Sydney Harbour Hospital: Lexi's Secret by Melanie Milburne Page B

would be over within a month at the most because he never played for keeps—he could move on with his life and she could go and marry her millionaire. Of course he knew it was wrong; of course if he were the fiancé and she was having an affair with someone else he wouldn’t stand for it; of course it was madness. Sheer madness. But right now he wanted her too much to get tied up in moral knots over it.
    Susanne was behind the reception desk when Sam came back in. ‘There’s an organ retrieval scheduled at Sydney Met at six this evening,’ she said. ‘The patient’s family have decided to withdraw life support. He’s a twenty-seven-year-old motorcycle victim who sustained severe head injuries three weeks ago. His kidneys are going to Perth, his heart to Melbourne and his lungs here.’
    ‘Whose blood or tissues match have we got?’ Sam asked.
    ‘Mr Baker with the chronic obstructive airways disease,’ Susanne said. ‘He’s been on the priority list the longest.’
    ‘Right,’ Sam said. ‘You’d better call him and let him know. And organise theatre space. Things are going to get busy around here.’
    Lexi was in the main lounge room at the family mansion in Mosman when her father finally walked in. She had been pacing the floor for the last hour, anger roiling inside her like a turbulent tide.
    ‘Hello, beautiful,’ Richard Lockheart said as he sauntered in. ‘How was your weekend?’
    Lexi folded her arms and shot him a glare. ‘I’ve had better.’
    Richard moved to the drinks cabinet and poured himself a Scotch. He lifted the lid on the ice bucket to find it was empty. ‘Be a darling and get your poor old father some ice, will you?’
    ‘I think you’re perfectly capable of getting your own ice,’ she said through stiff lips.
    Richard smiled indulgently as he looked at her, his dark brown eyes crinkling up at the corners. ‘What’s up, baby girl? That time of the month?’
    Lexi suddenly realised how little she liked her father. Sure, she loved him, but she didn’t much like him. Why had it taken her this long to see through his easy charm to the ruthlessly ambitious man beneath? If people got in the way of his plans he removed them. If people displeased him he made sure they lived to regret it.
    She had always blamed her mother for deserting the family, but now she wondered if what Bella had said was right. Perhaps her father had had more to do with her mother leaving than anything else. She had heard rumours of his womanising behind her mother’s back, but as a little girl she hadn’t wanted to think of her father as anything other than blameless. It was a cruel shock to realise how she had been duped. How silly she had been to invest so much emotion and dedication in a parent who had callously used her for his own gain. Her whole life, both childhood and young adulthood, had been nothing but a house of cards that was now tumbling down around her feet.
    ‘I found out about how you blackmailed Sam Bailey five years ago,’ she said. ‘How could you do that? How could you play with people’s lives in such a heartless way?’
    Richard’s brown eyes hardened. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about, Lexi.’
    ‘I do know what I’m talking about,’ she said. ‘You issued an ultimatum to Sam. He had no choice but to leave. He could have lost his career, but did you care? No. All you wanted was to get him out of the way so you could keep me under your thumb. You didn’t even have the guts to tell me he was being appointed here. I had to find out by myself. How do you think I felt?’
    ‘You’re in charge of fundraising,’ he said. ‘You have nothing to do with the hiring and firing of staff. Anyway, I’d assumed you’d forgotten all about him by now.’
    Lexi clenched her hands so tightly her nails dug into her palms. ‘Like you do with all of your lovers?’ she asked. ‘Just how many were there while you were married to Mum? Four? Five? Ten? Or have you forgotten