CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Two victims, one dead, one clinging to life in a Seattle hospital. Both victims of a suspected revenge attack by a man who allegedly murdered his wife just days before Christmas – then blamed the victims – or in one case, the identical twin brother of a victim – for her death. Tonight, on KOMO, the terrifying story that has shocked America. We’ll return after these messages.
Blue shut off the television and rubbed his eyes. He had watched every moment of news coverage he could, trying to make sense of what had happened a week ago. Mateo Tigri shot dead in his own home…and his beloved Romy, stabbed mercilessly and left for dead. How she was still alive was a miracle, but as he watched her, connected up to a myriad of machines, bandages, bruised, torn apart, he wondered if she would ever wake up.
That terrible day, he had been panicked beyond belief, feeling helpless to act as Beau took over, ordering him out of the Operating Room. “No, Blue. We’ve got this. I saved her once, I’ll do it again, I promise you. Go.”
He’d wanted to swing at his old friend for banishing him, yell at him that yes, he saved her before, but that was one bullet, a bullet which had missed her vital organs, but tonight, this night, her wounds were so much worse.
Butchered.
That was the word which kept coming to his mind, and he winced and tried not to scream as he thought about it.
Romy had been stabbed fifteen times. Her arms, her hands covered with cut and gashes – defense wounds. Her attacker had driven the knife so deep into her belly that it had damaged her spine. Her abdominal artery had been cut, her liver damaged, her gut sliced apart. If she made it, it would have to be a miracle, though she was clinging to life as hard as she could.
And Mateo Tigri was dead. Apparently shot dead by the same man – a man who as of this moment was still free. Carson Franks had been arrested, but he’d had a cast iron alibi for both of the attacks. His smirk at the television cameras told the story. He’d paid someone to murder Atlas – who’d gotten Mateo instead - and had paid him well enough not to roll on him.
Blue knew Carson had stabbed Romy himself. That’s what he liked to do, Atlas had grimly told him; he liked to kill women. And with both Atlas and Romy out of action, there would be no one to testify at his trial.
But his hired gun had killed the wrong brother and now Atlas was raging at the press, the police, and his own security team who had failed to protect his family. His anguish at his brother’s murder had been further exacerbated by hearing of Romy’s stabbing. Blue felt for the man…but…
He was angry. Angry at Atlas, angry at Romy. How the hell had they kept this from him? The threats that Carson Franks had been making? If he had known, he would have put the hospital on lockdown. Romy’s attacker must have followed her from their safe, secure home to this place, the place that seemed secure. There were things he could have done, had he known…like lock Romy in a bulletproof, knife-proof cube and never let anyone near her ever again.
Jesus. How were they here again? Blue got up and went to his wife’s side. He stroked her pale, cool cheek, wondering how much she could feel from within her coma. When he had seen her lying in her own blood, torn apart, he had thought she was dead. The attack had been so vicious, so merciless that it had taken seventeen hours to stabilize her.
And then Blue had had the terrible task of telling his kids that Mommy was very sick. The twins weren’t old enough to process that Mommy wasn’t coming home for a while. It killed him to think of how six-year-old Gracie had looked at him with serious eyes. “Daddy? Is Mommy very sick?”
And Blue couldn’t lie to his daughter. “Yes, honey. She’s very, very sick, but she’s being looked after by the best doctors in Daddy’s hospital.”
“Can we see her?”
He hesitated. He didn’t want Gracie to see Romy attached to all of the machinery, barely breathing, barely alive, but what if Romy didn’t make it?
“Gracie…Daddy will take you to see Mommy when she’s a little better,” said Magda as she touched Blue’s shoulder as she passed him, picking up Gracie. Blue smiled gratefully at his mother-in-law. Magda was shattered, utterly devastated by Romy’s attack, but she had rallied behind Blue and the kids.
Artemis, Romy’s oldest sister, was also on hand and had taken care of the twins, thinking of practicalities Blue hadn’t even considered like the fact Romy had been breastfeeding. Artemis had reassured him. “We’ll switch to formula, it’ll be fine, Blue. Mom, Juno and I will take care of the twins and Gracie. Romy will recover, and all of this will just be another thing we overcame.” Her voice had broken at the end of the sentence, and she began to sob, Blue hugging her tightly.
So many people had been torn apart by what Carson Franks had set in motion, he thought now. He kissed Romy’s forehead and went to his office. Beau Quinto, the retired Chief, was waiting for him.
“How’s Romy?”
“Stable, which is the best we can wish for at this moment. But she lost almost half her blood volume, Beau…if she wakes up, I don’t know if she suffered a brain injury due to lack of oxygen and then that spinal injury could mean any number of things—”
“Woah, woah, woah…” Beau held his hands up. “One thing at a time. Romy’s stable, Blue. Concentrate on that. No signs of infection?”
Blue sighed. “Thankfully, no. Not yet.”
“I think that’s a good sign considering where her injuries were.”
Blue closed his eyes, the image of Romy’s torn belly flashing into his mind again, making vomit rise up in his throat. “Who does that to a woman, Beau?”
Beau, who had suffered his own trauma years before when his wife Dinah had been shot, shook his head. “I’ll never understand it, Blue, and I hope I never will.” He studied his successor. “Blue…the Board reached out to me. Asked me to step in as interim head while Romy recovers. I told them I wouldn’t do anything behind your back.”
