I chuckle at his failed attempt to try to manipulate me. “You’d never allow that.”
“I’m not interested in wars,” he says, keeping his tone just as calm and serene. “I know Petra wants you to change. I know she’d like to have you back in her life. But your heart isn’t there, is it?”
“You are lying,” I riposte, keeping my temper in check. “My daughter doesn’t give a damn about me.”
“She does. Actually, she doesn’t stop asking about you.”
He’s lying, that’s all he does.
“Tess, all I want is for us to move on. I’m giving you a chance here.”
“Giving me a chance?” This man is totally delusional! Yet, I can’t stop laughing at this nonsense. “You are a murderer, a liar, and a man who should be behind bars,” I spit, pointing a finger at him in disgust. “I don’t negotiate with people of your kind.”
Despite my aggressive tone, his facial expression tells me nothing. “So you’d rather stay here for the rest of your life?” He sounds surprised I’m not going along with his lies.
“You aren’t giving me much of a choice, are you?”
“Of course I am,” he answers back. “If you decide to leave the past behind and embrace the future with us, let Winter know.” In other words: they’ll most likely ask me to burn the original police report and any copy left, and I’ll never do that. Oh no… Since I’ve got nothing else to say, Alex rises from his chair and my gaze travels up with him. I remain always on my guard as he stands tall before me. His eyes are devoid of any hate or anger, and to my surprise, I only see pity in them. “Goodbye, Tess.” Then I watch him turn his back on me and walk away.
Chapter 5
Manhattan, February 12, 2021
Petra Van Gatt
It has been three days since my husband has been released, and it has been three days since I sent him my last text. He hasn’t bothered to reply, and I haven’t bothered to be upset with his childish behavior either. Yet, I can’t for the life of me understand why he’s ignoring me like that. Does he know about my deal with Eric? No, that’s impossible. I’m sure we’ll talk on Sunday at the funeral, anyway. As I reach downstairs, I am happy to see Matt is already waiting for me with the biggest smile on his face as he leans against his car.
“Hey!” he greets me, genuinely excited––which is surprising considering this checkup is about a potential pregnancy with a man he despises. “You ready?”
“Why are you so happy?” I ask, furrowing my brows.
In a quick move, he opens the door for me and steps aside for me to get in. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
I just shake my head, suppressing a laugh and climb inside.
Once we are both in the car, he runs the motor again and starts driving. “So, I went to check with Columbia Doctors if they knew a good OB, and they recommended the lady we are going to see. I checked her out online, and she’s like the best in the entire city,” he says. Then he reaches for the storage compartment, opens it, and takes a document out, which he hands to me. “Look at her CV. It’s insane! Obstetrician, doula, pro humanized-birth, member of a nonprofit advocating against obstetric violence, and she’s even an influencer on Instagram––teaching about the whole labor process and stuff.”
What? He printed her CV out? As I look at the sheet between my hands, I can’t help but laugh. “Matt, we are not recruiting, it’s just a prenatal check.”
“I know but it’s super dope, right? Like I stalked her feed, and she does a lot of livestreams and interviews about humanized childbirth.”
I squint my eyes at his last two words. “Humanized childbirth?” I repeat, trying to keep a straight face, but Matt is just too funny. He’s taking this prenatal check like if it was another study or something. “What does that even mean?”
“Well, I don’t know much about it, but it’s like a movement against non-consensual medical interventions, the disregard of woman’s choice, negligence and so on. Like did you know a lot of women get stitches without consent after labor?” My brows raise, astonished at the amount of research he has done. “And most of them don’t even need it. That’s so fucked up. I was reading a report about it, and there’s a lot of medical interventions done to them that they are not even aware of. It’s insane.”
I can’t contain the growing smirk on my face as he speaks. “You’re such a nerd, Mr. Bradford,” I tease. “You know I’m not giving you a grade for your studying, right?”
Matt erupts in laughter. “I know, but I can’t help it, this stuff drives me nuts. It’s just insane the horrors she was sharing,” he says, some sadness in his tone. “I think I’m gonna interview her for my Youtube channel.”
And I’m even more astonished now. “Isn’t your channel about economics?”
“Socioeconomics,” he corrects. “But it’s also about social issues and human rights, so that fits perfectly well. Everything is tied up.”
As I come to think of it, I ask, “Is my dad still one of your sponsors?”
Matt doesn’t answer immediately. Instead he looks at me, a corner smile settling on his lips. “Yep, every month I get ten thousand from him. But I mean, thanks to that capital, our channel just reached one million subscribers.”
“Wow,” I utter in surprise. “That’s insane!”
“Yeah, it’s a lot of work, but I enjoy it thoroughly.” Matt turns left and keeps himself focused on the traffic jam that stands ahead of us.
Meanwhile, I start having tons of questions about him. “Are you gonna be a YouTuber full time after college? Or would you rather stay more traditional with your path?”
His eyes widen and he presses his lips tight, considering me. “I’m just in the second year, so who knows. But yeah, I like to teach things to people… so I wouldn’t complain.”
With a smirk on my face, I say, “I think you’d be a fine professor.”
“Me?” He sounds surprised, and it’s really funny seeing him like that. “Being a prof?”
“Yeah, Prof. Reich also has a YouTube channel where he teaches economics. I could totally see you being his younger version.”
“I don’t know, we’ll see… After my bachelor’s, I still have the master’s to do, maybe a PhD later on to top it all off…but yeah, that’s a viable option.”
“Do you do sponsored content on your channel at all?” I ask.
Matt cracks in laughter again, shaking his head. “Why do you want to know that?”
“What? You have to eat, no? How are you gonna buy food and pay the rent? Or do you receive enough through donations for that?”
“I live with my pops, Petra.” He says that like I didn’t know.
“Okay, but you don’t intend to have your own place?”
“I don’t know, I like living there.”
Wow. What a big contrast from the tensions they had last year. I remember Matt always complaining about his dad and how he needed to start saving to move out.