Shattered

Chapter 14: Smile

Violet's POV:

"She was drawn to him in ways she didn't understand. His eyes ran through her soul, following her, chasing her... they were the only eyes that could stop her dead in her tracks while traveling at the speed of light." – N.R. Hart

"Oh honey you must hate this," Mrs. Fletcher said as I clipped her toenails.

"It's not a big deal," I said. Lie. I fucking hated it. It was gross, but I wasn't going to keep doing it. For now it would work, I just had to lie to her a little bit. "Besides, I got you set up on government healthcare and they'll be covering someone to come in and help you out a few times a week."

"They cover something like that?" She asked doubtfully.

No. They absolutely didn't, at least not the kind of care I wanted her to have. I was going to pay for it, but I knew she'd never accept that. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"What'd I say?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "I told you I'd handle it for you. Give me more credit."

"I just can't believe they cover that," she said, frowning in confusion. "Never heard of it."

"And what news are you watching?" I asked. "The wonderful news brought to you by daytime soap operas?"

"Don't tease me," she huffed, fighting back the smile. "When's that cute boy comin' back?"

"I don't know who you're talking about," I muttered. Apparently lies were what we were going with today.

"Oh yes you do," she said, wagging her finger at me.

I rolled my eyes and shrugged. "Scared him off."

"I doubt that."

"You've no idea how efficient I am," I said, standing up and making my way to the sink, getting almost all the soap to furiously scrub my hands. "I gotta go, do you need anything before I leave?"

"No," she said, adjusting her afghan over her lap. "Will you be able to take me to my eye appointment next week?"

"Yes, it's on the calendar," I said, snatching the calendar and holding it up. "Do you even use this? I went to so much work."

"I don't understand why you write everything down," she sighed, picking her glasses up from where they hung around her neck and putting them on before scanning the calendar. "You know everyone keeps track of these things in their phones nowadays."

"I'm old-school," I shrugged. Old-school and paranoid. It was not safe for me to have the times, dates and locations of everywhere I needed to go on an electronic device that could be hacked. "I really do have to go, are you set?"

"I'm fine," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "Go build your house."

"I'll see you later," I said, giving her a wave before going out the door and starting up the stairs for my apartment.

I walked in and Lola was still on a work call. She gave me an apologetic smile and held five fingers up. I nodded and made my way to the kitchen, pouring yet another mug of coffee. It was fine she wasn't ready, there were other things I had to do.

Mug in my hands, I went to my room and fired up my computer. I still had Tony Corvin to deal with. That fucker who dropped hints he knew I'd been in the behavioral hospital, who was cheating on his wife and doing a bunch of other shit I could get him in trouble for. I'd already found his source and it came in the form of a nurse at the hospital who just happened to be the niece of a close friend of Tony's. I found enough correspondence to see what happened. The niece recognized my name thanks to the fucking media never giving me a second to breathe as a kid, she told her uncle who mentioned it to Tony since he knew we worked together.