Chapter 3

Rage

M eli and I sit outside The Serpent’s Den watching Mia run around playing with her gigantic dog who thinks he’s people. When Ven and I became blood brothers I’d thought he’d been joking about having Meli adopt me into the family, but here we are, months later, and I couldn’t be happier. I’d never had a family growing up, and even now as an adult it was nice to have someone looking out for me, even if I was capable of looking after myself.

I turn to Meli, “Do you think I’m doing alright by her?”

Gesturing towards Mia, she says, “But of course! Look at her. She is laughing and content in your care. What more could her mother ask for?”

“I suppose you’re right. Thanks for breakfast. Her mom wants her back in school right away. Doesn’t want her sitting around reliving it all in her head, ya know?”

“ Oui , of course that is a wise decision. I’m certain you know she needs a good thérapeute .” Shaking her head as if she forgot the word in English, she adds, “a therapist.”

“Yeah, I aware of that. We didn’t get to talk much yesterday. Prissy was really tired and kept falling asleep. I plan to visit her after I drop Mia off at school. We’ve a lot of ground to cover but I have to pace myself. She needs her rest if she’s to heal properly.”

“Of course this is true. If you need me to keep the child while you work, I will say yes.”

I smile at her. “Thanks, Meli. If I need you, I’ll call.” Picking up the bag of food she made for us to take to Priscilla, I say, “Thanks for the delicious meal. I’m sure Mia’s mother will be very appreciative. No one likes hospital food after all.”

“ De rien . It was my pleasure.”

Glancing at my watch, I come to my feet. “We should get going. I’m supposed to meet with her principal at ten this morning.”

I shout out to Mia, “Time to leave for school. Say goodbye to Barley.”

***

When we arrive at school, it’s during class change. Mia seems a bit anxious. Maybe she’s worried that everyone in our small town found out that the cops shot her father who shot her mother. God, what a fucking clusterfuck this turned out to be.

I ask Mia quietly, “Are you okay. If you’re not ready to come back to school, I can talk to your mom about you staying home for a few more days or possibly doing virtual school for the rest of the year. What do you think?”

She glances around. I notice the other kids aren’t making eye contact with her. They’re looking everywhere except at us. Then I see Siege’s two oldest kids, Tommy and Louisa. They’ve got Rider’s daughter, Amy, with them. It occurs to me that they are probably around the same age as Mia. They all clamor around me asking questions, “Why are you here? Where’s Mia been?”

I frown down at them and explain without giving them too much information. “Mia is staying with me because her mom is in the hospital. I hope you’ll be extra nice to her. If you’re all good, I’ll give you a croissant on Saturday morning.”

Tommy asks excitedly, “And let us play with the dog?”

I give him a single nod because these kids are way too obsessed with Meli’s dog. “Yeah, you can play with the dog.”

They begin talking about how the dog sits upright in his easy chair like people.

Mia announces, “His name is Barley, and he likes to play fetch.”

Suddenly, they don’t want to know me and all clamor around Mia. They’ve all got ten million questions about Barley. On and on they go, right up until the bell rings for the next class.

I tell Mia, “Go on to class. I’m gonna meet with your principal. If we need to talk to you, I’ll text you.”

Amy gasps, “You have a phone? I want one too.”

This morning, I pulled out a burner phone for Mia, just in case her crazy grandfather shows up trying to take her home. I wasn’t sure if Priscilla had told me the whole story, I had the feeling there was more to it, but she made it clear that she didn’t want her child anywhere near her grandfather or uncle. I pat Amy on the shoulder and tell her, “Just enjoy being kids, Mia needs the phone because her circumstances are different.”

“But everyone has a phone,” Amy wheedles.

“They do,” Tommy adds. His sister just nods.

Damn it, I’m not gonna get into a parenting argument with my club brothers. I hope I haven’t started something, instead I just say, “Well none of you have phones, do you?”

All three of them glare at me like I’m public enemy number one, “Ask your parents, but seriously, you don’t need a cellphone yet. You’re at school all day, if your parents need to get in touch they can call the principal.”

“Things are different now,” Tommy says, “Not like in the olden days.”

I can’t help laughing at that, I guess for ten-year-olds I probably am a fossil.

They all tromp off, still pestering Mia with questions, but I can tell by her expression she’s happy to be the center of attention for once. My visit with the principal is short and to the point. I give him the number to Priscilla’s hospital room, inform him that she has not been declared incompetent and he should direct all his questions to her. Truth be told, he’s acting a little odd, so I go ahead and verify what was already printed in the local paper. “Mia’s father took her and her mother hostage, shot her mother, and was killed by the police in self-defense. When the SWAT team breached the door, he started shooting at them.”

