DAMON CROSSE REGRETTED HIS DECISION TO END HIS LIFE. At the time, faking his suicide seemed like the best course of action. But now, having to live in his Crosby Wheeler alter ego full-time, he wished he had thought of another way. At the time of his “death,” the assets in his name had gone to Jeremy, as his only legal living heir. He’d had the foresight to set up his media conglomerate under Crosby so he had access to all his money, and no one suspected anything, since as Crosby he wore his hair much longer, sported shaded glasses, and looked like a man some twenty years younger, thanks to the magic of the coins. But it irked him that he’d had to lose the Institute. Jeremy had closed down all the programs and it was just sitting there, impotent. He thought of all the great work that had been done there and that could still be done. He sighed. No point in wallowing in regrets. He had a new plan now.
He checked the time on his new Patrimony watch. The red alligator band was a departure for him—Crosby rarely wore anything but black—but today was a special occasion. He was going to meet his daughter, Taylor, for the very first time. Of course, she wouldn’t know it was him. He knew from the security log that Taylor had dropped Evan off earlier and just now had come back for her meeting with Karen and the production team. He’d also known that she would want to stop in to see her son before going to her meeting, but the daycare center had very strict rules. From one o’clock to three o’clock, it was nap time and no one was allowed in. When he established the daycare center, he had made sure to limit the number of children under two to only four, so he had to hire only one caretaker. The older children were in a separate area with different staff, a system he’d set up so he’d have unfettered access to Evan. Today, he entered the nursery from the back, making sure no one saw him, and Delilah, the daycare worker, looked up.
He needed to speak just one word.
“Imagine.”
She closed her eyes, and he led her to a rocking chair and eased her into it. Delilah had seen the staff hypnotherapist to help her quit smoking, and after a few sessions, Damon had joined Dr. Halder so she would respond to Damon’s voice as well. It had turned out to be quite fascinating to watch Halder hypnotize people. Damon used to think hypnotism was nothing more than a magician’s parlor trick, but the man actually knew what he was doing. The doctor had been successful in helping his patients lose weight, quit smoking, and even cut back on their drinking. It was a win/win.
Damon went over to Evan’s crib, where the boy held his arms up to him. He picked him up and carried him over to the small sofa, where he handed Evan the sippy cup full of apple juice he’d brought. Damon spoke soothingly to his grandson while he sipped. He’d been visiting him over the past several months and even though the child wasn’t yet speaking in complete sentences, he seemed to understand quite a lot.
“Grandfather is so happy to see you today, Evan.”
“Gee Gee,” Evan said, smiling.
Just as well that Evan couldn’t say anything close to grandfather yet, otherwise Taylor would get suspicious. The child looked at him, his eyes wide, and slid from the sofa to the floor. Damon brought over a box of blocks and set them next to Evan, pulling a few out and beginning to build a tower. Evan watched silently, and when Damon handed a block to him, he tentatively stacked it on top of Damon’s tower.
“Can you hand me the red one?” Damon asked.
Evan picked up the red block closest to him and handed it to him.
“Good, my boy. Very good.”
They played with the blocks for a few minutes, until Evan wandered away to the other toys and plopped down in front of a dump truck. Damon found a knob puzzle and placed it in front of himself, waiting. After a few minutes, Evan toddled over to Damon and watched as Damon placed the first piece, a yellow duck, into its space. He held out the beach ball to the child, who took it and, after only a moment, put it in the proper spot. Damon pushed the puzzle in front of Evan, and without any further prompting, the boy picked up the bear, then the car, and finally the balloon and finished the puzzle.
Damon clapped for him awkwardly, then got on his feet and put the puzzle back on the shelf.
“How about a story?”
The child walked over to the bookcase and picked up Grimm’s Fairy Tales and handed it to Damon, then climbed up next to him on the sofa. Damon held the book out for him to see, but when he began, instead of reading the words on the page, he made up his own story.
“Once upon a time, there was a young prince named Evan. Evan’s mommy and daddy didn’t want him to be a prince because they didn’t want to share him. They wanted him to be an ordinary boy. So they told him ordinary stories and took him ordinary places, but Evan knew deep in his heart that he was born to do great things. Evan’s mommy tried to hide him from his grandfather, the king. But Evan’s grandfather found him and told him that he would one day rescue him from his ordinary life. He spent time with Evan, and Evan grew to love the king even more than he loved his mommy and daddy. Evan understood that he had a duty that was more important than staying home and being ordinary. Evan had to be extraordinary. He was born to be a great leader. Everyone would serve him and he would own all the toys in the kingdom. The young prince asked if he could live with his grandfather, the king, so he could learn how to be a good prince. His grandfather said yes and took him, and they lived happily ever after.”
Evan’s eyes were closing, and Damon lifted him, taking the now-empty cup from his hand and returning him to the crib. The sedative in the juice would last for the next hour or so. Before leaving, he pushed up Evan’s sleeve, pulled out a butterfly needle, and inserted it in a vein on the inside of the child’s elbow. He waited until he had a full vial of blood, then extracted the needle and rubbed an alcohol swab on Evan’s skin. He pressed a cotton ball to the site for a few minutes and was pleased when he removed it and there was no bruising or bleeding. He pulled the sleeve back down and left.
Once back in his office, he opened his laptop and looked at the nursery via a camera feed. Pressing the intercom button to the speaker installed in the nursery, he spoke the words that would break Delilah’s hypnotic state.
“With each count, you become more awake and alert. One, two, coming back gradually, three, take a deep breath, four, coming back to your body, and five, open your eyes. You’re wide awake.” And just like that, Delilah stood up and resumed her duties.