You ran. You left me standing on that dance floor while Preston whispered in my ear that I was unlovable and that every man eventually leaves me. She walked toward him, her heels clicking like gunshots on the hardwood. He was right, wasn't he? You're just a coward, Bennett.
Did the pressure get too much? Did you get scared of my father? Or did you just decide that the money wasn't worth dealing with a broken woman? It wasn't like that, Bruno said, his hands clenching at his sides. Then what was it?
She screamed. The mask shattered. She was the woman from Friday morning again. Only now the sadness had calcified into rage. I called you 10 times.
You turned off the phone. I had to leave the party alone. I had to walk past the paparazzi alone. You humiliated me. She reached onto her desk and picked up a piece of paper.
Termination notice. Effective immediately. You're fired, Bruno. Get your box and get out. Bruno looked at the paper.
Then he looked at her. The lack of sleep, the fear for Sophie, the humiliation of the hospital bill, it all boiled over. He didn't plead. He didn't apologize. He snapped.
He reached into his bag and pulled out the folded blue suit. He slammed it onto her desk right on top of the termination papers. Then he pulled the Patek Philippe watch from his pocket and slammed that down, too. The heavy gold cracked the glass top of her desk. You think this is about you?
Bruno shouted, his voice echoing off the walls. You think the whole world revolves around your ego and your daddy issues? Evelyn stepped back, stunned. Nobody spoke to her like that. I didn't run because I was scared of Preston Hayes.
Bruno spat, stepping closer. He's a weak little man with a loud mouth. I could handle him in my sleep. Then why? she demanded, though her voice wavered because my sister called me to tell me my six-year-old daughter was being rushed to the ER because she stopped breathing. The silence that slammed into the room was heavier than the shouting.
Evelyn froze, her mouth opened slightly, but no sound came out. I was at Seattle Grace, Bruno continued, his voice shaking with raw emotion. I was holding her hand while she gasped for air. I was trying to figure out how to pay a $3,000 deposit so they wouldn't kick her out of the P ICU. I wasn't answering your calls, Evelyn, because I was praying my kid wouldn't die.
He gestured to the pile of expensive clothes on her desk. There's your suit. There's your grandfather's watch. Sell it. It's worth more than my life anyway.
He turned around and walked toward the door. He felt lighter in a terrible, destructive way. He had lost his job, but he had kept his dignity. Bruno, stop. Her voice was barely a whisper.
He stopped. Hand on the door knob. What? You fired me. I'm leaving.
She's She's in the hospital now. Yes, she has pneumonia. and thanks to you firing me, she just lost her health insurance. So, if you'll excuse me, I have to go apply for state aid. He ripped the door open. Bruno, she wasn't commanding him.
She was running after him. Evelyn St. James, the woman who never ran, sprinted across the office in her lubboutans. She caught his arm just as he reached the elevator. He spun around, ready to fight. But she wasn't fighting.
She was crying again. But this time it wasn't for herself. Take me to her, she said. What? Take me to Sophie.
Now Evelyn, you don't belong there. It's not the Ritz. It's a sick kid and a broke dad. And I don't care. She grabbed his lapels, pulling him down to her level.
Her blue eyes were fierce, burning with a new kind of intensity. You saved me on Friday. You stepped into my war. I I didn't know you were fighting a bigger one. She pulled a black card from her pocket.
The Centurion card. The black card that had no limit. We are going to the hospital, she stated. And we are going to fix this. You aren't fired, Bruno.
You're promoted now. Let's go. The elevator dinged. The doors opened. Bruno looked at the woman who had just tried to destroy him, now offering to save him.
He saw the guilt in her eyes, but he also saw the steel. She meant it. [clears throat] "She's afraid of strangers," Bruno warned, his voice soft. Evelyn wiped her tears. She straightened her blazer. "Good thing I'm not a stranger.
I'm her father's boss, and I'm very good at hostile takeovers." She pressed the button for the garage. Henry, she spoke into her phone. Bring the car around. We're going to Seattle Grace and call the hospital administrator. Tell them St. James and Associates is sponsoring the pediatric wing.
Effective immediately. Bruno watched her. For the first time, he wasn't looking at the ice queen. He was looking at a force of nature. And she was on his side.
The arrival of Evelyn St. James at Seattle Grace was not subtle. It was an invasion. When they walked through the sliding doors, Henry, the driver, was already flanking them like a bodyguard. Evelyn marched straight to the administration desk, her heels clicking a rhythm of war on the linoleum floor. The billing clerk, a man named Gary, who had been rude to Bruno earlier, looked up over his glasses.
Sir, I told you. Unless you have the deposit, I'm not here to negotiate, Evelyn interrupted, slamming her black American Express Centurion card onto the counter. I'm Evelyn St. James. I'm paying the balance, all of it, for Sophie Bennett, and while you're running that, get the chief of medicine on the phone. I want her moved to a private suite immediately.