“Are you certain this is what transpired, or did you see it reported in the news? Mr. Whitmore had always been an upstanding citizen.”

Giving him a stern look, I tell him point blank, “I was the paramedic on the scene, trying to save her life when the SWAT team came. I saw it with my own eyes.”

The principal drops down into his seat, looking stunned. I put my card down on the desk in front of him. “Here’s my contact information in case you need it for transportation or anything pertaining to Mia. I’m sure her mother will want to meet with you when she is released from the hospital, just to check up and see how Mia is handling this whole situation. Be sure you have meaningful information to share with her.”

He nods, still looking a little shell-shocked. I guess it isn’t every day that something this extreme happens in our little town, so I can’t blame the man for being overwhelmed.

***

By the time I get to the hospital, Priscilla is sitting up in bed, trying to pick through a fairly unappetizing lunch. “Morning, Prissy girl. How are you feeling?”

She looks up at me, her face still bruised. When she smiles at me, my heart explodes in my chest. I can’t let this woman worm her way into my heart and break me all over again, like she did when we were young. I really want to ask her why she up and left me, everything between us had been wonderful. But then I got that letter saying she didn’t want anything to do with me. I’d tried to speak to her so many times, but her parents told me she wanted nothing more to do with me. When I heard that she was getting married to some rich dude, that’s when I signed up to the military.

Now isn’t the time for questions and recriminations, so I decide to help her out in any way I can but this time I’m going to guard my heart. I’d be the world’s biggest fool if I let her break my heart twice.

“I brought you something that’s actually edible.” Whisking away her tray, I open up the food Meli sent and explain. “Meli’s French and owns a fantastic restaurant,” I see Priscilla’s face fall.

“Is she your wife?” she asks.

I shake my head, “No she’s like my surrogate mother, she’s my club brother Venom’s mom and she kind of took me under her wing. I took Mia there this morning for breakfast.”

“Oh wow, I hope she didn’t embarrass you by using the wrong fork.”

I can’t help but laugh. “It’s not that sort of place. Meli doesn’t care about stuff like that. She’s a very down to earth woman.” I slide the food closer to her and watch her eat a few bites.

“This is fantastic. Please thank Meli for me, Ray. This is the best food I’ve had in a very long time.”

“I will. She’ll be thrilled that you enjoyed it. Cooking for others is an obsession for her.”

I give her time to finish her meal and wash it down with some ice water before pulling up a chair and getting right down to the important stuff. I want to know if me and my club brothers need to get involved, I know Conrad is dead, but she’s clearly hiding secrets about the family. “Let’s start with what happened the day you were shot.”

The smile drops off her face. “The police already came and took my statement. They said Conrad started shooting at them when they came crashing through the doors and windows.”

“The police had only one objective and that was to save you and your daughter’s life. Naturally, they would have preferred to arrest him rather than kill him, but he made that impossible.”

She swallows thickly and glances away for a moment before turning back to me. “You protected us, shielding us with your body.”

“My job was to keep the two of you alive until the police could disarm your husband.”

When her expression falls, I add, “Besides, you’ll always be my Prissy girl, my dear friend. You know that I’d take a bullet for anyone I care for.”

“Yeah,” she admits. “You always were a strong protector. Thanks for being there when we needed you the most.”

Obviously back when we were dating, I wasn’t a good enough protector which is why she left me. Or was it because I wasn’t rich? Whatever reason, back then I wasn’t enough. I ignore the insecurities racing through my mind and instead force a smile and say, “You’re welcome. Do you have any questions about your injuries?”

“The doctors explained everything. I remember I was bleeding a lot from the bullet wound and decided the best thing to do was put my finger in there to stop it from bleeding.”

“Yeah, about that. You didn’t stop the bleeding. I did that when I clamped off the bleed. What you did was cause yourself to bleed internally rather than externally.”

She pales at that knowledge, “You must have seen lots of injuries as a paramedic. How bad was the injury?”

“Um, it was pretty bad. You lost a lot of blood. It’s the reason I couldn’t wait on an ambulance.”

She nods, looking worried. “Yes. My doctor said blood loss is why I kept fainting.”

“You had a lot going on that night.”

“Thank God you were there. If not, my daughter would have ended up motherless.”

“Well, she’s accepted being fatherless without much fuss. Why do you think that is?”

She sets her water glass aside and wraps her arms around her stomach, careful to stay away from the wound on her lower chest.

