Chapter 4
The announcement went out the following morning.
Vaughn, now the interim CEO, delivered the news with the calm authority that came naturally to him, but I knew him too well to miss the tension in his voice.
The press release was carefully crafted, revealing just enough without giving away anything truly significant.
Colson Ashworth, it stated, was taking a leave of absence due to health reasons.
No details were provided, leaving the media and shareholders to speculate, which they did with a vengeance.
But that was part of the plan—to control the narrative, to keep the real truth buried.
The Ashworths and the Shaws gathered at the hospital when Colson was taken in for surgery. The sterile smell of antiseptic and the low hum of machines surrounded us as we waited, each of us lost in our thoughts, the anxiety hanging in the air like a storm cloud.
Logan sat beside me, his leg bouncing nervously, a habit he’d never managed to shake.
Simone was perched on a chair, her face unusually pale, her fingers fiddling with the strap of her purse.
Vaughn stood by the window, staring out at the city with his arms crossed, his face unreadable and Easton sat with his eyes closed.
I couldn’t sit still. I kept glancing at the clock, feeling each second tick by like a drop of water against stone.
The surgery was taking longer than expected, and with every minute that passed, the knot in my stomach tightened.
The nausea I’d felt earlier returned with a vengeance, and I pressed a hand to my belly, trying to steady my breathing.
Finally, my mother spoke, her voice tight with worry. “Why haven’t we heard anything? It’s been hours.”
“Margaret, please,” Vaughn said without turning from the window, his voice a mix of exhaustion and frustration. “They said it would take time.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t worry,” she shot back, as she glared at his back.
“Worrying won’t change the outcome,” he replied, his tone firm but not unkind.
Logan reached over and squeezed my hand, drawing my attention away from the tense exchange. “He’ll pull through,” he said, trying to sound confident, but the fear in his eyes betrayed him.
“I hope so,” I whispered, my voice cracking under the weight of my emotions. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep it together.
The door to the waiting room swung open, and a doctor in scrubs entered, his expression carefully neutral. We all stood as one, the room suddenly too small, too claustrophobic. My heart pounded in my chest as we waited for him to speak.
“Mr. Ashworth is out of surgery,” the doctor began, his eyes scanning the room before landing on me. “The procedure was successful, but it was more complex than we anticipated. He’s stable for now, but the next 24 hours are critical.”
A collective sigh of relief swept through the room, but it was tempered by the doctor’s caution. Stable for now. Critical. Words that offered hope and fear in equal measure.
“When can we see him?” I asked, stepping forward, my voice trembling despite my efforts to stay calm.
“He’s in recovery,” the doctor replied. “We’ll let you in once he’s settled in his room.”
I nodded, swallowing hard as I tried to process the information. Colson had made it through the surgery, but the battle was far from over. My hand instinctively slid over my stomach. I wasn’t showing and only Logan and Vaughn besides Colson were aware of my pregnancy.
Vaughn finally turned from the window, his face hardening into a mask of determination. “We need to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best,” he said, his voice low but commanding. “The company can’t afford any missteps. I’ll handle the board, but we need to be ready for anything.”
Simone’s voice was quiet but steady as she added, “I’ll stay here with Joey until she can see him.”
I felt a wave of gratitude toward her, even if our relationship had been strained in the past. Right now, none of that mattered.
Logan looked at me, his eyes full of concern. “Do you want me to stay too?”
“No,” I said, forcing a small smile. “Go home, get some rest. I’ll be fine.”
He hesitated, then nodded. “Call me if anything changes.”
“I will,” I promised, squeezing his hand one last time before he left.
As the others dispersed, Vaughn lingered by the door, his eyes locking with mine. “You should prepare yourself, Joey,” he said, his voice softer now. “This isn’t going to be easy.”
“I know,” I whispered, feeling the weight of his words settle over me like a heavy blanket.
The hours stretched on, and finally, the nurse came to take me to Colson’s room. He looked so small in that bed, so fragile, his skin pale against the stark white sheets. I took his hand in mine, feeling the coolness of his skin and the slow, steady beat of his pulse.
“Colson,” I whispered, my voice thick with tears. “Please, don’t leave me. Don’t leave us, not yet.”
His eyes fluttered open, just for a moment, and he gave me the faintest of smiles. It was enough to break my heart all over again.
Colson came home to recuperate a few days after the surgery.
The house had taken on a somber tone, its walls heavy with unspoken fears.
Nurses were hired to offer round-the-clock care, but I found myself taking on most of the responsibilities.
I couldn’t trust anyone else to care for him the way I could, the way I needed to.
His once vibrant presence was now a shadow of what it had been.
The man who had commanded rooms with his voice, his presence, now lay in bed, weak and fading.
His beautiful, thick hair, which he had always been so proud of, was gone, fallen out from the harsh treatments.
I tried not to flinch when I looked at him, but the sight of his bald head, his gaunt face, made my heart clench with grief.
A small bump was beginning to show beneath my clothes, a quiet reminder of the life growing inside me.
I would catch Colson’s gaze lingering there sometimes, a mix of sadness and longing in his eyes.
I knew he wouldn’t survive to meet our child, and that knowledge haunted me, a constant ache in my chest that I couldn’t soothe.
Colson continued his treatments, but they were taking more from him than they were giving.
