338 P.M. — Wednesday, September 12
MERCY
“Faith, where are you?”
“I just dropped the kids off at school and I’m in the Starbucks drive-thru. Honestly, Mercy, I don’t have the first clue why your nannies keep quitting. The kids have been total angels and—”
“Faith, listen to me,” she said, raising her voice to talk over her sister.
“Go get the children. Right now. Pick them up from school and go home. Take away all their devices, tell the staff to leave until I contact them. Do not leave the house until I’m home.
” Mercy took her suitcase out of the closet and dumped it on the floor right in front of it.
She started grabbing clothes down with one hand, yanking them off the hangers unceremoniously.
The barista’s voice blasted over the speaker. “Welcome to Starbucks. What can I get you?”
“Say you changed your mind and get out of there, now!”
“Umm…I…forgot my wallet. I’m going to have to go home.”
The barista sounded annoyed. “All right then. Pull forward when you can.”
Mercy could hear the sound of the window sliding shut, then Faith’s voice. “What’s going on, Mercy? You’re scaring me.”
“Travis is dead.” She could hardly believe what she was saying. Her voice went up two octaves, but she forced the words to come out. “He got shot this morning. I don’t want the kids to find out on social media or from someone at school.”
“Oh my God! Oh, Mercy! I can’t believe it.” There was a honking sound, then her sister muttered, “Shit. I have to pull forward.”
“Just go get them. Right now. You can tell them it’s fun auntie time or something.
Spend the day swimming in the pool and watching movies.
Just keep them off anything with access to the news,” she said, feeling stronger now that she was doing what she could to protect her children.
“I’m going to have some security guards posted outside the property to keep the media out.
I don’t think the word has gotten out yet, but it won’t be long and the house will be surrounded.
” She let out a sob, then forced herself to carry on.
“The kids need to hear it from me. When I’m there with them. ”
“I can’t… Oh my God. Is this real? Who the hell shot him?” She lowered her voice. “It wasn’t you, was it? If it was, I totally don’t blame you. Also, don’t admit it on the phone. And don’t come back. Just…tell me you’ll meet us in Mexico.”
“It wasn’t me. It was…an accident. They were spearfishing and…it just happened.” She closed her eyes, seeing him face-down in the water.
“Oh Mercy, I am so sorry, sweetie. I’m on my way to the school right now. What do I tell the office?”
“The truth, but not to Leah at the front desk. She’s got a big mouth. Ask to see Mrs. Freison, the principal. Tell her what happened and ask her not to tell anyone for now.”
“All right. Mrs. Freison,” she answered in a firm tone. “Are you all right? Were you there when it happened?”
“I was swimming around the other side of the yacht when...” Her hands shook as she recalled that horrible moment. “I didn’t see it, but I had to climb up onto the swim platform right when they were trying to save him. I got covered in… I was trying to… I thought he might be alive.”
“Merc, I can’t even believe this. It’s all just so awful.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get that image out of my mind,” Mercy whispered.
“You must be in shock right now.”
“It hasn’t really hit me yet. It’s all so strange.
Like none of this is happening to me. To Travis.
It’s two other people who are going through this.
” She closed her eyes tightly, feeling the shock and grief rip through her again.
Managing to take a deep breath, Mercy let it out.
“And I keep expecting him to come strolling into the room, but he won’t. And I can’t wrap my head around it.”
“It’s going to take a long time to get used to this,” Faith said, her voice sounding shaky too. “But I’ll be here for you and the kids through everything, okay? I’ll quit my job or maybe I can take a leave of absence if you want. I can move in with you guys for a while.”
Mercy sobbed into her hand, then squeaked out a thank you to her sister.
Finally, she forced herself to stand, wiped the tears off her cheeks, and lifted her chin.
“I can’t think about anything right now.
I have to focus on getting home to the children.
” She finished emptying her clothes into the suitcase, then crouched down to zip it up.
“I’m just pulling into the school parking lot.”
