by M. M. Koenig
“Did you make a wish, Soph?” Mommy asks.
“I made lots of them. Do you think they’ll come true?” I ask and go for more.
Daddy kneels down by me. “Sophia, you can make anything happen, which means you’ll make your wishes come true too,” he whispers in my ear before dumping snow on my head.
“Daddy!”
Mommy winks at me before she nails Daddy with a snowball. I start giggling. Daddy picks me up and falls to the snow with me in his arms. We make snow angels. Mommy joins us. I love when the snow falls …
There was a chorus of what seemed like a flock of birds dying above my head. If this was heaven, I wanted a refund. My eyes fluttered open to determine the source of the incessant squawks that were a step away from driving me crazy. I blinked to get rid of the blurriness in my eyes. The room slowly started to become less fuzzy. My entire body felt like a steamroller had run over it. The only part of me that wasn’t hurting was my right arm. There was a euphoric stream of coolness shooting up it. I tilted my head to see my arm bandaged and strapped to my side. The blissful river in my veins was an IV drip.
It took me a minute to remember why that would be necessary. My chest started to heave as my body started to shake. My airway was closing real fast. My free hand shot to my chest to get rid of the cords. They were strangling me. I needed air. A set of hands stopped me.
“Shhh … Mia, it’s OK, you’re OK,” Bri whispered.
My head drifted towards her voice. She was sitting next to me with weary eyes and a stark white face. The monitor behind me began to beep ridiculously loud as my heart rate climbed.
“Is Trey OK?” I rasped.
Bri squeezed my hand as tears started to well in her eyes. “We don’t know yet. He made it through surgery, but he hasn’t woken up yet. The bullet managed to miss all his vital organs but the amount of blood he lost put him into a coma.”
I looked away as tears cascaded down my face. My eyes flickered across the small room that reminded me how much I hated hospitals. The pale white walls and shitty paintings with happy people plastered all over were full of false hopes. In my gazing, I saw Jackson fast asleep in a chair.
“Where’s Ethan? Is he OK?
Bri nodded her head for me to slide over. My battered body inched across the bed as she hopped in on my left side. She settled her head on my pillow and stared at the ceiling. I tilted my head her way, with my eyes begging for some answers. My heart hammered in time with the ceaseless beeps behind us.
“Ethan’s fine. They were able to stitch him up and discharge him. He was taken into police custody with Dom and Tristan. Olivia is at the station waiting for them to be released, or bail them out, I’m not entirely sure. They couldn’t take Ziggy because he had to be admitted to treat the gunshot to his shoulder,” Bri said with a tight face. I opened my mouth, but she shook her head and continued, “I don’t know much more. I’ve been with Trey. He got out of surgery about an hour ago. That was when I came to check on you and found Jackson.”
My heart rate spiked as I thought about Jayden and Shane. “Why is he here? He was supposed to stay with Jayden and Shane. Ohmigod. They aren’t …” My throat closed completely.
“I don’t know when Jackson got here, but he filled me in on their conditions over the phone. Jayden’s leg had to be amputated. The bullet blew through far too much for the doctors to try and repair anything. He’ll make a full recovery,” Bri paused to wipe away the tears dripping from my eyes. “We’re still waiting on Shane. His lung collapsed from the bullet. Like Trey, he lost far too much blood so he’s still out,” Bri finished in a soft whisper.
Jackson shifted in his sleep, with his flawless face carrying a burdened expression. I didn’t look at him for long. I didn’t know how my body was able to function with the amount of extra weight I felt. It seemed as though I should be dead with the several tons of guilt and self-loathing crushing me. In my disorderly gazing, I saw the patient bracelet on Bri’s wrist, grabbed her hand, and waved it in front of her. If she lost the baby on top of everything else, they might as well just take me up to the psych ward. She pulled her wrist out of my grasp before gently patting my good arm.
