Eli blinks at me, half-dazed as the nurse helps him to sit upright.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" he croaks. "Has something happened to Ivy? I’ve been going crazy sitting here with no information, and the guards won’t even tell me if you found her yet—"
"Here, take a sip of water." The nurse holds his cup up for him. "You can talk when your throat isn't so dry."
I allow that much before I glance at her. "You can go now. We need some privacy."
She doesn't argue. As a Society nurse, she knows who I am. In this hospital, the staff doesn't question the authority of a Sovereign Son.
She slips away quietly, shutting the door behind her, and I take a seat next to Eli's bed. He seems disoriented and anxious, and I suspect whatever they give him to help him sleep is partly to blame. But he'll have to wake up because I'm not about to leave.
"Is Ivy okay?" he asks again, desperation coloring his voice.
"I'm surprised you seem to care," I answer coldly.
"Of course, I care. She's my daughter."
"Yet, what exactly have you done for her?" I demand. "What have you done for any of your children? You left them in the care of a mother who worries more about her reputation than the welfare of her own flesh and blood. You allowed Ivy to suffer from a condition throughout her life instead of seeking the treatment she deserves. You permitted your wife to restrict Eva's food, a growing child, I might add. And you've facilitated Abel’s power to terrorize his siblings along with God knows how many others—"
"Enough." Eli's jaw rattles, and spittle flies from his mouth as his face mottles with red. "You don't get to come in here and tell me what kind of father I am."
"That's exactly what I get to do." I glare at him. "Have you forgotten who you’re speaking to?"
"I know exactly who you are," he says, his voice lowering. "And I know exactly who I am. What I meant was I don't need you to point out my shortcomings. I've had plenty of time to sit here and contemplate them myself in this prison cell of a hospital room."
His words surprise me, and when I study his face, all I see is sincerity. He isn't angry with me. He’s angry with himself. Or at least, that is what he'd like me to believe. But I've fallen for that act before, haven't I?
"I didn't come here to talk about your fatherly failings." I change tack. "I came here for answers, and I won't leave here without them."
"What answers?" He searches my face as if he really doesn't know.
I'm beginning to wonder if that cardiac arrest damaged his brain beyond all reason as well. Surely, he must know why I'm here. He must not think I am such a fool I can be dissuaded so easily.
"If what you say about your own self-reflection is true, there is something you should know before we begin," I tell him. "I have Ivy's hand in marriage, which means I can do whatever I like to her. And if that is still not enough to motivate you, I think it would benefit you to know that I am also taking over guardianship of Eva. She is at my home. Under my control. I want you to think carefully about that before you consider lying to me."
"You have Eva too?" He swallows, terror streaking through his eyes. "Whatever it is you think I've done, Santiago—"
"Tell me about the sector you and Abel had a hand in excommunicating from IVI."
"The sector?" he repeats, confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"I'm asking the questions, Eli. I have a list of their names I can give you, should you require a reminder. There are notes in The Tribunal's files. A history. You can't deny it."
He sighs, shaking his head. "I'm not denying it. I just don't see what that has to do with anything. But if you want to know I will tell you."
"I'm waiting." I lean back and watch him closely, searching his face for any sign of dishonesty.
"They were involved in shady dealings. Something the Society was not aware of. I only stumbled upon it myself, by accident. I had access to bank accounts in their names. One of the member's wives asked me to do some bookkeeping. She wasn't aware of her husband's activities. The other accounts were those I would add the normal monthly deposits to. When I started to look through the first account, something caught my attention. There was another monthly deposit coming through from an offshore bank account that wasn’t noted in his Society income. Upon further investigation, I realized he wasn’t the only one receiving these payments. It was a lot to dig through, and I was only one person, so I had Abel start assisting me. After a while, we began to uncover an entire sector harboring income not affiliated with IVI. They were prominent members, their lineage within the Society had been embedded for generations. I was shocked, and still in disbelief because honestly, they really hadn't covered their tracks very well. But I knew I needed further proof."
"So, you sent Abel to investigate?”
"Yes," he admits. "He is good at that sort of thing, and he wanted to prove himself useful. I felt it was a good opportunity. And he did uncover a great deal of information on their back door dealings. We took all of the evidence to The Tribunal, and they felt the only choice was to excommunicate them."
