“Yes.” Jade pushes on Garret. “Garret, get off me.” He doesn’t move, and that’s when I see the blood on Jade’s shirt. But it’s not coming from her. “Garret.” She pushes on his shoulder and blood rushes out of his chest, spilling all over the floor.
“No!” Jade screams. “Help him!”
I gently rotate Garret onto his back. His shirt is soaked in blood and it continues to flow from the upper part of his chest. Jade is panicking, screaming and crying, but I remain perfectly calm, as if the bleeding, unconscious young man lying before me isn’t my son.
As soon as I saw the blood, something happened and I became someone else. The person I am when I do my assignments. The person who detaches all emotion from the situation and does what needs to be done.
Jade’s screaming at me. “Do something! Call the ambulance!”
I rip Garret’s shirt down the center, exposing his chest. Blood is pouring out from the area just below his shoulder where the bullet went in.
“Do something!” Jade’s frantic, her whole body shaking. “Please! Hurry!”
“Jade, I need you to pull yourself together so you can help me,” I say in a calm, even tone, my eyes on hers. “Garret’s losing a lot of blood. I need you to hold your hand here and apply pressure.” I pick up her hand and set it over Garret’s chest, right over the bullet hole. “I’m going in the other room to call for help.”
As I leave, I turn back and see Jade leaned over Garret, pressing as hard as she can on his chest, trying to stop the bleeding. I hear her talking to him.
“It’s gonna be okay,” she says, still shaking, tears streaming down her face.
My cell phone is in my hand and I’ve already dialed the number as I hurry to the bathroom to get a towel.
Logan answers. “What is it, Pearce?”
“Garret’s been shot.” I grab a towel from the linen closet. “He’s here at the house, in the study. He’s losing a lot of blood.”
“What the hell happened?”
“I’ll tell you later. “You need to get a team here right away.”
“Yes, of course. Just a minute.” I hear Logan talking to someone but I can’t make out the words. Then I hear footsteps and doors opening and closing. “We’re in the van. We’ll be right there.”
“You’re coming too?”
“I’ve been working at the Clinic in Connecticut this week. They needed someone to fill in.”
“How fast can you be here?”
“We’re less than ten minutes away. We’ll be there shortly.”
“Ten minutes away? Where are you?”
“There was a Clinic meeting offsite today. You’re lucky it was close to your house. We’ll be there soon.”
“Thank you.” I hang up and immediately dial nine for the clean-up crew. “Get to my house right away,” I say when they answer.
“The house in Connecticut?”
“Yes.” I now have several houses so I should’ve been clearer.
“Is this a freelancer?”
“No. It’s a member. This is a cover-up. Send your top team.”
“Yes, Sir.”
I shove my phone in my pocket and hurry back to the study. Jade is now covered in blood. Her clothes, her hands, her arms. She’s shaking so much her teeth are chattering. She needs to relax so she can understand what I’m about to tell her.
She slowly backs away as I kneel down next to Garret and press the towel against his chest.
“They’ll be here any minute,” I say to Jade. I set my eyes on her. “Listen to me, Jade. Listen to me very closely. What happened to Garret was an accident. He was cleaning his gun and didn’t realize there was a bullet left in it. That’s what happened here. Do you understand?”
“Um, no. Why wouldn’t you tell the police the real story?”
“The police aren’t coming. I’m telling you this in case you’re ever asked about this incident. The story I just told you is the only story you know. Now do you understand?”
She nods, tears running down her face.
“The people coming to take Garret are not paramedics,” I say. “And he’s not going in an ambulance. A van will arrive instead. It’s a mobile medical unit and it has a team of physicians. They’ll take care of him. He’ll be okay.”
“How do you know?” She looks down at Garret.
“I just know.”
Jade looks as though someone just tore her world apart, taking away everything she ever loved and cared about. And by ‘everything’ I mean Garret. He’s her everything. I see it now. It’s as clear as day. I kept saying this relationship between Jade and my son was just a teenage crush. But I knew it was more than that, at least on Garret’s end. I wasn’t sure about Jade’s feelings for Garret because I never see the two of them together. But now, as I watch Jade, I see that she loves Garret as much as he loves her.
Jade leans down over Garret’s face. “Your dad said you’ll be okay.” She places her hand across his forehead and gently kisses his cheek.
“You really love my son, don’t you?”
She leaves her eyes on him. “More than I can even describe.”
This is a girl who has never known love, but she found it with Garret. And he loves her more than anything. Since meeting Jade, Garret has stopped drinking, his grades have improved, and he’s happy. He’s finally happy. So why do I keep trying to break these two apart? Maybe they could make this work. It would be difficult, but being with Rachel was difficult and yet it’s the best decision I ever made.
“He feels the same way about you,” I say to Jade.
She looks up at me. Our eyes lock and I try to express without words that I won’t get in the way anymore. That she and Garret can be together. It will be difficult, and may not work out, but I’ll at least give them a chance to try to make it work.
Jade seems to understand. I see the hope in her eyes.
Maybe I shouldn’t put that hope there, knowing what might lie ahead for Garret’s future. But for now, I’m going to believe that they can be together, and let Jade believe so too.