“I’m OK. And thank you for knowing me so well. When Olivia and I didn’t have any concrete information on Trey, I started to lose it. Olivia was quick to catch it. She grabbed a nurse and let her know I’m pregnant and probably needed some help. A doctor was able to see me right away. My blood pressure is off the charts.”
My eyes grew wide as I butted in, “How’s the baby?”
Bri grinned. “Apparently, junior loves the drama because he’s doing fine. With the high blood pressure and small spotting I had, they admitted me as a precaution. Every test they ran confirmed he isn’t in any danger. He has a healthy heartbeat.”
I scrunched my eyes. “You keep saying he. Are you having a boy?”
Bri laughed lightly. “It’s too early to know. I just feel like it’s a boy – that looks just like his daddy.”
I bit my lip as my eyes offered an apology. “Bri, I never wanted to break my promise to you, but I told Trey you’re pregnant. He was flitting between here and the afterlife. As selfish as it sounds, I told him so he’d stay with me.”
Her eyes glistened as she whispered, “If knowing he’s about to be a dad made him fight harder, I’m perfectly fine with you telling him. The doctors said it was a miracle he made it to the hospital alive.”
My breath hitched as I said, “Trey forced himself to stay awake. And …” I paused so she could see the smile on my face. She arched an eyebrow. “It’s not like we chatted about it or anything, but the way he looked at me after I told him said it all. He’s thrilled.”
She leaned over and gave me a delicate hug before settling on the pillow. We laid in silence until her breathing started to pick up. Mine had finally slowed down, so it was off-putting to hear hers. I turned to see her lip quivering as she tried desperately not to cry. I took her hand and squeezed it tightly.
“Talk to me. You’re about the only thing keeping me from losing it. Please let me help you.”
Bri breathed heavily and choked out, “What if Trey doesn’t make it? I can’t raise this baby alone. I can’t picture my life without him. I don’t have a family anymore. I won’t …”
I sealed her lips. “Trey’s the strongest person I know. He loves you. He’ll pull through this. Don’t waste your time thinking about the what-ifs.”
She wiggled her mouth free and arched an eyebrow. “You seemed unhealthily calm just then. What meds did they give you?”
I gave her a half-hearted smile. “I don’t know but it must be some pretty good shit. I’ve been getting loopier by the minute.” Bri’s skepticism was all over her face. I sighed and said, “This all comes back to me. The universe can’t be that cruel to one person. It’s fairly certain Micah’s going to die. There’s no way God would take Trey too. After everything I found out about my past, it’d be inhumane to take both of them from me.”
“Micah’s not dead. We don’t know any more about him than we do about Trey or Shane. The underlying guilt in your tone speaks volumes, Mia. For the hundredth time, this isn’t your fault.”
I glared at her with so much fury that she flinched. “It is. And I wish everyone would stop saying it isn’t.”
Her face tightened as her frustration grew. “It’s not. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s your parents. Stop blaming yourself. Granted, tonight was probably a suicide mission, but I understand why you had to do it. If I can understand with the love of my life hanging in the balance, then you need to come to terms with what was dumped on you. Your parents set you up for a world of hurt once you, or anyone else, discovered the truth. I blame them – not you.”
“Bri’s right. It’s not your fault. So, if you keep blaming yourself, we’re both going to kick your ass until it’s beat out of you,” Jackson spoke up.
My head whipped in his direction far quicker than it should have, because I started to
see stars. He straightened in his chair and slid over to me. Jackson gently ran his fingers down my bandaged arm and arched an eyebrow.
“I don’t have it in me to fight with either of you, so let’s just drop it,” I mumbled.
Bri shuffled out of bed and gave me a quick hug before walking over to the door. “I’m sure Lillian could use a bite to eat since the sun is about to rise. Junior keeps reminding me I didn’t eat nearly enough yesterday,” she remarked, striding through the door with a small smile.
I slowly turned to Jackson. It didn’t surprise me to see his jaw had dropped.