"It couldn't have been that easy," I remark.
"Well, no," he concedes. "There was a consensus that they might try to enact revenge, but The Councilors have men keeping a close eye on them."
I'm waiting for him to tell me that they were somehow possibly involved in the explosion. Now would be the perfect time for him to plant that seed in my mind and draw attention away from himself. But Eli doesn't mention it, which I find odd.
"Have they made any attempts to harm IVI?" I ask.
"Honestly, I couldn't tell you," he says. "After the initial discussions took place with The Tribunal, I was cut out. Deemed too unimportant to be involved any further in the matter, given my position. They assured me it was handled and rewarded me generously for bringing it to their attention, and that was that."
"I see."
My jaw hardens as I consider that I've hit another dead end. While I don't necessarily believe Eli without a doubt, what he's telling me makes sense. The Tribunal would not have involved him any further in the matter than necessary.
"It sounds as if you have made some enemies within the organization,” I point out. “Perhaps what you are trying to suggest, without saying as much, is that it was one of them who poisoned you?"
"Poisoned me?" His lips set into a grim line, and he shakes his head in disbelief before something seems to occur to him. "Are you telling me I was poisoned?"
"Yes. That is exactly what I'm telling you. Your bloodwork confirmed it."
I allow him a moment for this information to really settle over him, and as it does, I realize he's coming to some sort of silent conclusion as he processes it. At first, he appears angry, and then confused, and then... hurt.
"You know who it is, don't you?"
He shakes his head. "I... no, I don't know for certain."
"Spit it out, Eli. I saw the anguish in your eyes. You think it's someone close to you. Perhaps even your own son."
"No," he declares. "I don't believe that."
"It wouldn't be a stretch to consider." I examine him as I deliver the next blow. "He poisoned me as well."
"What?" His eyes snap to mine, and his anguish morphs to fear.
Eli understands what this means. I don't even have to tell him. But I will.
"He also kidnapped my wife and attempted to abort our baby. There are hundreds of Society hired men out combing the streets for him as we speak. His time on this earth is coming to an end, Eli."
"No." He looks at me pleadingly. "Please, let me talk to him. There has to be something I can do to make this right—"
"Come clean," I suggest. "And perhaps I will consider not bringing forward the evidence of his attempt on my life to The Tribunal."
"You haven't yet?" He searches my face, his love for his son foolishly overshadowing everything else I've just told him.
"No, I haven't yet. But there is still time.”
"What do you want to know?" he asks. "Come clean about what?"
"Why were all those files in your ex-wife's house? Dossiers on me, other members of IVI. All the members who were killed in the explosion…"
I want to believe the confusion on his face is real. That it can't be faked. But it also angers me because I am certain he must know.
"I... I don't know. I haven't even been to that house since Hazel..." Panic washes over his features when he realizes what he's just admitted to. He helped her escape.
"So, you are telling me that was Abel's doing then?"
"No." He clenches his hands on the bed railings, trying to drag his slumping body farther upright. "You are twisting reality to suit your own paranoia."
"Am I?" I laugh caustically. "And would I be twisting reality to remind you that you were the one who called me the night of the explosion? Too sick to go in, you said. That's how Leandro and I ended up there with our father. That's how I lost both of them. Because you set that chain of events into motion with one phone call, banking on the fact that I would help you."
My voice continues to rise as I do, looming over him as I clutch his hospital gown, lowering my face to his as I snarl the truth.
"You made me believe that you were a trusted friend and advisor. And you were the one who betrayed me."
Realization dawns on his face, and he shakes his head in denial. "No, Santiago. You have it all wrong. I was sick that night. I was vomiting uncontrollably. Believe me, if you think I haven't considered that very fact… that I sent you there, and what happened... it could have been myself and my own son. I have thought of it every day since it happened. I never stop thinking of it."
My hands fall away from his shirt, and I stumble back, angry with myself for giving him the opportunity to defend himself when he doesn't deserve it. I thought of him as a father once. Someone to look up to. Someone I admired. And now, he is a shriveled husk of a man who still has not one ounce of honor to his name.
"Your days are numbered, Eli," I inform him as I move toward the door. "And as for your son? You can consider him dead. When I find him, there won't be a soul on this earth who can save him."