by M. Skye
Miguel ran his hand over his face and plopped his head back on the pillow. “You know I wish I had that answer for you, but all I remember is packing my stuff up and leaving right after you. Everything else is a blur. I don’t even know how I ended up back in my office. It’s all weird for me.”
“It’s okay. I just wanted to see what you remembered. From what I saw on the footage, the person was covered everywhere. You couldn’t make out a face. I couldn’t even tell if it was a woman or man.”
“Felt like a man.” He pointed to his head. “If it wasn’t this will be very embarrassing.”
“So, my next question: did you wipe your own computer, or did they?”
“Everything is gone? All my work files? What about my laptop? I had all the plans for the next few months on there.”
“It’s all gone; everything.”
“Damn.” Miguel slammed his hand into the sheets. “Well, I guess we will have to rework it.”
“Yeah,” Tyree agreed.
“So, why are you here alone? Where are Mama Mia and little man? I would think my mini me would be here jumping at the chance to see his favorite uncle. You know, I really love having him here. I can’t wait to spend more time together.”
Tyree looked off and huffed.
Miguel sat up, watching him stall. “What’s going on? Why are you looking that way?”
Tyree leaned forward and placed his hands on Miguel’s lap. “Look, a lot has happened today and last night. I need you to know that whatever the thing was with Mia and me is over. I broke it off this morning.”
“What?” Miguel asked loudly. “What are you saying to me? Why did you end it?”
“I had to make a decision, and I made it.”
“It was the wrong decision. What about your son? You might as well have given her the green light to pack up and move him across the world again.”
“If that’s what she feels is best, then so be it. It’s statements like those that made my decision easier.”
“What decision? I’m lost here.”
“Renee is pregnant.”
Miguel rolled his eyes, slapping his hand to his forehead. “I thought you were careful with that girl. Aren’t you just the least bit suspicious of the timing? Plus, how could you leave Mia for her? She has your child too.”
Nodding, Tyree crossed his arms over his chest. “I know Mia does, but it’s not the same. I trust Mia with Ky. As messed up as everything is right now, I never question her judgment when it comes to him. She has always been the one he could count on.”
“When are you going to let the past go? It wasn’t your fault. Stop blaming yourself for something you couldn’t control.”
“I could have, but that’s not all it is. I know I’m to blame for a lot of what went wrong, but I just know she’s better off without me. If I had come to her straight up, she wouldn’t have listened.”
Looking at the guilty expression on his face, Miguel almost flew off the bed. “What did you do?”
“I did what was necessary. She hates me, but at least she will be gone. I want her and Kyan away from me.”
“Are you retarded? Why would you intentionally run off the only woman you ever truly loved?”
“I’m messed up. Only someone as messed up as me can relate, and that happens to be Renee.”
“Bullshit,” Miguel hissed. “It’s a mistake you’re making.”
“It’s for the best.”
“What is?” Both brothers turned to find their father and mother walking in with cheerful expressions, and Karen walked over, taking Miguel’s hand, rubbing it lovingly. “What were you guys discussing? What’s for the best?” Karen asked.
Tyree looked at her, knowing what he was going to say was going to shatter her world, but he knew he should tell her before she found out some other way. Letting go of the breath he was holding, Tyree walked over, taking her hand in his. “You’re not going to like this, but Mia and I are no longer together. We decided to end things for good.”
While Karen looked horrified, Tyree studied the look on John’s face and fought the urge to wrap his hands around his throat. He knew the old bastard would be happy, and it did nothing to lessen his rage. Breaking things off with Mia wasn’t what he wanted, but he needed his parents to think it was.
John had never let his disdain for his and Mia’s relationship remain a secret, but for him to stand there with such a gleeful expression struck a chord. “I know you’re excited, but you don’t have to look so damn happy.” Tyree had never meant to let his anger flow so freely, but John had that effect on him. He always seemed to make everything worse.
