Chapter 39 - The Longest Night
Victor survived surgery.
Barely.
The bullet missed his heart by less than an inch.
It damaged a lung and fractured a rib.
Matthew sat in the ICU waiting room with blood on his shirt.
Victor’s blood.
He kept staring at it.
Lily sat beside him.
Hannah had gone into Victor’s room.
She refused to leave.
Marcus paced.
Eleanor argued with prosecutors over the phone.
No one slept.
At four in the morning, Matthew stood.
“I need air.”
Lily followed him onto the hospital terrace.
“You don’t have to follow me.”
“I know.”
He leaned against the railing.
Manhattan glowed below.
“I hated him.”
Lily waited.
“When I was little.”
“I know.”
“I used to imagine he would disappear.”
Matthew laughed bitterly.
“Then whenever he actually left the room, I panicked.”
Lily touched his arm.
“Kids can feel opposite things at once.”
“I tell patients that every day.”
“Doctors are terrible patients.”
He looked through the glass toward Victor’s ICU room.
“I built my whole career around becoming different from him.”
“And?”
“I’m still his son.”
“That isn’t a diagnosis.”
Matthew smiled weakly.
“He spent years terrified I’d inherit Dominic.”
Lily took his hand.
“And you spent years terrified you’d inherit Victor.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe inheritance isn’t the point.”
Matthew looked at her.
“You get to choose what you keep.”
Inside the ICU, Victor woke at dawn.
Hannah was asleep in a chair with her head against the mattress.
Victor whispered:
“Chocolate.”
Hannah jerked awake.
“What?”
“My mouth tastes terrible.”
She started crying.
Victor frowned.
“Why are you crying?”
“You got shot.”
“I noticed.”
She kissed his forehead.
“You unbelievable idiot.”
“The man had a gun.”
“And you stood there.”
“I was talking.”
“You cannot therapist your way through bullets.”
“That is Matthew.”
“You cannot whatever-you-do your way through bullets.”
Victor’s eyes softened.
“Is he okay?”
“He thinks this is his fault.”
Victor immediately tried to sit up.
Pain stopped him.
“Get him.”
Matthew entered two minutes later.
Victor looked at the bloodstained shirt.
“Change that.”
Matthew laughed shakily.
“Nice to see you too.”
“Your mother will worry.”
“Hannah isn’t my—”
Victor raised an eyebrow.
Matthew stopped.
“Fair.”
He sat.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Matthew said:
“I should have stopped you.”
“No.”
“I knew Adrian wanted you.”
“No.”
“You went alone because of me.”
“I went because of my past.”
Matthew’s voice sharpened.
“And almost made me pay for it.”
Victor froze.
There it was.
The truth.
Matthew continued.
“You keep saying you changed, but sometimes you still think protecting me means making the decision before I can.”
Victor looked down.
“You’re right.”
Matthew had expected an argument.
Victor simply said it.
“You’re right.”
Matthew’s anger collapsed.
Victor looked at him.
“I was afraid you would hear about Nathan and believe I had hidden it deliberately.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“I believe you.”
Victor’s eyes filled.
Matthew leaned forward.
“But you don’t get to die proving you’re sorry.”
Victor laughed, then winced.
“Noted.”
Matthew began crying.
“I’m serious.”
“I know.”
“I spent half my life trying to convince myself I didn’t need you.”
Victor’s face broke.
“And now?”
Matthew wiped his eyes.
“Now you’re extremely inconvenient.”
Victor laughed through tears.
Matthew hugged him carefully.
Hannah watched from the doorway.
Later that afternoon, investigators delivered another problem.
Adrian Mercer had confessed to kidnapping Daniel.
Funding Northstar.
Extortion.
Samantha’s abduction.
But he denied ordering Victor’s death.
“You shot him,” Marcus said.
“I wanted him wounded.”
Victor stared.
Adrian continued.
“I needed Matthew angry.”
Matthew frowned.
“Why?”
“Because you still don’t understand.”
Adrian looked at him through the interrogation-room glass.
“I wasn’t the one who built Bellweather’s system.”
“Then who?”
Adrian smiled bitterly.
“Nathan did.”
Silence.
Matthew stared.
“Your son?”
“Yes.”
“But he died.”
“He built the first database before Northstar killed him.”
Adrian leaned closer.
“And someone has been maintaining it ever since.”
“Who?”
Adrian’s expression turned fearful.
“For the first time, Victor, you should be afraid of someone who doesn’t want revenge.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because revenge ends.”
May you like
Adrian whispered:
“She wants the system.”