CHAPTER TEN
10
PEARCE
Moments later, Logan, and the other doctors from the Clinic, storm through the front door, going right past Royce’s body as they enter the study. They know better than to ask questions or look too closely at the situation. Their job is to deal with medical issues, not issues of the organization. It will be my job to deal with Royce. I’ll soon have to report this to the members, and together, we’ll cover it up so that the public never knows what really happened.
The doctors take Garret out of the room on a stretcher and walk quickly to the front of the house.
Logan and I follow behind.
“It appears that the bullet is lodged in his upper chest,” Logan says.
“But he’ll be okay, correct?”
We’re now in the foyer, and I go to the door and watch as they load Garret into the back of the van.
“We’ll know more once we get him into surgery.”
I turn back to Logan. “That’s not the answer I wanted.”
He sets his hand on my shoulder. “The bullet is a safe distance from his heart. Right now, our biggest concern is the bleeding.” Logan nods at one of the doctors who’s waiting by the van. “Pearce, we have to go.”
“Yes. Please keep me updated.”
“I will. I’ll call you as soon as we get there.”
They drive off just as the first members of the clean-up crew arrive. Two men come in and take Royce’s body out to their van.
Then they come back into the house and one of them asks me, “Where do we take him?”
“To his house in Virginia. His family isn’t home. There shouldn’t be anyone there.”
“And then what? Where do we leave him?”
“Someone will call and let you know. Make sure you have a body bag and people who can be on camera. This will be all over the news.”
They nod and go back outside. There’s no need
to explain. They’ve faked a suicide before. Not with someone who was slated to be president, but they’ve done it with other high-profile people.
I’m assuming the members will want to go with the suicide story. Royce couldn’t handle the pressure of the campaign so he flew home and took his own life. It’s a believable story and people will feel sorry for him, which means Victoria and the girls will be treated well by the press. I feel horrible taking the girls’ father away, but I had to do it. He was going to kill Garret. And Jade. And anyone else he thought might pose a threat to his campaign.
The second part of the clean-up crew arrives, the ones who will actually clean the room. There are eight of them, but I stop them before they go in the study.
“Don’t go in there yet,” I say. “Wait until I tell you.”
They remain outside the door, all dressed in the same white uniforms.
“I need a garbage bag.” I point to a box one of the men is holding.
He pulls out a bag and hands it to me and I return to the study. Jade hasn’t moved from the floor.
“Jade, you need to get up now.” I help her stand up. “I need you to listen very carefully to what I’m about to say. Royce Sinclair was never here. You have no connection with him. He’s not your father. You know nothing about him. Am I clear?”
She nods.
“Over the next few days and weeks, you’ll hear what happened to Mr. Sinclair. You’ll hear it on all the news channels and the radio. You’ll read it in the papers. The story you hear or read about is the only one that happened. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” she says quietly. “I understand.”
“This is over now. You and Garret are safe. Frank and Ryan are also safe and they will remain safe.”
Ryan is Frank’s son and like a brother to Jade. She cares about Frank and Ryan very much. They’re not related to her, but they’re the only family she knows.
“What are you saying?” Jade asks. “Was Sinclair planning to do something to Frank and Ryan? How do you know that? Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
“Never ask questions, Jade. That’s the number one rule.” I wait until I know she understands. She nods, and I continue. “I don’t want you calling Frank or Ryan until tomorrow. You need to calm down and get your head clear before you talk to anyone. Now take this and go clean up.” I hand her the garbage bag. “Put all of your clothes in there and leave it outside your room when you’re done.”
I glance back at the men standing just outside the door and signal them to get to work. They come filing in with spray bottles, towels, and brushes.
Jade and I walk out of the room and I watch as she goes up the staircase. “Welcome to the family, Jade.”
She pauses a moment, then continues up the stairs.
She doesn’t know what I meant just now, but that was intentional. My comment was a message. I can’t explain the meaning behind the message, but she doesn’t need to know that. She only needs to know that she’s part of this. She’s seen too much today, and because of that, she’s now part of this family. Part of our world. Even if she breaks up with Garret someday, she’ll still have to keep our secrets, which makes her one of us.
Dunamis won’t know that. I’ll never tell them about Jade. I won’t tell them what she saw today, or that she’s Royce’s daughter. But if she stays with Garret, she could be in danger, especially if I can’t get him out of being a member. If I can’t, then Dunamis will forbid Garret from being with an outsider like Jade, and if he doesn’t listen, they’ll threaten to hurt her. If that happens, he’ll have to break up with her. But I’ll do what I can to keep that from happening.
Garret loves her and she makes him happy. Since the day he was born, all I’ve ever wanted is for him to be happy and find love. He has both love and happiness with Jade. She’s the one for him. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at her. And now I know Jade feels the same way about him. When I saw her today, sobbing over Garret, panicking when she thought she might lose him, it was clear how much she loves him.
As I watched her, I wondered why I wasn’t reacting the same way. I love my son more than anything, and yet I saw him there, bleeding all over the floor, and felt nothing. No emotion. No panic. Nothing. My son could’ve died and I felt nothing.