Blue sat down heavily. “I appreciate your loyalty, but the Board is right. I cannot run this hospital while I wait for my wife to…God, Beau, she might die. She actually might die, and if that happens, I don’t even know how to exist.”
And his friend had no words to comfort him or even hopeful lies to offer about recovery possibilities.
Ebony was scared. Atlas, removed from the initial shock of his brother’s murder, was a raging automaton, wanting to have sex endlessly, setting up nonstop meetings with record companies, drinking heavily and trying everything in his power to not deal with Mateo’s death.
Between them, Ebony, Stanley, Bella and a distraught Molly tried to help Fino through the worst of it, but he was almost catatonic with grief. Atlas could barely look his nephew in the eyes. He applied to the courts for temporary custody and was awarded it, but after that, he stayed away from the boy.
Guilt. He feels guilty, Ebony told herself, but it broke her heart to see this family torn apart. So much hurt. She was glad she could offer Atlas some comfort, but sex felt like revenge rather than lovemaking. The way he touched her now…it was fucking, not making love, and Ebony’s body ached from the constant physical demands on it. Atlas would take her in the drawing room, only disengaging seconds before someone else would enter the room, leaving Ebony flushed and embarrassed.
She had no idea what to do. Sex seemed like it was the only thing keeping him from going insane, but at this rate, Atlas was heading for a crash.
And then there was her own child, growing in her belly. A month. Just one month since that night in that New Orleans sex club, and her child was still making her sick at the most inconvenient times, but every day she felt a bond growing with him or her. She’d wondered once, but now there was no longer any question that she wanted this child.
She was still thinking about it when Atlas came to find her. He seemed calmer today, less eager to just fuck her, and when he saw her rubbing her belly, he smiled a genuine smile for the first time in days, albeit one so weary and griefstricken that it made her heart break. He put his hand over hers. “I can see by the expression on your face…you’ve made a decision.”
Ebony nodded. “I have…and I totally understand if you don’t want to be involved. I can’t ask you for that, however much I want to be with you. I can’t get rid of her.”
“Her?”
“Just a feeling.”
“Baby,” Atlas bent his head to kiss her, “as far as I’m concerned, a father is someone who raises a child, not just someone who shares his DNA. If you would let me, I’d like to try and be a father to the little one.”
Ebony felt a surge of warmth but cautioned herself. Atlas wasn’t in the best frame of mind to make such life-changing decisions. “Atlas, first, we need to try and look after Fino.”
Atlas looked away from her, but she turned his head back to face her. “It’s not your fault. Mateo wasn’t killed because of you. He was killed by a madman.”
“Who thought he was killing me.”
“We don’t know that for sure.” Ebony sighed. “That being said, the man who actually shot Mateo is in custody. If he rolls on Carson Franks, we’ve got him. Your security team did what it was supposed to do, baby, they got the shooter.”
“But how the fuck did he get in in the first place?”
“Well, that’s something your head of security has been looking into.” She leaned against him, speaking gently. “Atlas, we need to arrange the funeral.”
“Jesus.”
His arms went around her, and she could feel his body trembling. She looked up at him, his green eyes troubled and full of bottomless grief. “I love you,” she whispered and knew it to be the truth.
Atlas tried to smile. “If you only knew how much I have fallen in love with you, Ebony Verlaine. I could not get through this without you.” He kissed her gently. “I want to look after you, care for you, and the little one.”
“And Fino.”
He nodded. “Of course, Fino. I know I’ve been disconnected and I cannot thank you and Molly and Juno enough. I’ll be better, I swear.”
He splayed his fingers out over her non-existent bump. “If it’s a father for your child you want, you have it, my love. Always.”
They kissed, then heard a small gasp. Breaking apart, they saw Bella, her face pale, but smiling at them. “Are you pregnant?”
Too late, Atlas removed his hand from Ebony’s stomach, but Ebony sighed. “I am. Very early days.” She glanced at Atlas who shook his head.
“We’re delighted,” Atlas said before Ebony could say anything else. “Obviously, the timing is unfortunate, but we hope that our child will help us all heal. Will help Fino heal.”
Bella gave a cry of happiness and hugged them both. “I’m so happy for you both.”
Ebony smiled; Bella really was a sweetheart. When she went off to find Fino, Ebony looked up at Atlas. “You didn’t need to protect my baby and me from the truth.”
“As far as I’m concerned, that is our child in there,” he said softly. He cupped her face in his hands.
Ebony felt wiped out by love for this man, and she was so relieved that he seemed to be calming down, his crazy grief beginning to give way to acceptance. She stroked his handsome face, the lines of sorrow etched deep around his eyes. “Come on, baby. Let’s go find Fino.”
As they climbed the vast staircase, they heard someone call at the front door, and Atlas’s assistant called out to them. “Mr. Tigri?”
Atlas went back down and spoke to the man at the door. Ebony watched as the man handed Atlas an envelope then turned away. Atlas tore the envelope open and cursed loudly, rage consuming him all over him again. Ebony went to him. “What is it, Atlas? What’s wrong?”
Atlas waved the letter, his eyes wild. “It’s Cormac. He’s suing me for custody of Fino.”