by Eden O'Neill
I didn’t because that decision didn’t just adversely affect me, it shattered me. Both me and my family. “That money you scaled back siphoned directly from the campus police department and maintenance staff. That money paid for my mom and stepdad to have jobs. They’ve now been let go. Done, and since they don’t have jobs, I can’t go to school here next term!”
Mom and Ben basically told me last night, called me over for dinner and everything when it hadn’t even been our night to eat together. They’d urged it, telling me they needed to see me and it was important.
“I’m so sorry, honey bug,” Mom had said, looking truly sick. She’d sighed. “These things just happen sometimes, but we’ll bounce back, and if you can’t return to Pembroke next semester, we’ll see what we can do for next year. I’m just… I’m just so sorry.”
No, these things didn’t just happen. They didn’t just occur out of the ether and completely due to chance and circumstance. I had higher odds getting hit by lightning and setting myself on fire.
Maybe in a way I had.
I did the minute I got involved with Knight Reed, an arrogant fuck who not only looked at me right now with zero remorse, but was completely blinded. This had nothing to do with my parents, only me, and this may have been his family’s money, but the decision was definitely influenced by him, had to be.
Knight said nothing in response to what I said and his grandpa between us, it was him to actually step forward. Mr. Reed frowned. “I understand your anger, but if the school felt the need for cutbacks, that has nothing to do with the Reed family. Least of all my grandson.”
“All do respect, sir? I think it does.” My lip quivered as my gaze shift to Knight. My eyes narrowed. “How could you? How fucking could you! We get in an argument, and you do this?”
“You’re embarrassing yourself.” Knight’s eyes darkened in my direction, his face red and flushed from where I’d struck him. His jaw worked. “Now, I suggest you take you and your little tirade somewhere else before it gets you in trouble. You have no right speaking to me or my grandpa this way.”
I hadn’t disrespected his grandpa, the only one really disrespected in this situation was me. I came to him with something, and not only had he disregarded it, but punished me for it.
Knight’s hand touched his grandpa’s arm, the two of them starting to walk away.
“Your dad would be real proud, you know?” I stated. “About who you turned out to be?”
Eyes wild, Knight shot them in my direction. His grandpa frowned again. “What is she talking about, son?”
“Nothing, Grandfather. I’ll take care of this.”
Knight strode away from him quickly, back to me and this time, he kept things between us, snatching me up and making me stay behind the tree. He put a finger in my face. “You know nothing about my family.”
“I know enough.” I wet my lips. “And maybe those monsters in the dark from your hometown… maybe you fit right in with them.”
His hand curled at his side, that King ring he’d talked about shining over his finger. Yeah, he fit right in with them. Yeah, those were definitely his people.
Knight pushed off the tree without another word from me, clearly simmering in heat as he stalked away. He’d found his place, and it clearly wasn’t with me.
I think in the end I’d been the one to gratefully benefit.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Knight
“And this year’s humanitarian award goes to Gerald Reed!!”
The room erupted in applause when Grandfather’s name was called, and I stood, right next to him. He eased out of his chair, holding back his tie, but before going up on stage he shook my hand, giving me a hug. He always acknowledged me first, always.
I led the room in applause after he broke away from me, always the loudest in the room whenever my Grandfather was acknowledged for anything he did, whether it was business related or otherwise. In this case, he’d been one of the lead backers for the research and development department at Pembroke University’s medical school, and needless to say, the grant committee had been pleased. They held this luncheon every year, but this had been the first year Grandfather had been recognized for his role in everything. That’s not why he did the things he did to help, of course, but it was nice to see him be acknowledged. He worked hard and took care of many people.
He got up on stage, in a dark suit like mine, and after the room quieted a little, I eased back in my chair, the rest of the room doing the same. Grandfather was handed a crystal award in the shape of a bird, a dove, and I felt some irony in that for myself. I thought about Greer more than I liked these days, what she was doing.
Putting her out of my mind now and respecting this moment for my grandpa, I sat back while Grandfather took pictures with the award for the cameras. After, he approached the podium with it, a smile on his face.
“I’d liked to dedicate this award to my grandson,” he said, putting the award out toward me. He could see me easily, smiling at me in the afternoon lit room. “He inspires me every day, such strength for such a young man.”
I clapped before everyone else once again, the room following behind me. Grandfather entertained several pictures at the podium before returning back to our table. The room had a nice lunch, and though I never usually went to stuffy events like this, I enjoyed hearing about the things the medical school did. A lot of the money that went there funded research for coma patients, a big reason why I’d decided to go to school here, outside of the obvious legacy thing. I believed, maybe one day, I’d have a chance to have my mom come back to me. That maybe I could do something for her one day.
Swallowing, I smiled as Grandfather pulled me into a picture with his award. Some of the alumni wanted it, the pictures snapped quickly after the luncheon concluded. Of course, they wanted even more with my grandpa, but I got a text from Royal and got distracted, letting Grandfather do his thing as I looked at my phone.
