“I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to upset him or my mother, but I can guess at the answer,” she said. “He’s always said he’s as healthy as a horse, and I know he thought he was putting the money he saved on all the premiums to better use. Not thinking about what would happen if Ma needed coverage, I guess,” she said.

She shook her head, then put her glass down on the kitchen counter a little harder than she had intended.

Her shoulders slumped, and she had a look of defeat on her face that I hated.

“Don’t worry about the hospital bills, Kayla,” I said.

“Yeah, what’s another six figures? I’ll just pay the hospital twenty-five dollars a month until it’s taken care of.”

“It’s not your responsibility,” I said.

“Would you ever say that about your family?” she asked, some of the defiance, some of the Kayla that I knew coming back.

“No,” I confessed.

She didn’t gloat, but she didn’t have to.

“I’ll take care of them,” I said.

“What, and add them to the tab?” She chuckled, the laugh low, humorless. “I guess it won’t make a difference.”

“Kayla,” I said.

Something in my tone got her attention, and she looked at me, her eyes still sad but more focused.

“I said I’d take care of them. You’re my fiancée, and I’m supposed to take care of you this way. So it won’t be a problem,” I said.

“Elias, I—”

I shook my head.

“You said it yourself, you don’t have the energy to argue with me, so don’t,” I said.

She stared at me and then finally shrugged. “Okay, fine. I won’t.”

“Good. Now go take a bath,” I said.

She smiled again, and this time genuine. “I stink?”

“No, but I know how much those relax you, and you need to relax,” I said.

“I’ll probably fall asleep in the tub,” she said, “but the shower seems like a good idea.”

She started to walk to the guest side of the penthouse, but I stopped her. “Use mine,” I said.

“I am going to stick to that no-arguing thing, because I love that shower,” she said.

I smiled. “Then have at it.”

As she walked away, I watched her, my emotions all over the place but also strangely united. After a moment, I went to the guest area and showered myself.

The day had been long, but waiting had never bothered me.

It been one of my father’s earliest lessons. When I was young, too young to even drive, he had started me on that kind of thing. Stakeouts, watching, waiting, looking for any advantage.

Those skills had come in handy today.

But nothing my father had ever taught me could have prepared me for Kayla.