Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“I’m afraid I don’t.”
He wrinkles his forehead. “You grew up rich.”
“I did. But you know where my money comes from. And you know damned well I wasn’t entitled. If you knew anything about my grandfather—”
“I know.” He weakly raises a hand to quiet me. “You didn’t have it easy. I didn’t mean to say that you did. Hawk, Falcon, the girls, they all grew up the same way. But Eagle was the baby. None of that really matters now. What matters is that they’re better off without me.”
“I don’t think they believe that.”
“Please, Vinnie. Finish it off. I know you have access to anything you need.”
I shake my head. “I won’t let you put me in this position. I love your daughter, and she would never forgive me if I was ultimately the one responsible for her father’s death.”
He closes his eyes.
“There are things,” he says. “Things that, if my family found out, they’d turn their backs on me anyway.”
I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of what’s going on with Austin Bellamy.
“Tell me this, Austin,” I say. “Are you my friend? Or are you my enemy?”
Bellamy opens his eyes, looking straight into mine, yet his gaze feels distant, unreachable.
“Vinnie,” he says, “I am neither a friend nor an enemy. I am a desperate man. I have done things—horrible things—and now, I can’t see a way out.”
“You could face it,” I say, “Face the consequences.”
“A luxury I don’t have,” Bellamy replies with a bitter smile. “Not with my children at stake.”
There’s something profound in the silence that follows. A heavy weight of a father’s love and guilt mingle together in the room. It drowns every other sound, leaving just the whispering wind outside the window to break the silence.
He reaches out and takes hold of my hand with an unexpected strength. His grip is like iron, the desperation seeping out of him so tangible I can feel it clenching my heart. He locks his gaze onto mine.
“Your love for Raven…” he starts. “It’s real, and I trust it. But it’s her love for me that worries me. That’s why you cannot tell her about any of this.”
I pull my hand from his grip, a cold sense of fear creeping up my spine.
“I won’t be your executioner, Austin,” I say firmly. “But I can help you find another way.”
He stares at me, silent and inscrutable. I can’t tell if he’s considering my words or simply resigned to his fate.
“Vinnie,” he finally whispers. “I’ve dug myself too deep to climb out. There’s no other way.”
“You’re wrong,” I argue. “There is always another way. You’re just trying to take the easy way out. This is really about deciding whether you’re strong enough to take it.”
His eyes search mine. I see a flicker of something in those blue irises, but it’s quickly concealed behind a wall of resignation.
“You don’t know the full story, Vinnie,” Bellamy says. “Once you do, you’ll understand why I’m asking this of you.”
The prospect of uncovering Bellamy’s secrets makes my stomach churn with unease. But despite the dread seeping into my bones, I know that I have to hear him out.
“Then tell me,” I press on, my voice steady in spite of the tremor threatening to break loose inside me. “Tell me everything.”
Bellamy draws in a long breath, his chest rising and falling with an audible sigh. “Just protect them. Please. Protect Raven.”
“With everything I have. But she can’t weather the loss of her father. Neither can the others. You have to heal. And then you have to face what you’ve done.”
He closes his eyes.
I wait.
A moment passes.
And then another.
I stare at the clock, watching the second hand.
Minute by minute by minute by minute.
Has he fallen asleep?
“Austin?”
No response.
I grab his hand and squeeze it. “Austin?”
Still no response.
I nudge his shoulder. Again no response. “Austin!” I shake both of his shoulders. I don’t want to shake them any harder because of his recent head trauma.
I rush out of the room. “I need a nurse, please.”
“What is it?” A nurse comes bustling in.
“We were talking, and then he closed his eyes. When he didn’t open them back up, I thought he’d fallen sleep. But I can’t rouse him.”
“Mr. Bellamy?” The nurse puts the stethoscope into her ears and listens to his heart. “His heart sounds good. The monitors are all good.” She nudges him. “Mr. Bellamy? Can you hear me?”
“What’s going on?” I demand.
“I’m not sure. Let me get a doctor.”
A moment later, a doctor in a white lab coat comes in. She takes all of Bellamy’s vitals again.
“Odd. Looks like he may have fallen into a coma. He may have a hematoma that we missed during the first scan.” She turns to the nurse. “We need to check for brain activity. Order another CT and MRI. Stat.”
“I’m going to need you to update his wife and children,” I say. “They’re outside in the waiting area.”