My chest squeezed.
Royal: Hey. You around? I got that stuff you were looking for.
I had my buddy look into my mom’s medical records. He’d said he had a guy who might be able to help with that. Royal always had “a guy” and I’d be lying if I said his resources hadn’t been useful in the past. He and the rest of our close friends had a pretty dark history when it came to our hometown and the Court affiliation we came from.
I thumbed my phone.
Me: What did you find?
Royal: Can I call you?
Chest squeezed again, but as it seemed grandpa was dealing with his many admirers, I excused myself.
“Everything okay?” he asked me after, so concerned despite being surrounded by his adoring fans.
I waved him off, my phone to my ear. “Yeah, just Royal. Texted me something so I was gonna call him. I’ll make it quick.”
With Grandfather’s blessing, I took the call outside the ballroom, hand shoved in my pocket. My heart was beating a mile a minute, worried that Royal actually found something and I might have to lose my shit. I’d asked him to look into my mom’s medical stuff for merely peace of mind. Grandfather and I were about to take her off life support soon, and I just needed to know.
And Greer Michaelson got inside my head again.
But could she be right? I hoped not as much as I did. If there was some foul play here, that meant the doctors handling my mom’s case couldn’t be trusted. That meant something was going on here…
I shook my head, ahead of myself when I should be talking to my friend. “What do you got? Did you find something?”
“Not sure yet.”
“What do you mean not sure?”
“I mean, I got the email with the e-file and didn’t open it. All this shit is obviously private.” He blew a breath into the phone. “I felt you should be the one to open it. Whatever you find.”
And here I thought he actually found something. God, fuck.
I slammed a hand against one of the building’s walls, calming the hell do
wn.
“Jesus, kid. I thought you’d found something,” I said, releasing a breath. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“Well, I might have reason, but like I said, this is all you. You should be the one to look at everything.”
He wanted to respect me, my privacy, and suddenly, I felt like a fool again. I had him look into all this, all this shit obviously paranoia. I scrubbed my hand through my hair. “You know, what? Forget about it?”
“Forget about it?”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see. “It was me being paranoid. Like I said, Greer was saying shit, and it got to me.”
I’d told him everything, of course, since he’d asked why I needed what I’d asked. He’d looked into it right away after that, but I knew he would have regardless. Royal Prinze was ride or die, our other close friends LJ and Jax the same. We’d do anything for each other, completely brothers without the blood.
“But what if she had something there?” he asked. “What if she’s right?”
That meant more than just her being right. It meant foul play, and how could anything be foul under my grandpa’s watch? He’d hired the best doctors. He’d cared for my mom after all these years and put her in that fancy nursing home with the best doctors money could buy. He had some flown out from other countries just to care for her. A strike against the doctors who helped my mom was one against my grandpa, and that just wasn’t something I could accept. There was no way something like that could get past him.
There was just no way.
I moved my jaw, no words, and Royal breathed through the phone.
“You know what?” he asked. “I’ll just hold onto everything. No rush, you know?”
He knew exactly what he needed to do without asking, my fingers gripping into my hair. “Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”
“Of course. Love you, guy.”
How funny, as he’d never say that shit before December came into his life. He’d opened up a lot. “Same, bro. Take care.”
“Take care.”
In the car, Grandfather went over the events while I’d been away, talked about the discussions he’d had and even the celebrities who’d approached him at the event. Everyone wanted a piece of him, trying to get close to that power, and I was in awe of him every day. He influenced many people, moved a lot of mountains, and that was definitely a lot to live up to. His window eased down as he lit a cigar, a celebratory one he’d said he received from the governor. “The governor’s invited us for dinner this weekend at his home with his wife. I was thinking as long as you’re not too busy with your studies?”
Always accommodating me first, I smiled, telling him that was fine, and my phone buzzed as he took a call. Another one of his adoring fans no doubt, and as he took that, I gazed at my device.
Royal: Sorry, buddy. I took a look at the email. Couldn’t help it. Thought you wouldn’t mind? Felt like you might have needed that.
Actually feeling I kind of did, I sat up. I started to text him back, but his text message bubble returned.
Royal: Anyway, I’m glad did. I’m sending you this file over—ASAP and buddy, you seriously need to look at it and get your legal team involved. Your mom’s coma is medically induced. She came out of her actual coma only eight days after her accident. It says so in the file.
What the fuck?
Royal: Doctors put her right back under. No explanation.
But there had to be one, right? I mean, there had to be a reason a doctor would put a patient back under after a traumatic event…
Right?
A slow panic enveloped me, another text from Royal coming in.
Royal: Anyway, call me after you look at it. This is seriously fucked. Someone might be purposely hurting your mom, bro.
My hand gripped my phone, about to shatter the thing into fucking pieces, and it took me a second to realize my grandpa called my name, and by then, I was shaking.
