Page 82 of Every Last One

“For the rich, or if I was magical…”

“What would you do if you were magical?”

There was silence.

Sandra was quick to step in. “You seem magical to me, Alaya. You beat cancer, and that makes you a survivor. That’smagical,” she stressed.

“But it’s back. I can’t fight anymore. I just can’t. And Dyl and I… we can’t afford it. We have no more money to give these leeches!” she roared.

There was no sound in the room behind her, which concerned Sandra, but she had to stay the course. Using a soft voice, she said, “Your husband loves you, Alaya. He says you’ll figure things out.”

“He’s naive. He’s always been a pie-in-the-sky dreamer. There’s no way we canfigurethis out. We don’t have money trees in the backyard. My husband and I are one buck away from claiming bankruptcy. I told him he’s better off without me. He just needs to move on and forget all about me.”

“You sound desperate and like you can’t see a way out.”

“I don’t.”

“Let me help you see there is one. Just surrender peacefully. No one else needs to get hurt.”

“No, I can’t. Dylan needs me to do this.”

“He loves you and said you can work this out,” Sandra repeated.

“It’s too late. Look where I am, what I’ve done.”

“There’s nothing you can’t walk away from, Alaya.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“It sounded to me like you chose that name for yourself. You don’t want me to call you that anymore?”

“No.”

“Meditation is soothing to the mind, body, and spirit.” Again, Sandra veered some. “Do you still enjoy it?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“After learning how you chose the name, I looked up the meaning of Alaya.” She did this quickly while preparing for the phone call. “Did you know its origins are in ancient Sanskrit meaning ‘abode’ and ‘dwell’ but that it also has a connection to a Buddhist term that means ‘storehouse consciousness.’ Or where higher consciousness oruniversalwisdom dwells? That just blows me away. And you chose that name. Magical.”

“It came to me.”

Brice nodded at Sandra.

“Again, just wow. How transcendent and spiritual.”

There were a few beats of silence. “This isn’t who I am normally. A person who holds people at gunpoint and makes demands.”

Sandra’s posture relaxed, feeling like she’d finally broken through the woman’s barricade. She’d shown that she was tuned into her real person. She’d listened to her and molded the conversation to fit her. “It sounds like life has just been rough lately.”

“Try for the last few years, but I’m doing this for a higher purpose. For Dyl. I want these fat cats to write off my medical debt. I don’t even care about future treatment. I can’t go through it again. I just want to die in peace.”

Kreiger scowled, and Sandra felt he was willing to honor her request.

“Is that what Alaya wants for you?” Sandra had managed a lot of negotiations, and this wasn’t the first time spiritual things came up.

Silence.

“Dylan doesn’t want to lose you,” Sandra said. “He wants you to come out safe and sound so that you can face the future together.”