Chapter 12. #2
“Your father and I will discuss,” her promise doesn’t sound at all in my favour as she pulls away. “Leave for now. You and your team will be curbing the damage from this since it’s what got us into this mess. Not Aster.”
Shit. “Mama—”
“Enough, Reuben,” Father’s voice breaks us with finality and I can only allow my words to trail off. “Get to work before it explodes into something we can’t control. We’ll think of what to do with you later.”
I look to my brothers, who’ve been quiet this whole time, but Baal is watching with pursed lips, and Aster only shakes his head once.
And it’s like ants crawling beneath my skin.
Because they don’t see the value in Christian.
And I don’t want to leave here without convincing them.
Father steps forward and I’m prepared for a war. There’s a ball of tightness in my chest that’s screaming for it. That refuses to back down because it feels like Christian is on the line.
“Calm yourself, Reuben.” Baachan’s hands on my shoulders are like a wave crashing down on all the hot energy inside me, and like a spell, my blood cools immediately at the sound of her voice.
Her eyes are gentle when I finally pull my gaze away from father, “Let the air clear before choosing to fight another battle. It’s late.
Why not take this to him?” She takes my hand to place a small trinket in my palm, closing my fingers over it.
“He’ll recover faster if you can chase any lingering spirits away. ”
The small charm is a flurry of silvers and blacks, with a silver crescent moon and black cat at its centre. I recognize it immediately, the one Christian’s eyes lingered on, the day we went into her shop, and it’s like my frustration and anger have finally ebbed away into something bearable.
I say nothing but I hold the trinket in my fingers gently, careful not to crush it, before giving her a grateful look.
Now, I just want to see him.
I give my father and mother a curt nod as I leave the room, but the moment the door closes behind me, three sets of eyes are locking onto me expectantly, leaning off the walls to stand upright, waiting for my orders.
Recalling my conversation with my parents, it’s a good thing at least, that the rooms are soundproof.
Xavier’s face always has the habit of showing the most, his worry and his exhaustion from the last eight hours are clear as day on his face, but there’s a strong light in his eyes that tells me he can go for a little longer. God knows we’ll all need to, if we want to control this safely.
Gabriel and Tobias’s expressions have always been more closed, and it’s only because I know them well that I notice the crease between Gabriel’s brows, the restlessness in the way Tobias flexes his fingers, both waiting on my order.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to talk next steps with Father, so my mind has to work fast to give them something to go on.
“The events of the last eight hours are going to be all over the news before dawn,” which leaves us with about two hours.
“We need to get the jump on it now before the press spins everything out of control. Today, Tobias and I will visit each of the guests and families of those caught in the crossfire, starting with those who lost their lives.”
Tobias nods in agreement.
“We’ll need to prepare something for each of them, a token of the Taiga’s goodwill at least, and a formal apology.
” It will be difficult. It’s not as though we can throw money at High Society.
We’ll need to come up with something sincere and forthright, so we don’t shoulder all the blame.
Success will depend on how reasonable the families are.
Failure will create enemies we can’t afford to make.
“Xavier will make the calls to every reporting station on our side of the map. Give them the story before anyone can inflate it into something we can’t control.” That way the families will hear the story before we visit. They’ll be more inclined to reason if we can control the media.
“What do I say?” Xavier’s brows are furrowed.
“The truth. Josei took the diamond under his family’s nose to offer to Camille as a proposal gift.”
There is a flicker of sadness and frustration in his energy, but the light in his eyes only burns stronger as he stands straighter.
“Neither security nor the crew knew anything about the diamond,” I instruct, “so safeguards were inadequate. You must emphasize our ignorance as subtly as possible.”
“How did the attackers find out?” Xavier’s expression becomes sharper.
“Speculation.” My gaze hardens, “So for now only give them what we know. Act fast with facts first and we’ll act on speculations later.
” Xavier nods and I turn to Gabriel, “Before returning to port we made sure to clean everything we could off the attackers. Aster’s team will be dealing with identification and analysis.
Provide them with any details they need.
Anything you can remember or that sticks out, write it down, run through each scene in your head, don’t leave anything out. ”
Gabriel nods as I continue, “We need as much information as we can, before the feds can shut us out. The whole state will have its eyes on this.”