Gramps wet his lips, his cell phone in his hand. He covered the receiver upon seeing me. “Chicken or beef, son?”
“What?”
He frowned. “The governor’s wife… she wants to know chicken or beef for Saturday night?”
My lips closed, fucking frazzled. I started to say something before my grandpa went ahead and put the phone back to his ear.
“We’ll call you back with the decision,” he said, thanking whoever for their time before hanging up. He leaned over. “What’s happening? You look completely shaken, Knight.”
Did I? Needing to pound something, I took the frustrations out on my phone, the device digging so hard in my hand I thought I’d actually break it.
“Knight?”
I panned, facing him. “I just got a text from Royal. I asked him to get a copy of Mom’s medical records. I wanted to see them.”
“And why’s that?” His body shifted in my direction, his cane under his palms. “Why would you do that? Why the need for that?”
The reaction floored me, the quickness of it, and he immediately saw that all over my face, his eyes twitching wide before he panned away. The pair of us bumped in the car, running over uneven ground, and I couldn’t see anymore, not anything at all.
“Grandfather?” The word was a whisper in my voice, strained to fucking hell. I pulled my fingers through my hair, restless and at a loss for words. I forced some. “Do you know what he found out?”
Absolutely nothing on his end, fucking nothing, and I didn’t understand.
I decided to try again.
“I said do you know what he found out—”
“Of course I know.”
Shock ripped through me, immediately but not just by his candor. The lack of emotion, the lack of anything at all got me. This information should floor him as much as it did me. Piss him off. This was his son’s wife.
This was my mom.
He loved her, didn’t he? I didn’t see that as his hand lifted, rubbing his face with a sigh. His hand fell. “Son, before you say anything else. You don’t know all the facts.”
All the facts? All the damn facts were that my mom was in a coma when she didn’t need to be. A coma he told me to pull the plug on not days ago. My mouth moved. “What facts, Grandfather? Mom’s in a coma when she doesn’t have to be…”
“And that’s the hand she was dealt.”
“Hand? What hand? How? Grandfather, I don’t understand—”
“She tried to take you away from me!”
His voice raised when never in my whole life had I ever heard it. Even when disciplining me growing up, I’d never heard it. A sternness, yes, but never an octave above calm and cool. That was just my grandpa, Gerald Reed, nothing if not calm.
His hand warmed the top of his cane, the opposite now. I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”
“Just as I said.” He nodded as he faced me. “Your mom tried to take you away. Ran off with you into the night. Did you know you were in the car with her that night? She could have killed you both.”
I did know, but from what I remembered, my injuries had been minor. Honestly a lot of that was fuzzy, so long ago.
“She ran off with you,” he continued on. “She didn’t want you growing up privileged. Wanted you to be trash like her.”
“What are you talking about—”
“You mom was a whore,” he gritted, my eyes twitched wide. His jaw worked. “Your father’s whore. He hired an escort for an event, then had the nerve to fall in love with her.”
I hadn’t known that, none of it. They’d all gotten along, though. My parents and my grandpa, no arguments ever in my house between anyone growing up. My mouth parted. “You acted like you cared about her.”
“I cared for you.” His expression hardened, cold. “I cared for my son, and though I didn’t agree with his choice, I allowed it. I let him marry his whore.”
My nostrils flared. “Don’t call her that.”
“That’s what she was son, is. She’s Pretty Woman in real frickin’ life. She was trash and I
let it go, but I didn’t have to after your father died. I didn’t have to pretend it was okay. She had no means at all to take care of you outside of what she was left from your father, and hell if I was going to let her squander his trust away.”
“So you did this to her—”
“She did this to herself.” He threw a hand out. “She wanted to leave with you. Take you to God only knew where to come out any which way. Thought she could because she had your father’s money and believed she could do it. She couldn’t take care of herself before she married your father, so pardon me if I had no confidence in her abilities. I got the courts involved. Wanted custody of you and a say in how you grew up. That’s when she ran. That’s when she got in that car accident with you and ended up in that coma.”
“But she didn’t stay that way,” I charged. “She woke up. Royal said she woke up!”
“And would have taken you again, rest assured.” No emotion, none at all. He shook his head. “That wasn’t going to happen. Not on my watch. I did what I had to do. I did what I needed to do…”
To protect me, and so a Reed once again ends up in the flames of hell. Surging, I turned my head, all I could do to keep from doing something else.
“Twelve years,” I whispered, fucking shaking. “Twelve years and what? I turn off her life support, and she wakes up?”
“I would have taken care of that.”
I panned, seeing the first of anything at all in his eyes. It was fear, actual terror and staring straight at me. His jaw moved. “After you gave me the okay, I would have taken care of the rest.”
Meaning he would have ended her himself, finished the job with no chance at all for my mom to come out of her darkness. Who knew if she even could at this point? She’d been under so damn long, and that had to have done something.
“You were going to let me kill her,” I said, mortified as I stared at him. “You were going to let me kill my own mother.”