Tyree was within arm’s reach when Terence and Asha entered the room. They both saw the scene unfolding, and Terence interjected himself, cutting Tyree off. “I wasn’t going to touch him,” Tyree hissed. “I just wanted him to look me straight in the eye when I told him to go to hell. Me and Mia may be over, and I may have chosen to stay with Renee and raise our child together but, make no mistake, he is never going to come in here smiling about it.”
Terence was holding him back, and although Tyree was speaking in a calm, even tone, he knew Terence could feel his rapid heartbeat. “I will never let you say one damn thing about our relationship when it’s your fault she left in the first place.”
John looked as if he had seen a ghost as Tyree’s rants went on, and Tyree saw when Asha looked over to Miguel, who had his eyebrows raised in question.
“This is going to be golden.” John chuckled. “How am I to blame for your wife leaving you, and for a private investigator, no less?”
Tyree pushed on Terence’s arms with no luck in breaking free. “You and your demands. You always wanted too much from us! We are not your puppets. We are our own people. I had a life. She was my wife. I chose her.”
“And you chose wrong,” John snarled. “You chose her and ruined our relationship. You damn near ruined your life, and what did she do? She ran at the first sign of trouble. She ran because of finding out you received a trust fund you only had to use because of the shitty decision to marry her!”
“John.” Karen raced across the room to slap his face. “I told you that you were done interfering, and here you are meddling again. It’s enough, and I’m tired of it!”
John held his hand to his face and let out a sinister laugh that sent a chill through the room. “You baby them too much. That’s why he’s sitting here sneaking around with one woman and he has a baby on the way with another. He needs to understand at some point that you have to make sacrifices for the greater good.”
“No,” Karen snapped. “He should never have to sacrifice his happiness for any of this. What allowances have you ever had to make? You have everything you ever wanted, so why would you expect them to have any less? I always knew you valued the company above all else, but I never knew exactly how selfish you were until just now. I can’t do this anymore.”
“What are you saying, Karen?” John asked harshly.
“I’m saying until you figure out what’s important in life, you will no longer be allowed in our house.”
John reached out, pulling Karen to him roughly, grasping her wrists. “If you think you’re kicking me out of our house, you have another think coming. You side with these kids if you want, but you will soon regret it. Now”—he tossed her back—“I’m leaving you here with them. You take some time to figure out what side you want to be on and let me know.”
While John stomped out, Tyree walked over, pulling his mother into his arms. He could tell how upset she was but, surprisingly, she didn’t seem shaken. It was like she was used to this type of behavior from John. He pulled her back to study her eyes. “Mom, I need to know, has he ever grabbed you like that before? Has he ever talked to you like this before now?”
Karen scanned the room, looking into the worried expressions from her children, and she ran her hand through her hair. Tyree could tell she wasn’t sure exactly how much to reveal to them. After a moment’s deliberation,
she came up with a response. “Son, don’t worry about me. Your father is all bark and no bite. I know how to deal with him. I’m dealing with him.”
“Dealing?” Tyree questioned.
“Don’t worry. I have this under control. I’ll be fine, but I’m worried about you. What’s this I hear about you breaking things off with Mia? Tell me it’s a joke.”
“Tyree, you didn’t,” Asha hissed, anger present on her face. “I thought we discussed this. You made this decision without us?”
Karen scanned the room, and Tyree knew she was trying to figure out what was going on with her children. As her head whipped back and forth, she let a tear fall. Asha rushed to her side and hugged her. Tyree followed suit and so did Terence, until Karen broke from the huddle. She looked like she had something on her mind and, before she could leave the room, Tyree pulled her arm.
“Mom?”
“I have to take care of something.”
“Will you be back?”
“Later. What I want you to do is go over there and talk to Mia.” Tyree opened his mouth to protest, and she slid her hand over his lips. “Don’t argue with me. You know you will regret it if you let her go again. You have to think of you and what you need sometimes. Stop always trying to be her protector and let her protect you. You might not think so, but your heart is fragile. She is the only one who can take care of it the way you deserve.”
