Chapter Thirty Five

Chapter 35

“Dying? What do you mean he’s dying?” Jemima questioned frantically, her heart rate increasing rapidly as her breathing became shallow. She fell to the bed and crouched her knees close to her body while she placed the phone against her ear, listening intently to the other.

“Alan!” Jemima called again after an incredibly long pause. She clutched her phone tightly against her ears and closed her eyes, dreading whatever he was going to say next.

“He suffered a severe heart attack, and the doctors say he urgently needs a new heart as his current one is failing,” Alan declared, causing Jemima to gasp incredulously.

“How did this happen?” Jemima whispered, struggling to hold back her tears. Jemima heard muffled noises in the background and tried to decipher what was going on.

“I’ll talk to you later. I have to go now,” Alan announced, abruptly hanging up before Jemima could mutter anything else.

“Ugh!” Jemima groaned in frustration, throwing her phone on the wall in annoyance and watching as it crashed, scattering into bits across the room.

“Is everything alright?” Jay inquired, rushing into the room with Dimitri and Vanessa following suit. Jemima stood up and paced across the room, hysterically. Her hand raked through her hair multiple times as she fought back the tears that threatened to spill.

“Jem?” Vanessa called as worry laced the etches of her brows. Jemima kept mute, her mind reeling from what just happened.

Jon was dying! How was that even possible? Why did Alan keep something like that away from her? Questions danced in her mind, causing her heart to ache further. She needed space, she needed time to think. It felt like the walls were closing in on her as she shut her eyes momentarily and tried to calm the storm raging within her.

“Jem, what’s the matter?” Jay questioned, his feet planted on the ground as he crossed his arm across his chest.

“Leave!” Jemima simply stated, not looking up at either of them. She sat down back and buried her head in her palms, the onset of a migraine rising.

“Come on Jem, talk to us,” Vanessa pleaded, her eyes filled with worry as she continued to stare at Jemima.

“Guys, maybe we should let her be for now,” Dimitri suggested as Jemima kept mute and continued to rest her head on her palms.

“Jemima come on,” Vanessa tried again but this roused the anger within Jemima as she erupted like a volcano, “I said you all should fucking leave me alone!” Jemima barked, taking Vanessa by surprise. Jemima stood up and faced all of them, she pointed at the door, indicating for them to leave but her hand began shaking vigorously.

It was the first time in twelve years this emotion resurfaced, the emotion she dreaded the most - fear!

Jemima immediately retrieved her hand and clutched it closely to her chest to hide it from the rest of their view.

“You don’t have to yell!” Dimitri uttered, gazing at Jemima from head to toe with a hidden anger.
He directed Vanessa out of the room and left Jay and Jemima to handle themselves.

“You really should control your temper and not take it out on the rest,” Jay simply commented before exiting the room. Jemima stood in the room, transfixed on what to do before falling to the ground, crying.

Jon had been like her father. He had nurtured and nursed her back to health. He had made her face her fears. Jon had taken her in even after being rejected by her parents and sister. What was she going to do if anything happened to him?

She shook her head vigorously, trying not to think about it as she got up with a determined expression plastered across her face.

“What was that all about?” Dimitri quizzed Jay, referring to Jemima’s sudden outburst.

“Something has probably happened and knowing Jem, she’d want to handle it herself,” Jay replied with a nonchalant shrug as he walked over to the cabinet that had drinks. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and turned it into his cup.

The gurgle of the whiskey being poured into a glass and the ticking of the clock blended into the silent ambiance of the room, creating a cacophony of sounds amidst the tense atmosphere.

Vanessa sat cross-legged on the couch, her thumb rubbing her temples soothingly.

“It still doesn’t give her the right to talk to my fiancée like that,” Dimitri yelled, walking up to Jay in anger. Jay gave a wry smirk and chugged down his whiskey before pouring himself another one.

“Maybe if your fiancée wasn’t so chatty and annoying, that wouldn’t have occurred,” Jay muttered, downing another glass of wine.
In all honesty, Jay was perplexed about Jemima’s discomfort. He wanted to help her and get close to her but she was not letting him. It was like she put up this invincible fence around her to prevent him from doing that.

