Page 98 of The Destruction You Desire

My chin falls open. No wonder he looked rough.

"Shit. I had no idea."

"I know. We didn't tell you. You had enough on your plate."

"He came to see me last night."

"Hi," a soft voice comes from the other side of the room. "Ella?"

"That's me." She hops up, and downs the rest of her drink. "Laters, bitches."

"Is she always so—"

"Insane? Yes."

"I kinda love her."

"Yeah, me too. Just don't tell her. It might go to her head."

I can't help but laugh as we both watch her skip down the long hallway to where I assume the treatment rooms are.

"So you were saying…" Letty prompts.

"He's paid off all my debts, Let. Everything. I can't let him—"

"You can, Peyton,” she says, reaching for my hand and squeezing gently. "He just wants to help. Try to make things right."

"It's not his job to fix the past."

"Maybe not, but he wants to. Plus that money, it's not really his. It's Brett's."

"Does he know?"

"Not that I'm aware of. I don't think either of them have spoken to him since all this came out. That's a good thing if you ask me because I'm pretty sure there's going to be bloodshed when it happens.”

I drop my head into my hands.

"I don't want that."

"It's out of your hands. He's their sperm donor. Let them do what they need to do."

I nod, knowing that she's right but terrified that they'll do something they'll regret.

"Scarlett, Peyton?" a lady says and the two of us stand and head toward them for our first appointments of the day.

* * *

Four hours later and I feel better than I have in a very, very long time. My hair is a fresh shade of pink, my roots nowhere to be seen, my face is cleaner than I think it has ever been in my life, my makeup is on point and my nails are a glittering deep purple.

I'm probably going to feel ridiculous later walking into the hospital like I should be going on a night out, but right now, I don't care. I'm flying too high after my girl time and pampering.

"I guess we should head back," Letty says after we've eaten the lunch they'd organized.

"Yeah, I need to take over for Aunt Fee."

"We can come with, if you like. Meet your sister."

"I'm pretty sure she'd love that, but maybe not yet."