“Bri’s pregnant? That explains why she’s been acting so damn strange lately. And you knew, didn’t you?” Jackson asked heatedly.
I grimaced and gave a small nod. His hands ran through his hair as he looked around the room. He centered on me with such harshness in his eyes that my heart sank.
“New house rule. No more fucking secrets. At this rate, they’ll kill us.”
“I’m sorry Jackson. I promised her I wouldn’t say anything.”
He remained more than frustrated with me as we sat in a painfully loud silence. After it became unbearable, I stared at him until he gave me his attention. He raised an eyebrow.
“I’m so sorry about Jayden. You should be with him. After what happened, I don’t deserve your care or support,” I whispered.
Jackson huffed, “Shut it Mia. Jayden’s a big boy. He does what he wants and there’s no talking any sense into him. He’s a lot like you in some ways.”
His strained tone was at odds with his words. He was trying real hard to seem indifferent to the situation, but it was obvious he held me accountable to some degree – and he should.
“Did the cops question you?” I asked quietly.
He nodded and said, “For the most part, I told the truth. I said we were downtown on our way to a club when a bunch of masked men opened fire on us. I just left out that we were in the middle of a heist when it happened. When they questioned our clothes, I told them it was a crime-themed private party at the club. They bought it. Since it was more or less a drive-by in their eyes, they didn’t really press for any other details. I gave my parents the same story.”
“Why hasn’t anyone questioned me?”
“Tristan and Dom had Olivia and Kane give statements for you and Trey,” Jackson clarified. My face remained blank. Jackson pinched the bridge of his nose, took a deep breath and continued, “I don’t know all the details, but they handled everything, and when I say everything, I mean everything. Remind me never to cross your boyfriend, or his friends.”
I arched an eyebrow.
“They got rid of all the weapons. They made sure nothing was on you or Trey when they brought you in. Tristan had ticket stubs and vouchers for all of us. Dom wiped down and torched all the vehicles in different parts of town. Before he did that, he handled all the questions about what happened to Wade. I’m positive they selected different hospitals so no one would recognize that you dropped off Jayden and Shane earlier. I wouldn’t be surprised if the security footage at every hospital in the metro has spots in it, considering how precise they were in cleaning everything up. If I ever need to get away with murder, I know exactly who to call.”
The heaviness in his eyes had mine slowly closing. The entire night hit me all over again. Waves of pain shot in every direction sending me into a tailspin. The monitor started to beep at a crazy rate. Jackson reached over to grab my left hand and rubbed soothing patterns along it until I calmed down. I blinked away my tears as he rested his other hand on my cheek.
“I’m going to check on Jayden and Shane. You should get some rest. I’ll be back soon.”
My body agreed as I started to doze. As I faded off, Jackson continued to rub my cheek. Before I fell asleep, I thought he said something else, but I didn’t stay awake long enough to ask him to repeat it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
No Turning Back
My head hurts so much. I can’t open my eyes. Daddy grabs me and runs out the door. From behind us, a car squeals to a stop. Daddy runs faster to get into it. He gently places me in the back seat and hops up front next to Mommy.
“How’d you get away?”
“They hurt my child and didn’t think that they’d suffer my wrath.”
I moan from the pain in my head. Daddy turns around and rubs my cheeks.
“I’ll explain later. It’s time for us to move forward with my plan.”
I moan again from the ache in my arm. Tears fill my eyes as it continues to burn.
“Shut your eyes Sophia. We won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”
I sat up so fast that the cords on my chest almost strangled me. My heart rate spiked as I replayed the flash. Against my will, I began to cry. I was so over crying. It seemed to be my body’s only way of dealing with things. Ethan startled me when he tenderly wiped away my tears. My eyes connected with his and I lost my breath. The weight of the world stared back at me from his torn-up face. He had gashes above both of his eyes that had been stitched up, and there were dark bruises splattered across his gorgeous face. He carefully picked me up before hopping into my bed. He pulled me into his chest and lightly stroked my hair.
