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I rap my knuckles on the door incessantly until it opens. My stomach bottoms out at the sight of my gorgeous wife in a white terrycloth robe with bloodshot eyes and tear tracks down her cheeks. In an instant, I take her in my arms and hold her tight.
“What’s wrong, princess?” She shakes her head, making my shirt damp as she cries against my chest. “Did he hurt you?” She shakes her head again, and I step inside, closing the door behind us. Cupping her face, my eyes search hers for an answer. “Jaclyn, you can tell me. I won’t hurt him.” It’s a bold-faced lie. If he so much as looked at her the wrong way, I’ll rearrange his face.
As I wipe away her tears with the pads of my thumbs, she sniffles with a choked sob. “Chris is…” She cries harder. “Alex, he’s gone. I don’t know what to do.”
“He left you?That bastard.He couldn’t have gone far. I’ll call someone to track him down.” I’ll make sure they don’t look very hard.
“No.”
“No? Do you know where he went?”
Jaclyn takes a deep breath, then swallows hard. “Bedroom.”
With a frown, I glance behind her to the open door leading to it. I kiss her forehead and march into the room,ready to rip into him for making her cry even a single tear. I reach the door, spotting my brother asleep in bed, his CPAP mask off and dangling from the machine by the thick tube.
“Wake up, asshole,” I growl, but as I move closer, he’s… gray? I’m afraid to touch him to check for a pulse. Using the back of my hand, I feel his forehead.
Ice cold.
No. This isn’t happening.
His chest isn’t moving.
“Wake up, asshole,” I repeat, trying to shake him awake. When I finally check his pulse, there’s nothing.
My mind is racing a million miles a minute as my own tears begin to fall and all the air leaves my lungs. I pivot in place, spotting Jaclyn where I left her. Except she’s clutching her knees on the floor, shaking and crying. Did she kill him? Or maybe the Gallaghers? They mentioned on a few occasions they wanted him out of the way. But this? If they are responsible for taking my family from me, they will fucking pay.
Finally able to catch my breath, I will away my tears and return to Jaclyn. Legs tucked into her chest, I fall beside her and brush the hair away from her face. “Shh, I’m here. It’s going to be okay.” It’s the first lie I’ve ever told her, but it’s the best I’ve got, and I want it to be true.
I lift her onto my lap, and we weep together in silence for several minutes, though it could be several hours. Timedoesn’t exist. One thing’s for certain, I know in my soul Jaclyn isn’t to blame for this.
A swirl of grief and anger courses through me from discovering my brother dead in their bed, but even through my pain, I can’t imagine what she’s going through right now.
My beautiful, sweet, incredible wife had to wake up next to his lifeless body…
I’m still in shock as pain fills my chest. I lost a man who I’ve shared everything with since we were conceived—fuck, we even shared Jaclyn. As much as I love her, I’d give up what we have if it meant he was still alive. He wasn’t a good man, but neither am I… He didn’t deserve to die.
“I’ll kill him. And his brother.”
Pulling back, she studies me. “Wh-what?”
“The Gallaghers, they have to be behind this.”
“I don’t… I don’t think so. There was some sort of power outage.” She points to the time on the microwave, which is blinking 12:00. With her breath shaky, she cries, “This is all my fault! He was supposed to see the cardiologist and pulmonologist tomorrow. I should have insisted he bring the other machine. The CPAP at home has a backup battery; he brought the travel one. It was off when I woke up.”
With the power out in my room, too, the whole hotel must have been down at some point last night. I breathe alittle easier; it wasn’t a targeted attack on my brother. Tears threaten again, but this time, I don’t let them fall. I need to be strong for Jaclyn right now and keep a level head. I’ll need to make sure that she talks to a vetted psychologist when this is all over. Fuck, we both should.
“It’s not your fault. If the CPAP stopped working, any number of things could’ve happened. A medical examiner will confirm if it was an accident.”
“What do we do? Do we call the police?”
“No.” I shake my head. “I’ll call Ned. He’ll know what to do.”
Jaclyn nods, wiping her eyes and nose with the sleeve of her robe. I help her up and settle her on the couch. After taking a couple of deep breaths, I take my phone out of my back pocket to call him.
“Mr. Blake. To what do I owe the pleasure?” he answers on the second ring, grunting as if he’s lifting weights at a gym.
“We have a…situationin my brother’s room at the hotel the gala was at last night.”