He was weaker every day, his body frail, his skin too pale.
I couldn’t deny it any longer—he wasn’t going to survive much longer.
The thought of my life without him was too painful to bear, so I pushed it away, focusing instead on the present, on caring for him, on making sure he was comfortable.
One evening, as the sun dipped low in the sky, casting the room in a warm, golden light, Colson asked me to sit with him. I had just finished helping him with his medication, and I could see the fatigue in his eyes, the way his hand trembled slightly as he reached for mine.
“Joey,” he said, his voice soft, almost a whisper. “Come here.”
I sat beside him, taking his hand in mine. His grip was weak, but he squeezed my fingers gently, his eyes locking onto mine. There was something different in his gaze, something more urgent.
“I’ve been offering to tell you my secrets,” he began, his voice faltering. “And you’ve turned me down every time.”
“Colson, you don’t have to…”
“No,” he interrupted, shaking his head slightly. “I need to do this. You need to hear it, Joey. Before it’s too late.”
I felt a lump rise in my throat, the tears I’d been holding back threatening to spill over. “I don’t want to know,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “I don’t want to hear something that will make me hate you. I love you, Colson. I just want to remember you like this.”
“But that’s the problem, Joey,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “You need to know everything. I can’t leave you in the dark. Not when I’ve done so much wrong.”
I stared at him, my heart pounding in my chest. Part of me wanted to run, to flee from whatever truth he was about to reveal. But another part of me, the part that loved him, that needed closure, forced me to stay.
“What is it?” I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper.
Colson’s eyes filled with tears, something I had rarely seen. He took a shaky breath, his hand gripping mine a little tighter.
“I’ve done things, Joey,” he began, his voice breaking. “Things I’m not proud of. Things that have hurt people—hurt you. And I can’t take them back. But you need to know the truth.”
I swallowed hard, my mouth dry. “Tell me just one for now.”
He looked away for a moment, gathering his thoughts, before meeting my gaze again. “I never wanted to hurt you. I thought I was protecting you by not telling you but now I want you to know.”
I felt my pulse quicken, the fear creeping up my spine. “What secrets?”
He hesitated, and for a moment, I thought he might back down.
His eyes flickered with a mix of fear and regret, emotions I wasn’t used to seeing in him.
But then he sighed, his shoulders slumping as if the weight of the world was pressing down on him.
He reached up and cupped my face, his touch surprisingly gentle.
“You know about the file box,” he said, his voice laced with resignation.
I felt my throat tighten, my heart pounding in my chest. I worked my jaw, but the words caught in my throat. Finally, I managed to choke out, “It disappeared.”
Colson’s gaze never wavered from mine, a sadness deepening in his eyes. “I wanted you to know the full story, Joey. But in order for me to tell it, I have to start from the beginning. You need to know everything, or it won’t make sense.”
I bit down on my lip, a wave of dread washing over me. “I don’t want to know everything,” I whispered, my voice trembling.
His voice dropped to a whisper, barely audible. “It’s all or nothing, Joey. I can’t tell you bits and pieces. If you’re going to hate and resent me, I’d rather you do it in one shot. I’d rather you process it all at once.”
I shook my head, instinctively sliding my hand protectively over my belly.
The small bump there was a reminder of what was at stake, of the life growing inside me.
Colson noticed the movement, his eyes softening as he covered my hand with his, the warmth of his touch a stark contrast to the cold fear gripping my heart.
“I don’t want to hate you,” I said, my voice breaking. “I know your father bankrupted my grandfather, but why? Why did it have to happen?”
Colson winced as if my words had struck him physically. “I need to tell you everything, Joey,” he said, his voice pleading. “From start to finish. Please, let me explain.”
I hesitated, the weight of his request pressing down on me.
I could feel the truth hovering in the air between us, dark and menacing, ready to shatter the fragile peace we had built.
I was about to relent, to let him tell me the horrible things his family did to mine, the actions that set a lifetime of financial struggle in motion.
I had made sacrifices to prevent that fate, sacrifices that now seemed so small in the face of what Colson was about to reveal.
But something inside me recoiled, a primal instinct to protect myself, to protect the life growing inside me. I wasn’t sure I could handle the full weight of the truth, not now, not with Colson so close to the end. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know just how deep the betrayal ran.
My lips parted, but the words wouldn’t come.
Instead, I just looked at him, the man who had been both my tormentor and my savior, the man I had grown to love despite everything.
And in that moment, I realized that no matter what he told me, no matter how terrible the truth was, it wouldn’t change how I felt.
It wouldn’t change the fact that I loved him, that I was carrying his child, that we were bound together in ways that went far beyond the past.
Colson’s hand tightened around mine, his eyes searching mine for some sign of what I was thinking. I could see the desperation there, the need to unburden himself, to tell me everything before it was too late.
“I’m here,” I finally whispered, my voice barely audible. “I’ll listen.”
And with that, I braced myself for the storm that was about to come, knowing that whatever he told me, it would change everything. But I also knew that no matter how dark the truth was, I would find a way to survive it—because I had to. For him, for our child, for the future that still lay ahead.
Before Colson could say a word, the nurse came in to check on him. He closed his eyes as she did her work, used to being poked and prodded. When she finished, I softly called his name, but his eyes didn’t open. He was asleep. I left him with so many questions swirling in my head.