Chapter Fourteen.
Rain
Sophie and I walked to lecture room one, which was the biggest, and grabbed some seats.
As I was the leader of my lab, I sat at the front to be visible.
The team settled around me, all of them solemn and worried.
If someone had attacked Ed here, none of us were safe. That made for frightening times.
We were talking quietly when the door opened and several guys and two women filed in. I recognised Ellen from HR. The other woman was a stranger.
But it was the men who stunned me silent. Lowell, Prescott, and Barrett, Allegra’s cousins, sat down. With them was Thatch, her brother. What the Sam Hill were they doing here?
“Sorry for calling this meeting under such terrible circumstances. For those who don’t know us by sight, my name is Lowell Spalding, and I’m the CEO.
Beside me is my brother, Prescott, our CFO.
Next to him is Damon Spalding, the company’s lawyer.
To my right is Barrett Spalding, our CMO, and finally, Thatcher Spalding, our COO.
This is Ellen from HR and Maise from the secretarial pool who will be taking notes,” Lowell said.
How the fuck did I not know the Spaldings owned ENS?
ENS—Elise Norman Spalding. How dumb was I?
My eyes narrowed on them, and Thatch glanced over.
Murmurs rose with greetings, and I held Thatch’s gaze.
Had Allegra known that her cousins employed me?
Betrayal struck deep in my chest, and it hurt to breathe.
“We’ve had an update on Ed Sherman. Ed is in stable condition but in a medically induced coma. His family is at the hospital, and they’re all under heavy guard,” Lowell stated.
“That’s a relief,” Sophie exclaimed as several others joined in.
Angrily, I held Thatch’s gaze, allowing my contempt at their deceit to show. I was unsure whether Allegra knew.
“What happens now?” Sophie asked.
“Specialists are arriving shortly. These are ex-military and experts in personal security. Each of you will be assigned a bodyguard, and we’re opening up the bunker completely to anyone who wishes to move in temporarily.
Security will also be increased around the building, and we have Hawthorne Investigations taking over background checks.
A secondary company, The Juno Group, will then double-check those,” Lowell explained.
While I said nothing, those were names I was familiar with. And I guessed the ex-military was the Fallen Warriors MC or the Delta Force Group. Either way, it was better than before.
“Hi, you stated the bunker will be fully opened, does that include our families?” someone asked from behind.
“Yes,” Thatch replied.
The bunker was aptly named. It was underneath the building and served as a set of accommodations for staff.
Typically, only a few bedrooms were open, but I knew it held suites.
It was usually used when employees got snowed in or were working on a project and didn’t want to leave.
It was quite luxurious down there. Hospitals had on-call rooms; we had the bunker.
The weather in South Dakota was notorious, so the shelter made sense.
“Naturally, we are covering the cost of security and opening the bunker. The food court shall remain open later, and meals will be free for you and your families. Ellen has some passes for you to collect. While I’m not insisting, I suggest you invite your families here.
That makes it easier for us to protect them,” Barrett announced. He caught my eye and looked away.
Ignoring the Spaldings, I turned to my team and saw them all looking to me. We’d been together, most of us, for years, and they’d follow my lead.
“Bring them,” I agreed, and nods were returned. “Can they move in today?” I asked Lowell.
“Some of the private guards have arrived already. They will escort you to your families and stay until you return. We’d prefer sending you with two escorts per family. If we could stagger fetching your loved ones until we have the full team on board, it would be most helpful,” Lowell replied.
Oh, I’m sure it would, I thought. “Guys, whose family is currently at home as opposed to at work or school?”
Three put their hands up. “Move them first,” I said to Lowell, who nodded.
Ignoring the Spaldings, I organised a rota for those who wanted to bring their families here. The Spaldings moved amongst my team, offering what reassurance they could. Prescott reassured someone they’d hired the best PI company in South Dakota to work alongside the BFPD.
“Could I have a word, Dr Wright?” Thatch asked as I soothed Sophie, who was worried about her mom.
“Please confirm that Sophie can bring her mother, as they share a house,” I said to Thatch coldly.
Thatch gave Sophie a warm smile. “Of course. The bunker will be fully open, including the family suites. If you speak to Ellen, she’ll assign you a two-bedroom one.”
“Thank you, Mr Spalding!” Sophie exclaimed, grabbing his arm.