With that, Karen spun out of the room, leaving it silent. Tyree was staring at Asha as she glared at him. He knew she was in a mood he couldn’t pull her out of with words. She and Mia had always been close, and he knew she was thinking she was going to lose her again.
Before he could voice his apologies, Miguel broke the silence. He placed his hand to his forehead and shifted toward his brother. “Ty, how . . .” He was stuttering as tears flooded his eyes. “How did Dad know that Mia found out about the trust fund? You never told anyone that. You didn’t even tell me.” During the argument, Tyree hadn’t caught it but, being a spectator, Miguel was able to catch everything. Shaking his head gently, Miguel began to ramble. “It was him. I couldn’t believe it was true.”
“What, Miguel? What do you remember?” Asha asked softly, taking his hand in hers.
“Rock,” he stammered. “Get Rock in here now. I need to know—”
“Miguel,” Asha pleaded, seeing his agitated state, “you need to calm down.”
“You lied to me,” he gasped. “You told me it was going to be okay. You lied,” he snapped at her.
Tyree was confused for a second, but once everything clicked, he knew. Now, all he could do was rock himself back and forth, trying to rid himself of the sick feeling in his stomach. If he hadn’t known before, he knew now that they were better without him, and he had to make sure that was set in stone. He had asked Miguel to get involved in this mess in the first place. Now, he had unearthed something that was supposed to have been buried with Janelle and Helen.
Reaching for his cell, he dialed the number. With shaky hands, he held his breath until he heard a voice.
“Did you do it?” he questioned anxiously.
“Yeah, we made it, but there was a problem.”
“What kind of problem?” he barked, startling the room. “Where is my son? Is he safe?”
“Kyan is fine. He is right here.”
Tyree’s breath caught in his chest and then he exhaled before asking the next question. “Mia?”
“She’s not with us. She was all set to come and then something happened. We tried.”
Tyree knew his anger was wasted on Jackson. After all, he was doing a favor for people he had known only for less than a week. He felt horrible for his reaction and sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. Thank you for taking him. I can’t understand why Mia would do this. I swear this woman is more stubborn than I thought.”
“It’s no problem. Just know your son will be safe with us. I’ll look after him like he is my own, and Millie will spoil him.”
“Thanks.” Tyree hung the phone up. As he slid down in a seat, he thought back on the night before and dropped his head in his hands. His mind drifted back to the conversation they had the previous night that set everything in motion. It all began after Tyree, Asha, and Terence left the restaurant.
Tyree entered the hospital room with Asha and Terence trailing behind him. At first, they weren’t sure what to expect. The phone call he received was so vague, and he was thrown off. When he walked closer to the bed, he saw Miguel lying there. His head was bandaged, and he had his eyes closed. Even with all the machines surrounding him, he looked peaceful. Tyree dropped to his knees when he reached the bedside, and Asha followed, stroking Miguel’s warm skin.
“What happened to you, little brother?” Tyree asked quietly. “What did I get you into? What did I do to you?” Tyree held Miguel’s hand as he felt it move. Startled, he dropped it and backed away slowly. “What the hell? He said you were . . . What’s going on here?”
Miguel looked around the room and saw Rock enter. Once he had the door secured, Miguel sat up, putting his hand to his head. “I’m sorry. It was the only way to do this. I needed them to believe I was still out. I think they wanted me out of the picture, and I would have been if it weren’t for Rock. He came in just as they were coming to finish me off.”
“‘They’? Who is ‘they’?” Asha questioned.
“It’s a long story, but I just needed you here because you have to protect yourselves.” He turned to Tyree and shook his head sadly. “Ty, they’re not safe here. You have to get them out of town as soon as you can. I think Richmond is trying to kill them all.”
“That’s silly,” Asha piped in. “He’s an asshole, but he wouldn’t kill his own kids.”
