Chapter 77

**Artemis**


I’m lost in my mission to uncover every email or call Abigail has made to my father in the past. As much as I want to destroy her for helping him, I want to know why. She has never given me any indication that I couldn’t trust her. This is why emotions and feelings don’t belong in business. I didn’t sense anything from her that would make me doubt her, but she has shown me my trust was in vain. How many more people will betray me for me to remember that trusting in others is a mistake?

Fuck I need a drink. I finally pull myself out of my one-track mind and look around to find the room empty. Where did Alan and Blue go?

“Blue?” I call out.

When I don’t hear a response, I stand and go searching for her. I don’t see her in the kitchen and when I go to our room, I find it empty. Did she try to run again? Once again uncertainty and confusion builds inside me. I look around the room but find her ring, phone and purse gone. Her other stuff is still here which I’m taking as a sign that she isn’t trying to leave again, but where is she? I pull out my phone and dial her number. It rings several times before the call is sent to voicemail.

“Baby I swear if you took off again, I’m going to be fucking pissed. Where are you? I’m giving you ten minutes before I track you down. Call me.” I end the call and immediately call Alan.

He answers. “Hey man! What’s up?”

I hear noises in the background…it’s sounds like voices. “Where are you? Is Blue with you?”

“She is yeah. We had to run a quick errand.” He sounds weird.

“What is going on Alan?” I ask harshly.

He sighs. “It’s a lot to explain, but I can swear to you that Abigail is innocent in this. Blue thinks so too and wants to help me prove to you that you weren’t wrong in trusting her.”

Fuck! “Where the fuck are you guys?”

“At our building. Don’t worry though, we have Bryant and Dane with us. Your sisters and their husbands are also on their way. So, she’s very safe.” He’s babbling now which does not help with calming me down.

“What are you all thinking?” I yell into the phone as I start to pace angrily.

“Blue wants to speak to the press. She wants to help you, and I have to admit she’s a storm. It’s hard to say no to her.” Well, he has a point there.

“You are all fucking dead when I get there!” I yell before I end the call and grab my keys.

If they are going to do something crazy, I need to be there to smooth things over. Blue has no idea what the press will do to her if she says the wrong thing. They have already hurt her enough and this could only make things worse for her. More experienced people who have lived in the eyes of the public have fallen into darkness from the cruelty of the press. I don’t want to lose her to that darkness, not when there is still so much, we’re meant to do. She promised to be with me and have babies together. Something that I never considered before other than it was a hurtle I would cross when the time came.

Now I can’t help imaging Blue and I laying in bed with her round stomach on display. The thought of us having a baby that looks like her makes me feel like maybe I could have a happy life. I’ve never felt so much hope for something before, and that is all thanks to her. Alan’s right, she’s a storm but not one you want to run away from. She’s the kind of storm that is almost beautiful and when it passes it leaves a rainbow behind.

I fly down the streets toward our building and it doesn’t take long for see at least a dozen cars parked haphazardly around the streets. I drive my car around back and park out of sight of the cameras before making my way back around the building to the front door. I stop in my tracks when I see Blue, Alan, Abigail, my sisters and their husbands all standing in front of the building. There is a crowd of reporters around them and throwing questions at them one after another.

Blue is dressed the same as I saw her earlier which makes me smile. She isn’t pretending right now.

“Excuse me! If you could all calm down and ask questions one at a time, I would be happy to answer. All this yelling business isn’t getting us anywhere.” Blue says.

The crowd chuckles but quiets down.

“Much better. Now first I want to say that these last few days have been very hard for me. This is not the sort of life I’m used to and as you have probably heard, this isn’t the kind of life I have lived. I was in foster care for most of my life until it became too dangerous for me to stay. Although many hope that the child services system was better than kids being left in unsafe situations, there is a dark side to it as well. I am one of thousands of children who experience abuse while in the system. It’s something I wish we could bring more light to, btu I understand today you are here for other matters. You go ahead.” She points at someone and waits.

“So your name is Blue? It’s a very unusual name.” The person says.

Blue laughs. “I can’t say that was the kind of question I was expecting right now, but yes it’s true. The truth is, I don’t know my real name. My foster mother called me Blue as a nickname and nothing else, so it stuck. Next question.”

“Does Artemis know about your past?”

Blue smiles proudly. “Yes, I didn’t hide that part of my past from him.”

“There is word that Artemis’s tech company is being shut down. Is that true?”

Blue’s friendly smile falls, and she stands a little straighter. “There are many things going on behind the scenes, but the truth is why we’re here today. It’s why I am being joined with the rest of Artemis’s siblings. The truth needs to come out, and we won’t be bullied into staying silent.”

She turns to Rhea and my sister steps forward. “The truth is our father has kept a tight leash on us form the beginning and used the treat of destroying our careers to keep us in line. We have tolerated his bullying for too long, and him coming and taking over the business my brother worked so hard to build is the last straw. Artemis’s built his success from a small room in our house to the success it is now, and doesn’t deserve to have all of it stripped away because of our father’s ego or need to control every aspect of our lives.”

“Why are you only speaking out now?” Someone in the crowd asks.

Rhea smiles at Blue but it’s Athena that answers. “Our new sister-in-law is the bravest woman I have ever met. It was her bravery and need to protect my brother that made us want to come forward as well.”

“What about your oldest brother? Where does he stand?”

“He can speak for himself on this matter, but today we are asking you to tell the truth about what is happening here. Our father has forcibly taken over my brother’s company and is trying to destroy all he’s done out of spite. He hoped Artemis would marry a girl from a rich and well-known family and when that didn’t happen he did this. It wasn’t enough that my father forced my brother to bring his business under the Rhodes umbrella by way of threat, but now he is using that power to try and destroy my brother’s life. We are here to stand with our brothers wife and remind my father that if one of us goes down then we all will.”

“This could bring big ramifications if what you say is true. Why risk it?” Someone else asks.

Rhea takes Blue and Athena’s hands. “Because family is more important.”

Blue opens her mouth to say something when the entrance doors open and my father along with several security guards come storming out.

“I have called the police! Any one not authorized to be here will be removed by force!” He yells. “And you, how dare you come here and speak these slanderous things!”

He stops directly in front of Blue and looks down on her with the same look that used to scare me as a child.

“I only speak the truth. Why don’t you try it?” My mouthy wife says back.

He sneers at her and says something to her that I can’t make out from here, but when I see him reach out to grab her arm I storm forward. When people spot me, they move out of my way leaving a direct path to where Blue is standing. I reach them just as my dad grabs her and I’m grabbing his arm a second later.

“Get your hands off my wife.”