Chapter 64 Bryce
My entire body tensed at Cruz’s question and the chaos I could hear coming from the ballroom. “What happened?”
“The Daybreak Dominion were here.”
I winced at the thought of the damage those sycophants could cause in a crowded room. Still holding Jada’s hand, I started walking with Cruz toward the ballroom. “What did they do?”
We walked through the double doors into the ballroom, and I scanned the people. Dozens of guests sat spread about on the floor in their black-tie wear, surrounded by helpful others.
“They started flashing people with a massively bright flashlight,” Aaric said.
“A flashlight?” If the people inside didn’t look so hurt, it would have been funny.
Instead, Aaric looked grim as he nodded to confirm I’d heard him correctly.
“Did we catch the people who did it?”
He frowned. “No. Hotel security is giving the footage to our security team and the police when they get here.”
“And medical? Has someone called an ambulance?” I asked.
Aaric nodded. I turned to Jada. “I need to take care of this, but I’m not sure it’s safe here. Will you let Gen take you home?”
Jada nodded slowly, seeming unsure.
“We’ll talk more tomorrow. Brunch?”
A small smile graced her full lips. “Sounds good.”
“Aaric, will you walk her outside?” I asked. “Make sure she gets into the limo with Gen?” I wasn’t sure who I could trust around here. Especially after Jude’s behavior.
Aaric nodded, and he started walking with her, his hand at her mid back. Taking a breath, I turned to the wreckage. It seemed like all the guests who were in pain were older men.
My eyebrows knitted together. That didn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t women have been attacked too?
It all came together. I saw Simon on the floor, Quentin and a few other party guests surrounding him. Whoever attacked had been trying to reach him. I hurried toward them, careful not to trip over anyone, and knelt between Q and Simon. “What’s going on?” I asked them.
Simon blinked and then winced, putting his hand back over his eyes.
“They were trying to send a message,” Simon said. “It’s imprinted in the light.”
My eyebrows flew up. “They put a message in the flashlight.”
Simon nodded. “It says ‘YOUR PLAN WON’T WORK.’”
My blood felt like ice in my veins. “Our plan. Do you think—”
Quentin put one hand on my arm and brushed a finger over his lips. A reminder—we weren’t safe to talk about this here.
I nodded my understanding.
“What plan?” a guest I didn’t quite recognize asked, looking between us.
“Our new app,” Q spoke up quickly. “We’re planning for it to hit number one in the app store, but they think it will use too much non-solar energy.”
They seemed to buy it, or at least stopped asking questions.
Another person said, “There’s the ambulance.”
When I looked toward the entrance to the ballroom, it was more than an ambulance; men in firefighter gear also poured into the room, taking in the scene.
I put my hand up, indicating Simon needed medical attention, although I wondered if they had dealt with these types of injuries before.
The Daybreak Dominion staged protests from time to time, made scenes to get attention, but this seemed to be the first one that could really hurt someone.
I hoped Simon would get his eyesight back, but judging by how much pain he was in, I wasn’t quite sure.
Quentin got up to check on the other party guests while I stayed with Simon. After a quick medical examination, the EMT said, “We’ll need to bring him to the hospital to be checked out.”
“Can I ride in the ambulance with him?”
“No,” Simon said roughly, even as tears streamed down his craggy cheeks. “You need to stay here and take care of our guests.”
I was about to argue, but the EMT was already helping him up, putting Simon’s arm around his shoulder so they could walk together outside because there were too many people injured to get all of them on stretchers.
Scanning the crowd, I looked for Jude. It was like a reflex or an instinct—as typical as using my right hand to sign my name.
He always knew what to do in a crisis. But when I didn’t see him, it all came crashing back, sharp and painful as a stab through the back, even though he’d done it to my face.
No, I needed to handle this on my own.
I took out my phone, calling Simon’s oldest son. He picked up on the third ring. “Bryce, what a surprise to hear from you.” Pompous ass. Snake oil oozed from his voice.
“You know why I’m calling. What the fuck does this message mean?”
“Message? Whatever do you mean?” It was clear he was lying from the tone of his voice. I could hear the sadistic smile on his face as well.
“Your terminally ill father is on the way to the hospital,” I spat. “This is the last thing he needs.”
“Thank you for letting me know, Bryce. I’ll be sure to send some sunflowers to his room should he have an overnight stay.”
“Jasper—”
“I’m sorry if this affects the plan for you boys to take our inheritance. I know he wishes you were his children instead.” Then he hung up.
I swore to myself before a member of the board, Christopher, came up, putting his small hand on my arm, a grave expression on his face. Light glinted off the parts of his scalp not covered by his wispy brown hair. “Bryce, I need to talk to you.”
“What?” I hissed, nearly losing my cool. “What could we possibly need to discuss now?”
“Sorry,” he muttered. “I’ll see you at the board meeting Monday.”
“We don’t have a meeting,” I replied, but he’d already scuttled away.