Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Nine
Five weeks later …
Mason looked at his phone for the hundredth time. It wasn’t going to magically ring. He rubbed his hands over his face and walked out of his office at the warehouse. His calm veneer was cracking, his soul was splitting off piece by piece.
His family was breaking and he had no idea how to fix it or even if he wanted to try and fix it. Carey wasn’t talking to him, Marella wasn’t talking to Lee and Connor was like a bear with a sore tooth. Grace had been with Carey for two days now, she’d taken her on Wednesday already for the weekend.
Marley was the only woman that was talking to them. Steel had drifted to the other side, he’d had no choice. Milana was his detail and he stuck to her side. Connor had lost his shit, broken three chairs and Steel had had to drag him away from Milana, fearing that he would physically assault her.
Kelley had survived brain surgery, even though the odds had been stacked heavily against him. There had been swelling, another brain bleed and another surgery, he’d survived that as well, even though his doctor had been skeptical.
They didn’t know if he’d wake up, ever. Kelley had been in a coma for five weeks. Three weeks ago they’d moved him to the house, back into his bedroom with a heart monitor, an oxygen tank and mask and Ulrich slept in a room on the second floor, having basically moved in and he checked on Kelley before and after his rounds. A nurse had been hired and she checked on Kelley hourly, making sure his vitals were fine. One good thing, according to Ulrich, was that Kelley could breathe on his own.
Intubation was harder to be weaned off, his heart was doing fine, he hadn’t flat lined again and the beeping machine kept them all at ease. Between him and Lee, they’d taken over the business, kept it running smoothly and nobody outside their family and the doctors knew that Kelley was in a coma.
According to the outside world, Kelley had taken a sabbatical, a vacation on some remote island with no wi-fi and no cell coverage. He hated that their family were split in two, hated that Kelley was in the middle of it even if he didn’t know it.
Kelley was the only one that could fix them when he woke up … if he woke up. There was no guarantee and Ulrich didn’t have better news for them. His doctors and nurses had all signed NDA’s and nobody would talk. Nobody’d thought to call Laura and she hadn’t called either.
Team Milana consisted of Carey, Marella, Steel and Jesse and team Connor consisted of Mason, Lee and Marley.
They were blaming Milana for Kelley’s fall. Connor had pored over the footage, watching it in frames, he’d detected the smallest flinch from Kelley as the phone hurtled through the air. He’d frozen the image of Milana’s face as she threw it, the pure rage on it chilled even Mason.
The movement, that flinch, that’s what had caused the fall. Connor’s argument was simple. If she hadn’t thrown the phone, Kelley wouldn’t have flinched, he wouldn’t have fallen and basically be a vegetable in his bedroom with machines sounding out his beating heart.
Milana had moved back into her old bedroom and she refused to talk to any of them, not after Connor had gotten to her. Team Milana screamed that it had been an accident. Kelley’s affair was common knowledge in the family now and the women weren’t happy with him.
The only person that hadn’t taken sides were Jeannie. She remained neutral as she put it. She was Team Kelley. He didn’t even look like himself anymore. He’d lost weight and Connor had placed a beast of a guard in front of his room for those first two weeks, restricting access to everyone except Ulrich, the three nurses and Jeannie.
The nurses washed him every day with Jeannie’s help and she shaved him, cut his hair and clipped his nails. Nobody understood why and Connor wasn’t saying anything. It was like she’d shared a past with him, felt like she owed him something but none of them knew if that was true.
Mason was exhausted and Connor spent his time doing research, no matter what Ulrich said, he kept searching for answers. When asked, Ulrich didn’t beat around the bush, he had no idea if Kelley would have brain damage and if he had, to what extent.
They were all worried about that. Kelley was the foundation, he was the pillars, he was the roof, without him there was nothing, they wouldn’t even be a family anymore. Milana looked like shit, just like the rest of them.
Mason knew it was an accident, but he wasn’t going to go against Lee and Connor, especially Connor. He’d stayed at the hospital for two days straight, until Kelley was declared stable. He hadn’t eaten or slept, he just kept watch. Connor's loyalty went beyond the norm and Mason wondered what kind of history they shared.
Mason got into his SUV and started it, ordering a pizza before he started the fifteen minute drive home. He’d arrive roughly at the same time as the pizza. He wanted to eat, shower, drown his sorrows in a bottle of Scotch and then sleep it off since it was already ten pm.
Mason wanted to wallow and since he had no parental responsibilities for the weekend, his plans to do just that were intact. The best specialists had already seen Kelley, read his files and none of them had answers. Connor kept searching and Mason kept quiet. Connor needed to search like he needed to wallow.
Mason pulled into his driveway and the pizza delivery guy pulled in behind him. Mason paid him and grabbed the pizza just as a light drizzle started. He ducked his head down and ran down the cobbled path and under the roof of the porch.
Movement to his left had him halt in his steps. “Sylvie?”
“Hi,” she said and looked away.
Mason unlocked the front door, switched the lights on and stepped back so Sylvie could step inside. She wore jeans and a light sweater, even though the air was cold. She rubbed her hands over her arms while he shut the door and locked it out of habit.
“Do you want something to drink?” Mason was feeling a bit out of his element. He had too much shit going on in his life and the last time he’d seen Sylvie or even spoken to her was that morning she’d left, telling him he wouldn’t see her around and that they’d never talk about that night ever again.
He had no idea how to act now, his dick was already hardening, clearly remembering her even if he didn’t. Why was she here? There was no way she knew about Kelley, nobody did and even if she did know, why did she come to him?
“Water’s fine,” she said as she stood in the living room, looking around awkwardly.
