CHAPTER 5

BRANDON 

“Dr Gascon?” I called her name softly from behind. Madison and Terri had pointed her out to me amidst the crowd. 

The woman turned and shocked me with her striking blue eyes and a perfect heart-shaped face. 

“You are?” 

My heart stopped beating for a full minute, or perhaps it beat too fast, I could not tell which. I looked into her eyes and into the soul of a woman I had not forgotten five years since I had last seen her. 

“You are Dr Gascon?” I asked, simply shocked. 

She frowned and eyed me like I was some annoying bloke. 

“What the fuck do you want?” she asked me, her tone bordering on insulting. 

It was Salma alright, but she was not the way I imagined her to be. She had evolved into this beautiful successful woman standing in front of me. What happened to karma? She was meant to be suffering somewhere filled with regrets for the pain she caused me years ago but she was… she was the fucking goddess of the medical world in the entire country. 

“I… this was a mistake,” I said, feeling instantly like an idiot.

I should not be the one in need of her, it should be the other way around. How the fuck had this happened? And how could it be that she felt no remorse for the past? She looked into my eyes with no remorse, no guilt, or obligation to apologise. 

“You still haven't told me what the fuck you want!” Her tone was low but aggressive.  

“Never mind,” I said because it felt wrong to ask her for anything. And more importantly, I still hated her for what she did to me five years ago. Even as anger burned in my chest, my body betrayed me, reacting to her in a way I hated. 

“If you have nothing to say, get the hell out of here, and by the way,” she paused, looking into my eyes with nothing but contempt, “I never want to see your fucking face again, ever!” 

“Salma.” 

She leaned into me and whispered into my ear, “Do you remember? Those were your words to me and I vowed that the next time I saw you, I would have the pleasure of saying them back to you and meaning every single bit of it.” 

“If I could go back in time to change anything? It would be that I ever slept with you in the first place,” I spat out in anger before I could stop myself. 

“You're still the same arrogant son of a bitch, huh?” she said before walking off. 

I watched her walk away, swaying her hips just the same way she always did. I guess something had yet to change about her in the five years I had not seen her. 

“What just happened?” I looked behind me to see Terri, staring at Salma's back. 

“We need to do damage control,” I said, feeling the onset of a migraine, “Dr Gascon will not approve our product and she might actually have a few resentful comments about them.”

“Our product is top-notch. We have the FDA…” 

“This is not about product quality,” I said quietly, my eyes following Salma as she weaved through the crowd, “it turns out that Dr Gascon is an old friend and right now… we're not on the best terms.” 

I ran my hand through my hair nervously as I crunched the numbers in my brain. 

Two billion dollars. 

And Salma had the power to flush it all down the drain. A loss like that would put me in the red for years. I would have to file for bankruptcy and… 

“Sir? Sir?” Madison's voice pulled me out of my dark thoughts. 

“What?” 

“Are you sure there is no way…” 

“Forget it,” I hissed, “we'll have to find another way. Even if she were to change her mind, I would not want her fucking help.” 

Salma could be angry all she wanted but she was a manipulative bitch who had done horrible things to me in the past. I could still see the videos her sister had shown me—the evil smile on her lips as she freely discussed how she intended to manipulate me. 

I tried to bring my mind to the present but I regretted it at once. 

The entire hall was clapping for Salma as she walked on stage to receive a prestigious medical award. Madison poked me because I looked odd just standing there with my hands in my pocket but I did not care. 

The world could cheer her on and sing her praises, but I knew underneath that facade was a lying, scheming bitch who had somehow conned the medical field and was now very powerful. So powerful that she had the power to bankrupt me. 

“Would you like to give a few words about this award?” 

Salma cleared her throat, her eyes scanned the crowd and I knew they were looking for me. When they found me, they settled on me and she smiled widely. 

“I am grateful to everyone present here to witness me win this,” she said with a smile, “it means a lot to me that you all think highly of me.” 

I was fuming, my hands clenched in a fist by my side, and yet my body ached for her touch still. 

I turned to leave, unable to stomach any more of this, but as I weaved my way through the crowd, a familiar voice made me stop in my tracks. “Is it true she had an abortion?” a woman whispered, her tone sharp with gossip, but I was still able to hear.

She was a bit of a whore in college, which led to her getting pregnant.”

I looked around trying to find the person who was talking but I did not find the owner of the voice. 

“Mr McClean?” I looked up to see Terri in front of me. 

“What is it?” 

“I just saw Freddie with a child that looks exactly like you, especially those green eyes.”

Like me?

Freddie?

Yes, Dr Gascon’s assistant, the one who arranged for this meeting.

You must be mistaken, not like I have any child somewhere, I said laughing.

Just as we were still talking, Freddie passed again, with the child — my heart sank.

Same eyes.

Same nose.

Same damn face.

My heart dropped.

She was an exact copy of me.