“Don’t you dare talk to me about my fiancée when you goddamn well can’t even hold a girlfriend for less than a day,” Dimitri clapped back, causing Jay to clench his fist in annoyance.

Vanessa sat there, watching the two men talk about her like she was not there. It was a battle of wits and ego and she had no business interfering. She was drained and just needed to sleep.

“At least I never bullied my girlfriend in high school,” Jay retorted, causing Dimitri to scoff incredulously.

“You are just like your father, aren’t you? Hurt anyone as long as it doesn’t benefit you,” Dimitri taunted, wanting to get a reaction from Jay.

“Don’t bring my dad into this,” Jay warned, his eyes ablaze with fury as he glared at Dimitri. The veins around Jay’s neck pulsed with anger and the muscles in his jaw clenched.

“Or what? You’re gonna kill me like you killed him?” Dimitri retorted, the rest of his words swallowed as Jay landed an aggressive punch on Dimitri’s jaw.

“Jay!” Vanessa screamed, rushing to Dimitri’s side. He had blood spewing from his mouth and he spat it at Jay angrily.

Jay wiped off the droplets of blood from his face and raised his hand to throw another punch at Dimitri before Jemima’s voice halted him in his tracks, “That’s enough!”

Jay turned to look at her as she descended from the stairs and he couldn’t help but wonder how beautiful she looked in her black short walks white top she was putting on.
She dragged along her suitcase as she reached the foot of the stairs.

Dimitri clenched his jaw as Vanessa helped him up. She handed him a piece of clothing and an ice pack to stop the bleeding and the swelling respectively. They all focused their attention on Jemima, each of them wondering where she was going.

“Where are you going?” Jay inquired, his breathing rapid as he furrowed his brows in confusion, waiting for an explanation.

“Home,” Jemima simply replied, exhaling softly as she shifted her gaze from Vanessa to Dimitri before landing it softly on Jay.

“What do you mean home?” Jay questioned, taking a step closer to her as Vanessa placed the ice pack on Dimitri’s jaw, eliciting a grunt of pain from him.

“Jon is dying and I need to be there for him,” Jemima announced, sniffing. Her eyes were red and puffy and it was obvious that she had been crying but nobody mentioned anything about it. They all kept mute and waited for her to elaborate more on the matter.

“I am so sorry to hear that, is there anything we can do to help?” Vanessa inquired, her brows etched with worry as she stared at Jemima pitifully. She made a move to embrace Jemima in a comforting hug but was held back by Dimitri.

He did not want Vanessa to be involved in Jemima’s drama again.

“Why were you two fighting?” Jemima queried, deflecting from the question Vanessa had asked earlier.

“Is Jon okay?” Jay asked as he tried to deflect from the question posed to him, eliciting an eye roll from Jemima.

“Sure, that’s why I threw a tantrum,” Jemima retorted sarcastically as she pursed her lips in an attempt to quell her exasperation.

“Like I said, I have to go home to make sure he’s fine or to at least say goodbye,” Jemima reiterated, her words choking at the end. Vanessa’s gaze softened, eliciting an indignant scoff from Dimitri. He still rubbed his jaw, soothing the pain that had deepened.

“You want to go back to New York?” Jay asked, shaking his head in disapproval as he took a few steps towards Jemima.

“Did you not hear anything I just said? The man who raised me is dying! I need to go home!” Jemima exclaimed in disbelief, placing her hand on her head as she groaned in annoyance as she tried to control her breathing.

“The mission Jem? What would godfather say? What would happen to Vance Wokowski? You could be exiled!” Jay tried to reason with Jemima, taking further steps towards her direction as he closed the gap between them and cupped her face in his palms.

“I don’t give a fuck about Godfather or the mission. My father is dying and I am going back to New York. If Godfather wants me to go into exile then so be it!” Jemima yelled, angry tears falling from her eyes as she furiously wiped them away.

“Who the hell even is Vance Wokowski? Why didn’t he come to the meeting? If he’s that important, Godfather should carry on the mission himself,” Jemima added, emotions churning within her as she made her way for the door.
Just as she was about to exit, Jay’s words halted her in her tracks;

“We may have found Ava Valerian.”