23

Nolan rolled his eyes, "I am no villain. If you see her again, tell her I did not shoot her swine of a husband. I want to do it for his . . . everything. I promise I won't cause her any more stress."

"I'm relieved you have decided to choose maturity in the face of adversity. I expected a lot less."

Nolan made a face, "I can control my emotions." He squared his shoulders before leaving the room. Deul leaned and could see that Nolan had entered Ellie's room. He sighed before getting into his bed, what a troublesome lot of children he had unintentionally gotten.

Nolan could feel the bite from Uncle Deul's words as he walked into the room. Ellie was staring out the window motionlessly but turned when she heard him enter. She got up quickly and clutched his hands in hers. She was shaking. "I'm so sorry."

There was wetness slowly covering his hands and Nolan realized she was crying. He sat and turned her face up to reveal her red eyes. Nolan hugged her suddenly. He wiped her eyes, "Of course I forgive you. It's just surprising to find my sister married when I come to see her when she was not the day before. But I do understand."

"You do? I wanted to explain to you privately. I can't believe that you found out this way. I wasn't expecting you to come early. You always come at the same time."

"You don't have to hide your suffering, Ellie. I'm not like the others, I can see it. I finished early with my teaching today. None of my students had questions so I rushed over here. Why didn't you tell me about Henry?"

Ellie smiled with some arrogance. It reminded Nolan of when she used to laugh before he got into her car for a race. "I can get you a whole lab and funding. If I'd told you it would have spoiled it. I made your dreams come true. If I'd told you, you would have stopped me. You would have said something that this degree would get you more funding. You never have the money you need. I just want to help you when I'm gone."

Nolan made soothing circles in her back. "I understand your intentions."

Her voice slurred, "A hundred thousand dollars a year, imagine what you could do?" She fainted and Nolan tucked her back into bed. He pressed for the nurse who adjusted the medication dose.

The nurse looked at the monitoring vitals with some concern, "I don't understand why she's slipping away like this." She flicked the vitamin bag with some concern as she tried to get the tube's flow to start again.

Nolan looked at his daring sister with disbelief. A hundred thousand dollars a year! He couldn't believe his sister had negotiated something so substantial with the CEO. That was triple his current salary and he was considered to be one of the most promising graduate students in his department. Even if he had completed his doctorate, he wasn't even sure how much he could make. It was cushy for him to live on. He could eat take out every day and even take out the pretty intern he'd had his eye on for over a year.

With that amount of money he could even switch professions if he wanted to. Medical school? Law school? The money would give him choices of where he could apply. He could buy a dog. He could even move out of his cupboard apartment and live somewhere swanky downtown.

Ease in exchange for his sister's hand. It wasn't something he could accept. He knew Ellie deserved better. The only solace was the prick would have to dish out money to him for the rest of his life.

That was a hundred thousand less that would go for the CEO's lavish lifestyle.

He looked at his sister who turned and threw an arm out so it bumped against the machinery. She looked so frail. He couldn't believe it had only been two months ago that his sister had been one of the top female racers in the country. They had had more than enough money between them. Her soft breathe made him wonder if the doctors could finally figure out what was wrong with her. The physicians knew so little that they couldn't actively explain it to him, even though he had racked their brains and the internet for answers.

He would lie awake at night from dreaming of how she died. Who would carry her casket? Who would remember his sister? He knew there would be a brief news announcement. Then nothing. Would Deul leave him a voicemail.

Nolan wanted the loud boisterous sister who always found a way through. She had spent most of her life guiding him and making sure he had everything he needed. To have the scenario flipped gave him anxiety, he was always at a crosswords, confused what was the best thing to do.

Her frail shaky hands always scarred him.