Eventually, she had resolved that her brother needed her and thus, relinquishing all prospects of boyfriends, prom and the normal interests of teenagers, she had taken on the role of parent.

While she doubted her moth
er had worked a day in her life; her father had made smart financial choices and upon his death her mother had received a substantial amount of money in investment and insurance settlements. However when Paige turned eighteen and her mother decided to run off with a musician she had met at one of her parties; their bank accounts were partially empty. Fortunately her father had finished paying for the house or Paige was certain she and Joshua would have ended up without a roof over their heads.

After high school
, Paige had had no choice but to get a part time job while going to Culinary Arts School. Her Father had started a college fund and she had gotten a scholarship, thus she didn’t have to work as hard. Everything was falling into place; she had learned to juggle her part time job at the Bakery and Café and school along with caring for Joshua, until about a year ago.

Joshua came home from school one afternoon, complaining of
a belly ache and she had thought that it was merely indigestion so she had given him some medication and sent him off to school the next day. A week went by and then his stomach became swollen and she finally decided that his condition warranted a visit to the Hospital.

Upon reaching the Hospital and undergoing several tests; she was brought to a p
restigious office and meticulously informed that her brother had Chronic Kidney Disease, which it appeared, had resulted from some form of poisoning or something of the sort. She had two options; dialysis at least three times per week or transplant and since she didn’t have the money for a transplant, dialysis was her best bet. She didn’t have personal insurance and the insurance that her job offered was very limited considering that she only worked part time and even though she was working full time at the moment; there wasn’t a sane insurance company that would offer coverage to her brother.

As expected, she was devastated by the news of her brother’s illness; thus she had opted for the best alternative
she could facilitate; dialysis. She’d quit school almost instantly and started working full time at the Bakery and Cafe; this time as a Pastry Chef instead of a waitress with the ultimatum to save sufficient funds to pay for her brother’s transplant surgery, eventually. Now, a year later and she was even more broke. Between dialysis, medication and Joshua’s strict diet, she could hardly save a penny. Not to mention the fact that Joshua was not coping well with the stresses of living with a terminal illness.

Although it had taken her a we
ek to contact her mother, she’d informed her immediately of Joshua’s diagnosis. She’d appeared to be grief stricken; promising to return home as soon as she could, but she never did. She had called now and then; swearing that she would come home soon but Paige had learned to ignore her mother’s hollow commitments somewhere around her fourth try. Her father’s parents were her only tower of support as her mother’s family was so estranged she doubted they even remembered she and her brother existed.

Joshua
had come home from school, two days ago, with a swollen stomach. Conscious of the severity of his illness and its symptoms, she had rushed him to the emergency room where he was immediately admitted. She hoped he would be released today as she was at her whit’s end. She needed him to come home; to know that she had more time to come up with the money for his transplant surgery.

She shook aside her morbid thoughts as she drove into the Hospital’s Parking Lott and plastered a smile unto her face. It wouldn’t do to let Joshua see her melancholy mood; he needed to stay strong to ba
ttle this God forsaken illness and she was his only source of strength.

CHAPTER THREE

JOSHUA WAS ASLEEP WHEN
she got to the hospital so she took a few moments to stroke his wan cheeks; willing the tears that sprung to her eyes to keep at bay. She traced the lines of his fragile face and her heart broke; like it had so many times since his diagnosis. How many times had she questioned why such a horrible thing had to happen to her brother? At least he was still alive she consoled herself.

She sunk into a chair next to his bed; content to watch the gentle rise and fall of his fragile chest. The nurse had told her on her way in that Doctor Walsh wanted to speak with her; she hoped it was about Joshua’s release.

“Ms. Sinclair”, Dr. Walsh’s voice broke through her silent
musing, “Can I speak to you in my office please”, he smiled reassuringly but there was a hint of sadness in his grey eyes.

“Sure”, she said apprehensively, following him through the throng of people in the Hospital’s lobby to a small
office with medical diagrams decorating the walls.

“Sit”, he instructed as he sat behind the sole desk in the office and her
stomach clenched painfully.

He sighed heavily. “Your bro
ther is not coping well with his illness at all”, he said, “he has been admitted to the hospital four times this month alone, as you are aware, which we believe is as a result of not following our dietary instructions”.

She hung her head in embarrassment. She supposed the Doctor believed that she was not
paying keen attention to her brother’s food intake.

“I’m sorry Dr. Walsh
”, she said apologetically, “I promise I’ll keep a closer eye on him”.

She wondered if such
a thing was possible as it seemed that Joshua had no intention of fighting his illness. Since his diagnosis she had ensured that there was no food in the house that he was not supposed to eat, informed his teachers and sitters of his dietary constraints, yet, he somehow managed to eat whatever he wanted.

"We’ll have to keep him here until his condition is stabilized”, Doctor Walsh said, “and to be honest his prospects are not loo
king so wonderful at the moment”.

“What do you mean?” she asked in a trembling voice; fear knotting her
gut.

“
I suggest you start working on that transplant”, he said, “the disease is getting worst and it’s only a matter of time before his Kidneys fail completely”.

A strangled cry broke from her l
ips. “No, no. Not J. He’s just ten years old”, she choked.

She had known from the beginning that such a fate was possible but somehow hearing it from the Doctor made it seem all the more real.

“There’s no need for you to panic”, he said without much conviction, “you can work through the particulars with the Hospital’s administration. It’s best to start before his condition worsens as organs are not that easy to come by.”

She knew what the ‘particulars’ were; had known since the day Joshua was diagnosed and so did Dr. Walsh as he had been one of the Doctors assigned to Joshua from that first day.
Where was she supposed to get that amount of money from?

There was a knock at the door and D
octor Walsh bade whomever enter. She barely heard as the Nurse told him that he was needed in the Emergency Room and he ushered her back to the lobby. She was numb to her very soul as she retraced her steps to Joshua’s bedside; not wanting him to wake and see her crying; she kissed him on the cheek and left. She was halfway home when her eyes became so blurred by tears that she had to pull over on the side of the road.

Desolate and inconsolable, she leaned her forehead on the edge of the steering wheel and let it all out; gut wrenching sobs tearing from her throat. What did a ten year old, innocent boy like Joshua ever do to deserve such a horrible fate and she couldn’t even help him; she cried harder at the thought.

Eventually she composed herself enough to drive home without killing anyone or herself in the process. She was fishing for her keys in her purse when her eyes caught sight of something; the card that Sebastian Bradley had given to her.

She had not given the encounter much thought because of all that had happened with Joshua.
The incident was quite bizarre. Now that she thought about it, why would a guy like Sebastian Bradley need to hire a girlfriend? More importantly, how on earth had he found her? Now that she thought about it, there must be dozens of people in New York with her name. Was faith offering her some sort of salvation by leading him to her? She mulled over the facts as she prepared a pot of tea to boil and went to shower.

Perh
aps he was lying, she concluded. Besides, where could anyone get that sort of money he had mentioned. She substituted her languorous soak for a quick shower as a thought occurred to her. She rushed to her room; hauled a night shirt over her head and turned on her laptop and Googled his name. If he was all Maya had claimed; there must be an article about him as well as photos.