Chapter 6 - Oakridge Estates
Oakridge Estates hadn't changed in fifteen years. The sprawling iron gates, the manicured boxwood hedges, and the towering white-columned colonial mansions looked exactly like the kind of place where people cared more about how things looked than whether anyone was actually bleeding underneath.
Laura’s modest sedan stood out like a rusty toolbox parked in a driveway filled with matching BMWs and Mercedes SUVs.
As we walked up the stone steps to the double mahogany front doors, I adjusted the collar of my blazer. I wasn’t the terrified twelve-year-old girl in the paper hospital gown anymore. I was a doctor, an acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivor, and a woman who owed these people nothing.
The door swung open before I could even raise my hand to knock. Megan stood there in a designer cocktail dress, her hair blown out to perfection. Her eyes widened when she saw Laura standing beside me.
“What is she doing here?” Megan hissed, pointing a manicured nail at Laura. “This is a private family gathering!”
“Last I checked, Laura is my family,” I replied smoothly, stepping past my sister into the grand foyer without waiting for an invitation.
The interior of the house was a monument to superficial wealth—crystal chandeliers, white leather furniture, and gleaming hardwood floors that echoed with the chatter of twelve distinguished guests mingling near the back patio.
When Thomas and Karen emerged from the formal dining room, their smiles were so tight they looked painful.
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“Emily, darling!” Karen rushed forward, arms extended as if she were about to embrace a long-lost princess. “We were so worried you wouldn't come! Oh, and... hello, nurse Davidson.” Karen’s voice dropped an octave when she acknowledged Laura, her polite mask slipping for a fraction of a second.
“Cut the act, Karen,” I said, stopping her dead in her tracks with a single raised hand. “We didn't come here for champagne and polite small talk. Let’s get it over with. Why did you really invite me?”
