Chapter 3 Blood and Machines

Bimbo barely sleeps. By six in the morning, she's up, dressed, keys in hand, driving to the hospital before the sun is even fully up. The dialysis unit is on the fourth floor. She knows the layout by heart now-the soft beeping of the machines, the rows of recliners, the smell of antiseptic that never quite leaves her clothes after a visit. Her father sits in his usual chair by the window, a tube running from his arm to the machine beside him, his skin pale, his ankles swollen under the hospital blanket. "There's my girl," Rafael says when he sees her, and his smile is real even though his voice sounds tired. "You look good." "Thanks, Dad." "I mean it with love." Bimbo pulls a chair close and sits, taking his hand carefully around the IV line. His grip is weaker than it was even a month ago. She hates seeing the difference. "Rough night?" he asks. "You could say that." "David?" She freezes. "How did you-" "You get a certain look." Rafael's eyes, tired as they are, still miss nothing. "You've had it since you married him. Last night it's worse. What happened?" Bimbo hesitates. Her father is hooked up to a machine, going through another dialysis session while waiting for a transplant that could still be a year or two away unless a living donor comes forward. He doesn't need her problems added to everything else. "Nothing you need to worry about," she says. "How are you feeling? Did the doctor say anything new?" "Bimbo." "Dad." "You're doing the thing where you change the subject." He squeezes her hand, weak but stubborn. "I raised you. I know the thing." Before she can answer, the curtain around the bay pulls back and Mateo walks in, coffee in each hand, dressed sharply even at seven in the morning, the way he always is. "There she is." He sets one coffee on the little table beside Rafael's chair and hands the other to Bimbo without asking if she wants it. "I figured you'd be here early. You always are after a bad night." "How do you know it was a bad night?" " Let's just say I've my ways and moreover you look stressed." Mateo taps under his own eye. "Same one Dad's got right now, minus the swelling." Rafael huffs out something close to a laugh. "Careful." "I love you, old man." Mateo leans down and kisses the top of their father's head, easy and familiar. "Somebody's got to say the things you're too polite to say." Bimbo watches the two of them together and feels some of the tension from last night ease. This is what family is supposed to feel like. This, at least, is real. "So," Mateo says, dropping into the chair on the other side of their father, "what did the golden boy do this time?" "Mateo." "What? I'm asking." He looks at Bimbo, eyebrows raised, waiting. Bimbo glances at Rafael, who's watching her with the same patient, knowing look he's had her whole life, the one that says he already knows something is wrong and won't stop asking until she tells him. "Fine," she says. "I walked in on him last night. With his secretary. Renata." Rafael's face goes still. "Walked in on him doing what, exactly?" "Dad." "Bimbo." "She's pregnant," Bimbo says quietly. The silence that follows feels heavy. Rafael's jaw tightens, and for a second she sees the man who built a company from nothing, the one who doesn't back down from a fight even while sitting in a dialysis chair with a needle in his arm. "That coward," Rafael mutters. "Dad, your blood pressure-" "My blood pressure can handle being angry at the man who's humiliating my daughter." He shifts in the chair, wincing slightly. "Did you file for divorce?" "I want to. He said no." "He can't say no. It's not his choice." Bimbo opens her mouth, then closes it. She glances at the machine beside her father's chair, at the slow movement of the dialysis line, the reason David's threat has any power at all. "He said if I file, he'll pull your care from Calder Health Network," she says finally. "Your doctors. Your medicine. Your place on the transplant list runs through their system, Dad. He knows that. He used it." Rafael goes very quiet. Mateo's face darkens, his jaw tight, his hands curling into fists on the arms of his chair. "He wouldn't," Rafael says, though his voice doesn't sound certain. "He would." Bimbo's voice cracks. "He already said it to my face like it was nothing." "That son of a-" Mateo stops himself and glances at their father before lowering his voice. "Sorry. But that's low, even for a Calder." "I have two years left on the contract," Bimbo says. "I looked at it last night. Every clause. There's no way out that doesn't put Dad's care at risk." Rafael reaches for her hand again, holding it tight despite the tube taped to his arm. "Don't you dare stay in that marriage because of me." "Dad-" "I mean it. I didn't raise you to trade your whole life for mine." "And I'm not going to lose you because I walked away too fast." Her voice comes out fierce, more certain than she feels. "I'll figure something out. I always do." Mateo watches them quietly, something unreadable behind his eyes for a moment before his usual warmth returns. "You know," he says, leaning forward, "maybe this is actually good timing. If David's willing to play dirty like this, maybe it's time we look harder at the Calders. All of them." "What do you mean?" "I mean, who's to say the breach at the office last night wasn't them too? Kessler's been sniffing around our research for years, and everybody knows David's had problems with their CEO since business school." Mateo shrugs. "Feels like a pretty big coincidence, doesn't it? Cheating scandal one night, break-in the same night?" Bimbo hadn't put those two things together out loud yet, but hearing Mateo say it makes the connection quickly. "You think David's family is behind the sabotage." "I think it'd be stupid not to look." Mateo glances at their father. "I've got a few contacts. People who owe me favors. I can start quietly digging on our end if you want." "Please," Bimbo says. "Anything that gets us answers." "Consider it done." Mateo squeezes her shoulder on his way to grab his food. "Family looks out for family. That's the one thing that's never changed around here."