“Go. Hurry, Faith. And text me when you’re all home safely and the staff is gone.”
She hung up the phone, feeling another wave of reality, followed by the pain of it all. She’d gone from having a husband who she had just realized she had to leave to instantly being utterly and completely alone.
Then a horrible thought popped into her head. She was free.
There would be no custody battle. No danger of him spilling her secret to the world to exact his revenge.
No fighting to get Grace the help she needed.
No one to undermine her with their son. There would also be no more tender moments.
No husband who would smile at her and give her extravagant gifts and tell her how lucky he was to get to be with her.
Travis was gone, along with the last wisps of hope that he could become a better man.
It was all too much. Too complicated for her to comprehend.
She would have to sift through her feelings and thoughts about him in the months to come.
But for now, she needed to get home so she could hold her babies and smell the tops of their heads and feel their warm bodies pressed against her.
They would probably all sleep in her bed with her for weeks to come.
They’d argue about who gets to snuggle right next to her, and they’d keep her up half the night, moving and stealing the covers and breathing too loud.
But she’d take comfort in them being there, all the same.
Eventually, they’d return to their own rooms, one by one.
And she’d have to get used to having their massive bed to herself.
She closed her suitcase, then took a moment to stare at his clothes hanging in the closet, waiting for him to return.
But he wasn’t going to do that. She would leave them there and ask Indira or Oliver to donate them.
Because right now the only thing that mattered was taking care of those who Travis had left behind. Herself included.
8:04 P.M.
TED
Ted sat in a cell at the local police station, wearing a cheap forest-green sweat suit—the kind you’d find in a discount bin at Dollar General.
They’d also given him a pair of tighty-whities that he hoped were new.
He supposed he should be grateful to not be shivering away in his swim trunks in the air-conditioned building.
Instead, he was focused on how tight the tighty-whities were on his balls.
But that thought was only there to distract him from the fact that he had just ruined what had been a very charmed life.
He killed Travis Bishop. A media titan. One of the most powerful men in the world.
Carelessly, without thinking. He’d taken the life of a father and husband.
Not a good one, but still. Mercy and her children would be traumatized. And so would Quinn and Xavier.
Because Antonia wasn’t about to hide the truth for him.
She knew what he was about to do. She saw it in his eyes.
And he’d seen her terror, seen her begging silently, her hair floating above her, twirling as she shook her head and tried to shout.
And he did it anyway. She would see to it that he went down for it, even though it would cause their children irreparable damage.
She would make him the monster, when really it was she who had caused him to go insane with desperation.
Everything she was planning, everything she said the night before.
She was going to erase him from everything he’d accomplished—his career, the books, the show, his family.
And he would be left with nothing. He’d have plenty of money when all was said and done, but his reputation would be not just tarnished, it would be a moldy, rotting, smelly corpse.
He hadn’t planned it. He was just out there in the water, pretending to hunt with Travis while his mind scrambled for a way out of his predicament. And then he saw her, swimming there under the water, chasing that sea turtle. She looked so peaceful. So content. When he was in turmoil.
She was already over it. Over him. Moving on as if none of it had even happened, or if it had, it didn’t matter.
She had ruined it all. The dream. The success.
Him finding a way to be with Charlotte. She had used her manipulation tactics to turn Charlotte on him in one tiny conversation.
She was the dangerous one. The evil villain.
Not him. She was going to use Charlotte to get what she wanted—vengeance.
And leave him with nothing but shame and total humiliation.
And there she was swimming peacefully, without a care in the world. Without a thought to what she was doing to her husband. Something inside of him snapped. A voice that said, It can all be over. In just one quick shot. You’ll have everything you want.
And so, he had listened to that voice without questioning it.
He raised the spear gun and tracked her, waiting for her to pause long enough for him to get a clean shot.
It had to be perfect. There would be no second chances.
It was her own fault, really. Thinking she could take him on like that and make him the fool.
She thought she was so goddamn smart. He’d show her who was the smart one. The one with the power.
But then, Travis got in the way.