What does that say about me? That I’m turning into my father? A cold, heartless, emotionless man who doesn’t even care about his own son? That’s not the man I want to be. And yet I feel like that’s who I’ve become ever since Rachel died. I work all the time. I never see my children. I turn off all emotion so I never have to feel anything.
I’m a hollow shell of a man, just like I was before I met Rachel. I said I’d never be that person again, but that’s who I’ve become. And I realized it today when I saw Jade sobbing over Garret. She’s known him for just a few months and yet she showed more care and concern for him than I did. Instead of acting like his father, I acted like he was just some stranger I was helping out until the doctors arrived.
If Rachel had been here today, she would’ve been like Jade, sobbing and begging for Garret to be okay. So why is it that I felt nothing? Am I that detached from human emotion that I can’t even feel something when I see my son almost dying?
Things have to change, starting today. I’m going to be a better father, and I’m not just saying that, like I have in the past. This time, I’m actually going to do it. I’m committed to being a good father, but I need help to get there. I need to talk to someone. I need to get into counseling and finally deal with Rachel’s death so I can move past it and get over my grief and be a father again to Garret and Lilly. Truthfully, I’ve never been much of a father to Lilly, but I’m not going to let that continue. Lilly is only six, so it’s not too late. I still have time to be a father to her.
As for Garret? He’s in college now, so maybe it’s too late to fix our relationship, but I’m still going to try. I love my son and I want to be a father to him again.
Around midnight, I call the Clinic. I’ve been calling them several times an hour to check on Garret. They’re probably getting annoyed with my calls, but I’m worried about him and I have to know that he’s okay.
“Pearce, it’s Logan,” I hear him say. I called the main number so I’m surprised he picked up. Usually one of the nurses answers.
“How is he?” I ask.
“He’s resting. There’s no change since the last time you called.”
“So he’s doing well?”
“Yes, very well. We’ll continue to monitor him overnight.”
“I’m coming to see him.”
“Right now? But it’s the middle of the night and a forty-minute drive.”
“I don’t care. I need to see him. I need to see that he’s okay.”
“Good.” He pauses. “It’s good you’re coming. I’ll see you soon.”
Logan knows I’ve been a terrible father since Rachel died, but he’s never said anything to me about it. Logan and Shelby still live in New York in a town that’s just across the border from Connecticut. We meet about once a month for lunch, but we’re not good enough friends that he would comment on my lack of parenting skills.
On my way to the Clinic, I call the various members assigned to cover up Royce’s death. I’m not in charge of the cover-up but I keep checking in to see how it’s coming and to make sure it’s being done right. I don’t want to risk anything being traced back to me.
The story I told the organization is that Royce came to my house and accused me of sleeping with Victoria. He’s accused several members of this, so it’s a story I knew they’d believe. I told the members that I denied the affair, but that Royce didn’t believe me and threatened to shoot Garret if I didn’t admit to sleeping with Victoria. So I told them I admitted to it, just to get Royce to leave, but that instead of leaving, Royce became so enraged that he shot Garret, and that’s when I shot Royce.
The organization believed my story and immediately began the cover up, going along with the fake su
icide story I suggested. Royce’s body is now in Virginia and Dunamis has already filmed footage of the body bag being taken out of the house, and the video has been relayed to all the major news networks, along with a press release. Victoria and her daughters have received the news and are on their way back to Virginia from Florida, which is where they were vacationing when all of this happened. They will only know the fake story, not the real story. Royce’s body will never be seen or examined. We’ll make whatever fake reports need to be made, ruling it a suicide, and then the body will be cremated and services will be held.
“Follow me,” Logan says as he greets me at the nurse’s desk. I just arrived at the Clinic and Logan was waiting for me. “He’s right in here.”
I go into Garret’s room and see him hooked up to machines. It reminds me of when I came to see Rachel, right after she had Garret. She was lying in a hospital bed after nearly dying, hooked up to monitors, looking pale and weak. Garret doesn’t look pale or weak, but I still hate seeing him in a hospital bed.
“I’ll be in the office down the hall,” Logan says. “Come get me if you need me.”
“You’re not going home?”
“No. I’m going to stay here tonight.” He motions to Garret. “Keep an eye on him.”
“You don’t have to do that. I saw Dr. Cauldwell when I got here. He said he has the night shift.”
“Pearce, we’ve been friends for a long time. Dr. Cauldwell is an excellent physician, but I’m not going to leave your son here under the care of someone else.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He goes out the door, leaving me alone with Garret.
I take one of the chairs in the room and place it next to Garret’s bed. I sit down and pick up his hand and hold it in mine. He’s sleeping, so can’t hear me, but I talk to him anyway.
“Garret, I’m sorry about what happened today. I should’ve stopped him long before he was able to do this. The warning signs were all there, but for whatever reason, I didn’t take them seriously. I didn’t think he would take things this far.” I lower my head and close my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I’m also sorry for abandoning you after your mother died. I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you all these years. And I’m sorry that I’m such a bad father.”
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