“Yes, he would,” Miguel retorted. “He killed Janelle and Helen.”
Tyree swallowed hard and locked eyes with Miguel again. “How do you know this?”
“Minutes before I was knocked out, I received a video. On the video, it showed Helen the night she died, in the study.”
“Okay . . .”
“He was there. I heard his voice. He was in the room with her the night she died. They were arguing.”
“About what?”
“Him being there; but there’s more.”
“What?” Tyree was shaking. He knew he didn’t want to hear what was going to come next, but he still waited for it.
“Kyan was in the room. I only caught a glimpse of it, but he was definitely in the frame hiding in the closet. I don’t think Richmond noticed him, but he had to have found out Kyan was there, and that’s why he was kidnaped. Now this all makes sense. Your suspicions, Janelle’s suspicions. She was helping you prove it was him and, now, she’s dead. Kyan was in the room, and he got kidnaped shortly afterward, and Mia’s accident . . .” Miguel looked at Asha and shut down when he saw the expression on Tyree’s face.
“Accident, what accident? What happened to Mia?”
“She just went through a lot when you were gone. It was a tough time for all of us.” Asha cut her eyes at Miguel.
“I don’t buy that. You tell me what happened to her,” he yelled loudly. He was bordering on hysteria when Rock stepped in, placing a hand on his shoulder. Tears were littering his cheeks when Rock pulled him into a rough embrace. “I just . . . I never knew they suffered so much while I was gone. I never knew what she went through.”
“It wasn’t your fault. It was Richmond. He set this all in motion, him and John.”
“Dad?” they all snapped, looking at Rock anxiously.
“Your father, he isn’t as innocent as he claims to be. He has a larger role in the downfall of all those companies. All of this is the result of their competition with one another and good old-fashioned greed.”
Tyree’s anger took over, and he toppled the tray holding Miguel’s water pitcher before dropping to his knees. “All this over a damn company. Rock?” He looked over at him like a wounded puppy. “How do you know this?”
This time, Miguel spoke u
p. “Rock isn’t just our security. He’s with the FBI.”
For some reason, it all clicked to Tyree. “That’s why you were never around full time until now? Why are you here now?”
“I’m investigating your father, trying to bring him and Richmond down. I needed the information Miguel had, which was why I was coming by. I knew you were looking into Richmond. I’ve been watching you, helping you when I can. I wasn’t supposed to tell you anything, just protect you, but you seem to have some source we haven’t been able to reach. As much help as the information is, now I need all of you to back off. It’s too dangerous. I already informed Miguel he needed to play along. It needs to appear that he hasn’t been awake all this time. He needs to seem like he doesn’t remember a thing about any of this. That way, whoever is after him will think they got away with it; and now that we have the proof that Richmond was there for Helen’s death, we can bring him up on charges. The only thing is—”
“What?” Tyree snapped.
“We have nothing on John that will hold up. For all we know he was in on the accidents that took Janelle and Helen down. He covered his tracks well.”
“So, you’re saying he could come after my son and my wife? Have you found Richmond? He shouldn’t be hard to find seeing as how he has taken over the damn company.” All he could think about was the danger they were in. “Who was in my house that night?”
Shaking his head, Rock crossed his arms over his chest. “I wish I could tell you I knew. Honestly, I’m not even sure who is sending the anonymous videos. I tried tracking the IP address, but it’s blocked. I’m sorry I had to manipulate you guys, but it was the only way. Once your father finds out Miguel is here, this room will no longer be safe to talk freely. You have to make sure not to slip up and mention any of this to anyone. He has people everywhere. Always remember that. This attack was meant to get you out of the way,” Rock whispered, holding up a syringe. “You were meant to die in that office, Miguel.”
Miguel’s breath caught in his chest. “Did my father try to have me killed?”
Closing his eyes and exhaling, Rock stepped back. “It’s a possibility.”