“Josei wouldn’t be so stupid,” Xavier’s gaze is far-off as he tries to put the pieces together in his head, and I know it’s only a matter of time before he reaches the same conclusions I came to a moment ago.
“Not if someone encouraged him,” I muse darkly, “guaranteed everything would go well. Someone with a high enough calibre to do so—”
“Someone he trusted,” Xavier concludes with a fierce expression, and the anger emanating off him takes on bold streaks of red and orange.
“We have too much to deal with now as is,” I shake my head. “We’ll find them, but we can’t do everything. Finish the tasks I’ve given you first and then we can think about doing the feds’ jobs for them.”
I can see his hyper-focus on the attackers, in the way his energy burns brightly.
It’s a stark contrast to the others’—the same anger, but focused, like an intense blue flame.
I snap my fingers to pull them out of their thoughts, “Sadly, there’s no time for rest. Top-up anyway that’s best for you and then move as quickly as you can. ”
“Some people are going to blame us for this,” Tobias adds.
“That’s why Xavier needs to get the jump on those reporters first,” I agree. “Any rumours of us taking the diamond need to be shut down before they can start.”
“And Christian?” Gabriel is the first to mention him, and the small charm in my hand suddenly feels heavy. I’ve been reading the expressions of other people my whole life, but I have no idea what expression I might be making now.
I walk away, “Christian can’t do anything if he’s out. Dismissed.”
“How is he?” Xavier rushes to walk next to me, and I find myself passing my thumb over the charm.
“Broken ribs,” I answer softly, “Fractures. But I don’t know the extent.”
“Can we see him?”
I find myself pausing by the front door. “Why?”
Xavier blinks at me as though he doesn’t understand my question, until a surge of irritation spreads across his face. “Why?” He repeats with a snap. “We all want to see him.”
“Christian isn’t your responsibility,” I shut him down with a warning look.
“At least not until I know for sure…” I manage to stop the words before I can finish them, but it looks like Xavier has already guessed what I mean to say.
His shock is palpable, his eyes widen slightly, and I can swear I see a flicker of hurt in his energy.
One that’s immediately swallowed by a tidal wave of new anger.
He opens his mouth to fight me again, but I cut him off before he can start, “I don’t want to fight, Xavier.” My tone is final as I pin him with a hard stare, “Remember your tasks. Get started as soon as possible.”
I close the door behind us as I head out, forcefully ending the conversation. I’m lucky that Wesley is already there, waiting for me.
I nod to him, “Hospital. Quickly.”
He opens my door with a nod and Tobias steps out into the morning air, “If we’re going to be visiting the families together, I should come with you.”
I didn’t necessarily mean together, but one look at Tobias and I know there’s more to it. There’s a strange sensation in my chest that I quash immediately. The whirlwind of a memory of my finger on a trigger and the barrel of a gun pointed at one of my own… and with it, a lingering guilt.
“Fine.” I resign myself to it for now. There’s too much to be done.
The car is moving off from the courtyard when Xavier throws open the door with an angry orange tint in his energy, looking like an enraged pumpkin in the rearview mirror.
“We’re all responsible for each other, Reuben,” he calls after me furiously and I blink with surprise.
I feel like it’s something I’ve forgotten. I know that the four of us would risk our lives for each other without a thought… but I brought on Christian without even properly consulting them. I can’t expect them to be responsible for him or owe him anything… or have his back.
I’m the only one I can trust to protect Christian right now.
But the entire ride to the hospital, all I’m seeing is the anger in Xavier’s eyes mirrored in Tobias’ energy, even as he quietly looks out the window from the backseat.
And it feels like I’ve forgotten something important.
The air in Seattle is freezing one hour before sunrise, but the hospital at least is warm inside.
It belongs to my mother, both a legitimate practice and a front for her organ business, so the staff recognizes me and leads the way to Christian’s room, while Tobias follows silently.
Wesley will be waiting in the parking lot on standby, but I don’t intend to stay long…
I just want to see that he’s alright with my own eyes.
Christian’s room is large enough for me to walk to his bed in ten steps, where I meet his doctor and hear about his condition.