Chapter 16 - Keep Him Breathing
“Medical team.”
My father shouted.
Two doctors from among the guests rushed forward.
Halden was unconscious.
His pulse weakened.
The sensor flashed faster.
Elizabeth dropped beside him.
“Keep his airway open.”
Damian backed away.
His hands shook.
“I didn’t know.”
I looked at him.
“You finally managed to make things worse.”
He said nothing.
One doctor began treating Halden.
Another checked his pulse.
“Arrhythmia.”
Elizabeth grabbed the detonator from Halden’s hand.
“It’s biometric.”
“Can you disconnect it?”
“Not safely.”
My father looked at the bomb timer.
Still frozen.
“How long can we keep him alive?”
The doctor snapped,
“As long as everyone stops talking to me.”
We obeyed.
I turned toward Damian.
He looked at the bruise beneath my eye.
Then at the torn sleeve.
His voice was almost inaudible.
“I’m sorry.”
I stared at him.
Not forgiving.
Not comforting.
Just staring.
He swallowed.
“I thought you were…”
“What?”
“Weak?”
He lowered his eyes.
“I thought no one would stop me.”
“That is exactly why you did it.”
He flinched.
I walked away.
An apology could not erase a choice.
Arthur approached me.
“You were right.”
“About what?”
“The doors.”
I looked at him.
He smiled sadly.
“They weren’t built to keep people out.”
Then his expression changed.
“There is something else.”
I almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
“Catherine Rowan.”
My biological mother.
“What about her?”
“She didn’t die.”
I froze.
My mother Elizabeth looked over.
“What?”
Arthur continued.
“I saw Catherine after the clinic fire.”
“When?”
“Nineteen years ago.”
My heart pounded.
“Where?”
“Switzerland.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Halden threatened Damian.”
Damian stared at him.
“You knew all this because of me?”
Arthur looked at his son.
“I spent your whole life making cowardly choices and calling them protection.”
Damian went pale.
I understood that sentence too well.
My father did as well.
Arthur looked back at me.
“Catherine was alive.”
“Was?”
“I don’t know if she still is.”
“Who helped her?”
Arthur stared toward Elizabeth.
“Maria Rowan.”
Elizabeth’s face changed.
“That makes no sense.”
Arthur shook his head.
“Maria ordered Catherine confined.”
“Yes.”
“And then later helped her escape.”
“Why?”
Arthur swallowed.
“Because Maria discovered who really created Orpheus.”
I stared.
“You said she did.”
“I was wrong.”
My father frowned.
“Then who?”
Arthur looked toward Halden.
The unconscious man.
Then toward the ballroom.
“One of the founders is still in this room.”
Everyone nearby went silent.
Arthur pointed slowly.
Not at Halden.
At Senator James Calder.
The man who had spent the entire evening demanding the doors be opened.
Calder looked at Arthur.
Then smiled.
“Oh, Arthur.”
May you like
His hand slipped inside his jacket.
“You always were the weakest one.”