“Welcome.” Thatch watched as Sophie rushed over to Ellen and turned to me. “Guess this was a surprise.”
“Mr Spalding, I don’t believe we have anything to say unless it concerns work. My private life isn’t up for discussion,” I bit out.
“Rain, we need…”
“As I said. You have no right to discuss or intrude upon my personal affairs. However, I won’t be taking you up on the offer of a suite.
Strangely, I refuse to be separated from my children again.
I wonder why. If you’ll excuse me, I have to be sure my team has everything they need,” I stated and moved away from Thatch.
For three years, I’d worked here and not known that Allegra’s family had employed me. I thought I’d got the job offer here because of my skills and reputation. Now I had to question Allegra’s involvement in my getting the position. No point asking Allegra, because she wouldn’t know!
A bitter smile twisted my lips, although clearly profit meant more to the Spaldings than I’d realised. Assholes had kept me working for them even though they believed I’d fucked Allegra over. Wow, money before blood. Bet their parents were proud of them.
Apart from me, only one other declined the offer to stay. The Spaldings generously sent everyone home to pack as security rolled in. I nodded to Ellen and slipped out. There was nothing left to do today.
Shotgun wouldn’t be home yet. Making a decision, I headed to the clubhouse to check on the house. Usually, unless I needed consulting, Shotgun dealt with this. Construction was not my thing. I was surprised when I got a call from Allegra on my way there.
“What’s up?”
“Can you pick the twins and me up? Preferably before I kill a cousin?”
I checked the dashboard for the time. “Give me about ten minutes.”
“Okay.”
“Not asking how, on a workday, I can come so quickly?”
Allegra went quiet. “We’ll talk when you’ve got me.”
Before I could say another word, Allegra hung up. When I arrived at her grandparents’ home, I wasn’t shocked to see Gramps sitting on the steps waiting.
“Gramps.” I stopped short of him.
“Walk with me, son,” Norman ordered as he heaved himself up. A scream came from inside the house, followed by a death threat. I arched an eyebrow, and Norman smiled.
“Just like when they were kids, and I wanna strangle them just as much.”
“Wonder why,” I bitched, and Norman smirked again. Silently, I fell into step beside him as Norman headed for the gardens.
“Allegra’s never going to get her memories back.”
“You can’t say that.”
“You’d be surprised, boy. But medical opinion is that Allegra hasn’t had a single flashback or memory recall, so it’s unlikely to happen.” He paused, then added, “Allegra had no idea you worked for ENS until you told her.”
“Truthfully, I’m amazed you didn’t find some pretence to fire me on.”
“Why? You have a brilliant mind and will make many significant contributions to medical knowledge. ENS has the funding and support you need.”
“And I’ll also make ENS billions.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. It was never about the money, Rain.
Decades ago, I had a sister, a twin, who died of tuberculosis.
It was the nineteen sixties. The cures were available, but not like today.
Julia’s death shouldn’t have happened, but it did.
If my mother had believed in the injection, Julia would never have passed away.
I swore then that I’d do everything possible to stop needless deaths from happening.
“I’m not a technically clever man, Rain, but I’ve business smarts.
And I used them to build ENS Pharmaceuticals alongside Elise.
We made ENS one of the leading drug development companies.
There are more Julias, and always will be, but not as many as there could have been.
We needed your brilliance and foresight to find cures for illnesses that still plague us today.
It’s never easy watching a child die, and no parent should have to suffer that. ”
The emotion in Norman’s voice silenced me. He believed in what he said.
“What Allegra won’t tell you, hell, I don’t know if Allegra’s aware of this yet, but Lowell was a twin. His brother contracted diphtheria when he was five months old and died from it.”
I turned in shock. “There are inoculations for that now!”
“Yes, and Louisa, damn that woman’s black heart, listened to all the naysayers and bullshitters that vaccinations caused autism and refused to allow them to be vaccinated.
When Jasper died, Elise took Lowell for immunisations.
Louisa fought Elise on it, and Elise threatened to have Louisa arrested for neglect.
Louisa got away with it because she was pregnant with Prescott.
Yeah, I want to smack you for hurting Allegra.
However, the demands of the many, in this case, come before the needs of the one. ”
“Sorry to hear about Julia and Jasper.”