CHAPTER TWELVE
Jake
I was growing bored at the head of the conference table. As usual, my brothers and I were surrounded by a bevy of lawyers, bankers, media strategists, publicists, and their hangers-on, all wanting to tell us what to do. I wanted to tell them, “Listen, Sterling Pharma has made you rich as fuck … so shut the fuck up.”
But no such pronouncement left my lips. I didn’t want to be branded a rogue CEO anymore than necessary because there was already a ton of bad press about Pernacular and Sterling’s decision to jack up the price. What people didn’t understand was that the decision wasn’t so simple, nor the outcome so black and white. Despite the price increase, patient co-pays are actually lower; many patients get the drug at no cost; Sterling has since expanded our free drug program; and half of our drugs are available for one dollar, making them accessible to all.
Unfortunately, the media had focused on only one aspect, Pernacular’s list price, which isn’t the price insurers pay. Anyone familiar with the drug industry knows that insurers often haggle like old women, driving down the actual price to a mere fraction of what we charge. So the $700 pill touted by the media was largely an illusion, subject to the whims of a host of interested parties.
I cursed mentally. And yet here I was in this miserable position, listening to publicists put forth their plans for “re-framing the issue” and such bullshit. I wanted to kick their asses for putting us in this position in the first place.
Fuck my life. I just couldn’t see how things could get worse. The woman I was crazy about had left me with no reason except that “she couldn’t do this.” What the fuck did that mean? It was so vague and evasive, impossible to understand. What started as a hot fuck had turned into much more, Tina’s intelligence and sassiness intriguing me until I was downright near-obsessive about the girl.
But I had no idea where she was now. I’d been tempted to set a PI on her trail, but my male pride had forced me to let her go. So the brunette had disappeared into the masses and I was too proud to admit that my heart had been broken by a woman I’d slept with only twice … but gotten to know in a myriad of ways, good and bad, her amazing and her less amazing traits, all of which I adored.
Fuck me, I cursed. Life just sucked on all angles. Fortunately, at that moment Mary Beth opened the door and said, “Gentlemen, I’ve received an urgent call for Mr. Sterling,” she said, nodding my way. “Please excuse him for a minute.”
MB is my long-time assistant and she calls the shots. If an issue was urgent, then I trusted her judgment. But more likely MB knew I was dying and was pulling me out of the meeting so that I could get a much-needed break. Fuck, Matt could take care of it, he was the VP of Marketing after all.
I made my excuses and headed towards the door.
“This way, Mr. Sterling,” said MB. “You have a guest waiting for you in your office.”
I strode into my office, my mind on a million things. I looked around, ready to dismiss my visitor but came to a full stop when I saw who it was. Tina. The girl who’d left me gasping, empty, my nights fucking endless, my days a nightmare as I fought through the media storm. Why was she back?
“Hi Jake,” she said quietly, her eyes wide. She looked delicious. Instead of wearing her usual plaid, Tina was dressed in a navy blue shirtdress which clung to her curves, outlining that voluptuous body. Her hair was a riotous mass of curls, unrestrained and springing free, those chestnut ringlets gleaming in the light. Plus, she had high heels on, my favorite, showing off her toned calves to their best advantage.
But I also noticed signs of strain, bags under her eyes, lines of tension around her mouth that hadn’t been there before.
“Well, well,” I rumbled. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
“Jake,” she said quickly. “Thank you for seeing me--”
“It wasn’t me who decided to see you,” I cut her off. “Mary Beth plunked me in here with no advance warning,” I said shortly.
My tone didn’t ruffle the brunette. “Then thank you Mary Beth,” she murmured. “I just need a few minutes,” she continued, “You see, we have a daughter together.”
I couldn’t breathe for a moment.
“I’m sorry?” I said slowly. “I’m not sure I heard you correctly. Did you just say we have a child together?”
“Ye-yes,” she stammered hesitantly. I was glad at least something made the girl stumble.
“Okay … just so I understand. You’re saying that of the two times we had sex, one time my little guys swam up to one of your eggs, and made love, sweet love, resulting in a baby?” I said sarcastically. I couldn’t help it. I wanted her so badly but I also wanted her to pay for putting me through these months of misery.
“Jake, I know this is hard to take,” she said slowly. “I never meant for you to know.”
“You never meant for me to know?” I interrupted, my rage building. “You never meant to tell me that I was a fucking father?” I was livid, my anger like a force of nature as she trembled before.
“I know,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t think we had a future. But,” she continued quickly, “I’m here to see you now because our daughter’s sick. Our baby. Janie has leukemia.”
I felt weak and had to lean against my desk for support. The blows were coming too fast, one right after another, to my heart and to my gut.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” I said slowly. “She’s only … what, a month old? We only fucked a year ago,” I said harshly.
“Jake, please,” Tina said softly. This time I noticed tears shimmering in her eyes. “Janie has leukemia from some kind of parasite that I caught when I was cat-sitting. I’m fine and the parasite is long gone, but somehow Janie’s immune system is compromised such that abnormal white blood cells are multiplying like crazy.”
I was so stunned that I couldn’t say a word. My life, which had improved dramatically when I saw Tina in the room, had just taken another nosedive to unforeseen depths. My only child, a daughter that I didn’t even know existed, was dying or dead. My body was leaden, my mind too numb to process what was happening.
But Tina pushed on ahead. “Jake, the doctors tell me that Sterling Pharma is the maker of the only drug that can save Janie. Pernacular. You know, the one that costs a thousand dollars per pop. Won’t you,” she choked, “please, won’t you give some to Janie? For your daughter?”
I was struck speechless again. This woman thought she had to beg me for a life-saving drug for our daughter? I shook my head, realizing just how low her opinion of me must be. She must have thought I was the worst fucking bastard from the ninth circle of hell, someone who would withhold life-saving treatment from his own child.
But time was of the essence. Pernacular is most effective if taken sooner, not later during the treatment regimen. “Bring me to her,” I said roughly. “Take me to my daughter.”