“Conrad wasn’t her real father, and she was very aware of that fact,” she pauses, and I see something flicker across her face. “He was a good man, he wasn’t always like that, but things were difficult. His entire family was difficult. I guess for Mia being out of their grasp is probably a huge relief.”

By the look on Priscilla’s face, she clearly thought it was a huge relief too. “You realize this smooth sailing phase is not going to last, right?”

“I’m well aware of that. If she shows signs of not being able to cope, I’ll find her a counselor.”

“Might I suggest you go ahead and get her one now? There’s no sense waiting until she has problems, I doubt anyone could deal with what happened that night, let alone a kid.”

She nods, staring off over my shoulder. “Yes. Of course. I’ll start calling around.”

“I wanted to mention that you don’t need to worry about your husband’s final arrangements. I was informed that his father claimed his body and already had him cremated.”

“Well, that was fast,” she stammers.

“Normally, in cases of death by cop there’s a delay while they do an internal investigation. This was done relatively quickly because there were so many eyewitnesses, and he had security footage in the living room and several other rooms.”

Her eyes fly open. “I didn’t know that. I had cameras in my own home?”

“I’m told they were hidden. It made me wonder if your husband even knew they were there. He was acting all kinds of crazy while they were capturing every single thing he said and did.”

Priscilla starts wringing her hands. “I can’t imagine anyone else who would want to spy on us.”

“Your father-in-law crossed my mind as a potential suspect. He would have had a vested interest in monitoring his son, probably hoping to avoid him escalating like he did that night. Your husband’s father actually owns the home you were living in. He was also giving your husband a monthly stipend.”

“What?” she just shakes her head. “That’s unbelievable.”

“You have any idea why he would do that? What about the other brother?”

She pales and looks nervously at her hands, “I’m not sure. The whole family dynamic is strange.”

“I had our IT guy, research details about the house deeds and inheritance and there doesn’t seem to be anything in your husband’s name to be inherited, no community property whatsoever.”

“All I know is that he was in his home office all day long. He told me not to bother him because he was working, Sometimes, he left the house, saying he had to meet with clients.”

“Let me guess,” I told her. “He always came back rip roaring drunk, right?”

Her expression turns haunted. “Not at first, but over the last year. It started when…” her voice trails off.

“What?” I ask.

“It all seemed to start around the time his brother got out.”

Nothing had turned up on our search about the family, “Got out of where?”

“He was in a rehabilitation center for nine years. I’m not sure exactly what was wrong with him. All I know is that when he was inside, Conrad seemed much happier. But when he was released eleven months ago, that’s when Conrad started drinking. I think he drank in his office off and on as well.”

I feel so fucking sorry for everything she’s been through, but I need her to know the rest. “Our club attorney, Smoke, searched state and county records. He didn’t find a business license registered in Conrad’s name, nor was he paying employment taxes. That pretty much means he was living off Daddy’s money.”

“If that’s true, it means I need to get job right away. Mia has extracurriculars and trips planned for this year.”

“Don’t worry about all that. We’ll get through it, and you can pay me back later, when you’re on your feet and earning a decent income.”

She seems bewildered for a brief second and then her expression clears. “Is there anything else I should know about?”

“I met with Mia’s principal this morning and gave him your number. He’ll call you first if anything comes up regarding Mia.”

She reaches out to touch my hand. “Thank you for that. How did things go with the other kids? They aren’t ostracizing her, are they?”

“I can’t speak for all the kids that go to her school, but my club brothers have kids that are around Mia’s age, and they seemed to be bonding when I left her. I’ll keep my eyeballs peeled for anything out of the ordinary.”

She lies back on her pillow and her hand slips from mine. “This is all much more than I bargained for.”

I try to lift her spirits by reminding her of when we were kids. “Remember when our fifth-grade teacher told us how to eat an elephant?”

Her expression brightens. “A bite at a time.”

“Exactly, I tell her. “We’ll just break this gigantic multi-faceted problem apart and solve it a piece at a time.”

We chat for a while longer and then I take my leave of her. She needs her sleep, and I need some alone time to get my head straight. Seeing the one and only woman I ever loved again is messing with my head. Seeing her desperation and joy at me showing up in this moment is enough to stoke all those old feelings into an inferno. I’m still dead set against getting into a romantic relationship with her again, even if she wanted me. However, I’m curious about what happened to the fabulously wealthy lifestyle this man was supposed to provide for her. It seems they had all the outward trappings of wealth, but Conrad’s father actually owned everything of value in their lives. I decide to look into that some more and try to figure out why that was.