“What happened to you?” I whispered.
“Things didn’t go exactly how I expected,” Ethan admitted.
“I figured that much when the building blew up. Did you plan on doing that?”
“No, it was in place as a last resort, but I was forced to use it when things at the meeting took an unexpected turn.”
His lack of details was starting infuriate me. “Ethan, stop pussy-footing around and just tell me what happened,” I snapped.
Ethan took a deep breath and said, “With me out of the way, Sean sent Kieran out to find you. Knowing Harrison probably had his own team on the hunt, Colin shot him in the head seconds after he walked in the door. The malicious asshole got one in even after his death, because he shocked all of us by bringing in your dad’s brother, who turned the tables on me.”
“What did he do?” I asked, horrified.
“Harrison had disclosed my plans to him, which he proceeded to reveal to Sean and Colin. The guns turned on me pretty quickly after that. They wanted me to give you up in exchange for my life. I anticipated that as a possibility, which is why we rigged the entire place with explosives earlier in the day. Tristan and Dom joined me to take down the east entourage, but it was too much, so I gave Ziggy the go-ahead to blow away part of the building. It wasn’t exactly how I had envisioned taking down that place, but it’s a start.”
“How’d you make it out?” I questioned, my body trembling.
Ethan wrapped his arms snugly around me and said, “The secret passageways go into the sewers. It’s why I picked the garage to meet at. I knew there was a manhole on the inside. Unfortunately, the passages go in all directions so everyone else got out too. Your dad’s brother sent a few of his men after us. They shot Ziggy and me before we could shake them.”
“Was anyone else in the building when this all went down?” I asked, petrified.
Ethan eased my shaking by giving me a soft kiss before whispering into my ear. “The place was empty. I made sure of it.” He paused after I stopped breathing. He hugged me even tighter and continued, “The people that worked there were always going to be collateral damage, but I’d never put their lives in danger.”
Iciness coasted throughout me. He was a far better person than I was. Several people were in a world of hurt because of me. Ethan sensed the shift in me, but remained quiet as he tenderly kissed my head. I started to sob as my thoughts drifted to Wade.
“Ethan, I’m so sorry Wade’s gone. I’m sorry I couldn’t help him,” I whimpered.
“Wade knew the risks,” Ethan answered, his voice cracking towards the end. I wrapped myself around him and sobbed into his chest. As hard as he tried not to, Ethan cried with me. We melded into each another, trying our best to ease the pain in our hearts together. After the tea
rs dried out, Ethan placed a kiss on my forehead before resting his head against the wall.
“What did you tell the police?”
“You and your never-ending questions,” Ethan mused with a thin smile. I scowled. His fingers wiped it away as he continued, “Dom, Tristan, and I kept to the same story. We swore we had no idea about what happened at the company. We provided ticket stubs to the hockey game as our alibi. We told them we’d been jumped on our way out of the game and that was when Ziggy and I were shot. They didn’t have much to hold us on, so they released us.”
I squinted in disbelief. “Do you really think you’re going to get away with blowing up a building?”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “Yes, just like you got away with stealing a shitload of information.” I opened my mouth to argue, but he narrowed his eyes. “Wade had put together months’ worth of footage that we could loop while we set everything up. There’s no way a print can be lifted from that place. Short of a confession, they don’t have a thing on me.”
I opened my mouth again. Ethan shut it and asked, “Did you get what you needed?”
I glared at him until he released my lips. “Yes, I haven’t had a chance to look at it since I’ve been stuck here. It should help with the next part of my plan,” I murmured.
I bit my lip to stop from saying anything else. Ethan stared me down and demanded, “Mia, what are you going to do?”
I looked away as my tears started to fall again. Before Ethan had a chance to press me for more, a man in uniform strolled into the room. I did a double-take, and so did he.
“Twice in one week. Why am I not surprised? I figured there was more to you. I didn’t expect to find you with one of my suspects though,” Office Nedgo remarked, amused.