A knock on my door pulls me from my inner turmoil.
‘Go away!’
‘Mr Weston,’ Amy calls. I shouldn’t take my foul mood out on her, but I’m in no state to talk to anyone at the moment. I’m on the verge of losing my shit and I don’t want her to be in the firing line. ‘Mr Weston, please, I need to speak to you urgently. It’s about your father.’
‘Fuck my father,’ I retort.
‘Please,’ she begs. ‘It’s important.’
The desperation in her voice has me rising from my chair. I stalk across the room.
‘Please just give me some time calm down,’ I say when I open the door.
There’s concern on Amy’s face—she actually looks like she is on the verge of tears.
‘It’s your father, Mr Weston—he’s … he’s dead.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
JADE
When I wake, I find Theo asleep in the chair in the corner. There’s no sign of Joshua, or more importantly, Brock. The moment Theo opens his eyes, I know something terrible has happened. I ask him where the boys are, and I’m in no way prepared for what he tells me.
My first instincts are to go to Brock, but Theo won’t take me. Although Maxwell Weston was far from my favourite person, I can imagine how his death will be affecting his sons.
‘Brock hasn’t taken the news well,’ Theo says. ‘I’ve promised him I’ll look after you. Don’t worry, when he’s ready, he’ll come.’
His words both shock and confuse me. Maybe given the history between his father and me, they shouldn’t, but they do. I’m afraid to ask Theo if Brock has specifically said he doesn’t want to see me, because I have a feeling in my gut that he’d say yes. My instincts are usually pretty spot on.
I try to push that thought out of my mind. I still can’t believe that Maxwell Weston is actually dead. Apparently he’d collapsed in his office. Joshua told Theo that Brock’s efforts to revive him had been futile. That only made my need to go to Brock intensify.
Later that morning, the doctor finally discharges me. With Theo by my side, and Brock forefront in my mind, we head straight for Rupert’s room. There was no way I was leaving this hospital without seeing him.
I pause momentarily at the doorway of his room. Boy, I’ve missed Rupert. This is the first time I’d seen him since I stopped working for M. For years he’d been a huge part of my daily life, so having no contact with him has been hard. This was not how I hoped our reunion would be though.
Hesitantly, I step into the room. The moment my eyes land on Rupert, I take a sharp breath. I’m usually pretty good at keeping my emotions in check, but seeing him lying in that bed, connected to so many machines, is too much. Knowing he’d risked his life and had taken a bullet for me fills me with a mixture of gratitude and guilt.
‘I’m all right,’ he says when I cross the room and hug him, weeping softly into his chest. I have so much to say to him, but for now all I can manage to get out is a measly, ‘Thank you.’ I’ll be forever indebted to him for what he did.
‘You don’t have to thank me, I’m just glad to see you’re okay.’ His voice is raspy as he speaks.
When I eventually pull myself together, I draw back and wipe my eyes with the back of my hand.
‘How are you?’ he asks, concerned. I can’t believe he’s worried about me. I’m not the one with a gunshot wound.
‘I’m fine,’ I say, giving him a reassuring smile. ‘How are you?’
‘It’ll take more than a bullet to bring me down.’ He chuckles, before screwing up his face and placing his hand on his bandaged shoulder. It hurts to see him like this.
Theo brings a chair over, placing it beside the bed. When I’m seated, I reach for Rupert’s hand, giving it a squeeze. After rewarding me with a smile, his gaze moves to Theo.
‘Mr James,’ he says. ‘It’s good to see you again.’
‘You too,’ Theo replies, ‘but I wish it were under better circumstances.’
I watch as Rupert’s eyes move towards the door and then back to me. ‘Where’s Brock?’
My shoulders slump. ‘His father passed away.’
‘Shit.’
I’m glad he doesn’t ask any other questions because there’s nothing more I can tell him.
We stay by Rupert’s side for a few hours, but as time wears on, I can see he’s tired and he needs to rest. It’s hard for me to leave him, but I promise to come back tomorrow. I have no idea if he has any family, and I hate myself for not knowing. He’s always seemed like a private person and has never talked about his life outside of work. I’m going to make it my mission to find out more about him. The real him. The man he was before coming to work for M. Our relationship has always been more than just a working one. I care about him, and the fact that he has risked his life for me tells me he cares about me as well.