68. The Altar
The Altar
Kiri
Detective Alvarez asks when we last saw them, whether Dad threatened anyone, whether there had been violence before tonight, and if we knew about any guns in the house. The questions come fast and flat, built for facts rather than grief.
I tell him about the argument, him insulting Natalia and Rithy. About pinning him against the wall before we left.
Alvarez’s attention hones in on that. “Was he injured?”
“Not that I saw.”
“Who witnessed it?”
“Both of them.”
He writes down Natalia’s name, then asks us to preserve any calls, messages, or voicemails from Ma or Dad. He says someone will contact each of us for separate recorded statements once the immediate crisis has passed. Dana places her card beside his on the table.
“If you remember anything else, even something that feels insignificant, call,” Alvarez says. “We’ll give you a few minutes to process this. A nurse will come back shortly and take you to the ICU waiting area.”
Then they leave, and the door closes behind them. Rithy stares at the floor for at least a minute before pulling out his phone.
“We need to call Stefan.”
I look at him. “Now?”
“There are police at the house. Ma’s in intensive care and Dad’s fucking dead.
” His voice nearly catches on the last word, but he forces past it.
“Someone might've noticed us coming into Harborview in the middle of the night. If this gets online before Stefan and Elise know, they’ll kill us themselves.”
“They can wait.”
“They can’t protect what they don’t know about.”
He’s right, and I hate him for it. We’ve barely been told whether Ma is going to survive, and already the machinery around our lives needs feeding.
Managers and publicists. Lawyers. Statements prepared before strangers can turn the worst night of our lives into content.
Rithy unlocks his phone, then pauses. His gaze moves to Natalia’s hand wrapped around mine.
“You know they’ll tell the others.”
“Yeah.”
“Rafe, Ronan. They’ll come when they find out, you know how they are.”
Natalia’s fingers tense slightly between mine. Rithy looks from her to me.
“You sure you want to do this now? Like this?”
I understand exactly what he’s offering me. Time to send her home or to try to invent a reason why she'd be here. One final chance to preserve the secret before the whole thing comes apart in the middle of an ICU waiting room.
I grip her hand harder.
“Fuck it." I look directly at Rithy. “I want my girlfriend here with me. I love her. If anyone has a fucking problem with that in the middle of all this shit, they aren’t my brother or bandmate. They aren’t my anything.”
Natalia turns toward me. Rithy watches us for a moment, then nods.
He calls Stefan. The conversation is short and brutal.
Ma is alive. Dad is dead. Police are investigating.
No, we don’t know whether anyone has contacted the media.
Yes, Elise still needs to know. No statement beyond a private family emergency until the detectives say what can be released.
By the time Rithy ends the call, the doctor is back.
Ma's been transferred upstairs. Her condition is still critical, but the swelling in her airway hasn't worsened. The brain bleed remains small. They’re continuing sedation and monitoring her neurological response.
It's not good news but it's not bad news.
Tonight, that has to count.
A nurse returns a few minutes later and leads us out of the consultation room, through another set of secured doors, and into the ICU family waiting area.
It’s larger than the room we just left but somehow feels more claustrophobic, filled with hushed voices, vending-machine light, and people trying not to look at one another.
She tells us someone will come get us when we’re allowed to see Ma, then leaves us there to wait.
It hasn't been half an hour since we called Stefan when I hear my old name again.
“Mr. Drysdale?”
I look up at a nurse in green scrubs, smiling.
“There are three visitors downstairs for Chenda Drysdale. Rafferty Ashton, Ronan O’Shea, and Kasia Sawadzka. They said you’re expecting them. Would you like us to send them up?”
Rithy glances at me.
Natalia closes her eyes briefly.
“Yeah,” I say. “Send them up.”
The nurse nods. “They can wait here with you, but when your mother is ready for visitors, only two people will be allowed in her room at a time.”
“That’s fine.”
When the door opens again, Rafe enters first, Kasia beside him and Ronan close behind. They take in the room. Rithy slumped in a chair. Natalia pressed against my side, our hands still locked together.
Rafe’s eyes stop there and Kasia’s follow.
No one says anything.
Rafe crosses the room and goes straight to Rithy.
He pulls him out of the chair and into his arms without asking.
Rithy collapses against him, gripping the back of Rafe’s jacket hard enough to bunch the fabric in both fists.
Rafe says something and Rithy nods once against his shoulder.
Then Rafe lets him go and turns to me. There’s no hesitation.
He wraps both arms around me and pulls me in, one hand clamping around the back of my neck.
“I’m here,” he says.
That’s all.
It nearly does me in.
Beside me Kasia opens her arms and Natalia falls into them. The first sound she makes is small, almost swallowed, but then her shoulders start shaking. Kasia holds her tighter, one hand cradling the back of her head while Natalia buries her face against her sister.
Ronan reaches Rithy next, hauling him into a rough embrace before pulling me into one too. He gives my back two hard slaps, then steps away and smacks my arm.
“I can’t say we’re shocked about the wee blonde one,” he says. “You weren’t exactly subtle when you tried to paralyze old Mercer.”
A smile cracks out of me before I can stop it. Then it breaks. My face folds with it, and the first tears spill before I can turn away.
Rafe catches the back of my neck again. Ronan’s hand lands on my shoulder. Rithy steps in beside me, and suddenly the whole band closes around us in one awkward, crushing huddle of hard grips and rough pats, all of us pretending the way men hold one another can still be called manly or detached.
“We’ve handled impossible shit before,” Rafe says. His voice is rough and certain. “We’ll handle this too.”
“Your mother's alive,” Ronan adds. “That’s where we start.”
Rithy wipes at his face with the heel of his hand. “And if she wakes up and sees all of you looking this tragic, she’ll ask us why we brought a funeral into her hospital room instead of snacks.”
That gets a wet laugh out of Natalia. Rafe squeezes my shoulder harder.
“You don’t have to hold everything up. Tonight, all of us can be the altar.”
I look around at them. Rithy beside me. Natalia in Kasia’s arms. Ronan trying to make his face look less worried than it is. Rafe standing close enough to catch either of us if we fall.
Finally, I let some of my weight go.