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Ethan
I sat against the chair in the waiting room of the hospital, anxious to hear about my Matt. After racing back to the house and slamming out of my car, Liam told me that an ambulance crew had already determined that he needed to be airlifted from the hotel on Capitol Hill to a hospital in D.C. I locked down the house after gathering up all our things, then slammed into my SUV and started down the road at lightning speed. I didn’t want our man to endure something like this. And there was no point in any of us staying at the safe house since there was no trace of Diana there. Everyone hopped into their SUVs and raced their way back into D.C., but what I wanted was the damn story.
How the hell had one of our men been shot on the most locked-down piece of property in the entire state?
“Matthew Granger?”
I flew to my feet and felt everyone else in the room stand up along with me.
“How is he, doctor?” I asked.
“You guys family?” the doctor asked.
“All the family he’s got.”
I watched the doctor nod before he panned his eyes around the room.
“Mr. Granger is in critical condition. The bullet that ripped through his back nicked his spinal cord. Fluid has been leaking steadily for the past three or so hours. One of his vertebrae has been chipped because of the force of the bullet, and those bone shards are giving us some very serious complications. He’s still in surgery, but it’s not looking good. We’re doing everything we can, but even if he pulls through the surgery, he will be in critical condition in the ICU for a very long time. Nicking the spinal cord like that and opening it up to the elements creates a perfect storm of potential issues. Anything from infections, decreased fluid around the brain which causes swelling, or even heart attacks because the body’s in shock.”
“But you’re doing everything you can, right?” I said.
“We’ll use every tool at our disposal, Mr.—”
“Stark. Ethan Stark. He works for me.”
“Very well. I’ll keep you updated as I can, Mr. Stark, but now I’m needed back with Mr. Granger.”
“Of course. Yes. Go,” I said.
The doctor nodded at all of us before backtracking down the hallway. Once he was gone, I felt time stop. Granger had been with me since the beginning. I hired him as a newbie fresh out of the marines, and he’d grown along with my company of the course of several years. I slowly sat back down into my seat and crossed my ankle over my knee. For the first time in my life, my mind was at a dead standstill. Time stopped. I couldn't hear anything. Nothing but the sound of my heart slamming against my chest and the blood rushing through my ears.
“Ethan? Can you hear me?”
I felt someone shake my shoulder and my eyes rose up to the person in front of me.
“Ethan. Ethan.”
“I hear you, Liam.”
I watched my friend take a seat beside me as Mason sat across the room, typing away on his laptop while we all waited. The remaining security guards stood watch at the doors, making sure no one busted into the hospital and tried to finish the rest of us off. Before too long, Senator Logan came in and sat down with the two men assigned to keep him safe. I wanted him where I could see him, especially now that someone on my team had been attacked. I didn’t care how he felt about it or how much it pissed him off. And now, I had questions.
Questions that required answers.
“What the fuck happened?” I asked.
I whipped my gaze over to Senator Logan and I could tell he had been crying. Or, at the very least, trying to hold back his tears.
“Your men had just pulled up into the driveway of my home and were stepping out of the car. Suddenly, out of nowhere, people started shooting.”
“What the hell were you doing at your home in the first place?” I asked.
“I was packing for my business trip.”
“You had clothes with you in the hotel room.”
“Ethan,” Liam said.
“No. Now, this has gone on long enough. Senator, do you now understand how real this threat is against you?” I asked.
I watched the senator nod as Liam put his hand down onto my arm. But I shook it off. I was done with all of this bullshit. With his bullshit, with the senator’s bullshit, with Diana’s bullshit. With everyone’s fucking bullshit!
“You said you stepped out of your home and people started shooting. What happened after that?” I asked.
“Your men rushed me in as quickly as possible. I mean, there was gunfire and shattered windows, and I was tackled to the ground. I heard tires squealing and people shouting, and when I finally got your men off me and got off the ground, I saw a man on the ground, face-first, and unresponsive.”
My anger had risen to a level I knew was dangerous, but I no longer cared about my relationship with the senator. I no longer cared about his reputation or his review of my company. I was pissed off, and because of his bullshit antics, one of my men was fighting for his life.
“I’m only going to say this once because if I have to say it again, it’ll mean you’re a psychopath,” I said.
“Ethan, enough,” Liam said.
I held my finger up to my friend, hoping to hell and high water he’d get the picture, as Logan’s eyes held mine.
“Had you listened from the beginning, this would not have happened. Had you taken me seriously regarding this threat, none of this would have ever happened. As far as I’m concerned, the fallout with both your daughter and this shooting rests on your shoulders and yours alone. Now, I’m going to start treating you the way I treated her because if I don’t, my men are going to die. This threat is real, and it is serious, whether you choose to take is seriously or not.”
“I understand,” Logan said.
“Good. Then we’ll start with this. You’re not going to Philadelphia. In fact, you’re not going anywhere unless I personally approve it. Would you like to know what we found out while working at the safe house?” I asked.
I could see Logan visibly shaking in his chair, and I was glad for it. And actually encouraged by it. Because if genuine fear was the only way to get this stubborn asshole of a man to see how idiotic he was being, then I welcomed it. I shrugged Liam’s hand off one last time as Mason approached all of us, sitting on a coffee table with his laptop propped against his knees.
“What did you find?” the senator asked.
“When Diana ran off the first time, we found video camera footage of her in that clothing store. Remember?” I asked.
“Yes. Did you ever identify that man you told me about?” he asked.
“We did. And guess who he is?”
“Who?”
“He’s a lieutenant in the Philadelphia mafia organization.”
I watched Logan’s face go pale as he fell back into his chair.
“Want to know what else I found during my digging spree?” I asked.
“What?” he asked breathlessly.
“Apparently, you have some backchannel ties with that same organization.”
“Now wait just a second—”
“No!” I roared.
Everyone jumped at the sound of my voice, as I got to my feet.
“Senator, I’ve listened to you jabber on and flap your jaws for weeks. The only place it’s gotten us is Diana missing and one of my men fighting for his life. So, this is what you’re going to do. You’re going to tell me what the fuck is going on, or I am dropping you as a client and leaving you to sort out this mess yourself.”
I loomed over the senator as he leaned back into his chair.
“An innocent man could be dying as we speak because of your lies. Because of your deceit. Because of your selfish desire to keep a lid on this. Diana is out there somewhere thinking no one gives a damn about her because you care more about covering your ass than saving hers. I’m done. I’m not going to deal with it anymore. You want my help? That’s fine. That means you take it and you don’t open your damn mouth. But if you want to fight and you want to keep lying and you want to keep back-peddling? I’ll throw you to the damn dogs and see how long you survive.”
I panted, my rage no longer containable as everyone looked at me with wide eyes.
“Now, what’s it going to be, Senator Logan? Are you going to spill the beans and tell the truth? Or are we walking away?” I asked.
“No. Please don’t walk away. I can’t do this without you guys. I’ve bitten off so much more than I can chew and I have no idea how to get myself out of the situation,” the senator said.
“Then it’s story time. From the beginning and don’t leave anything out.”
“Look, I-I-I’ve been working with a lobbyist on an issue that could be very lucrative for certain people in my home district. It would practically secure my re-election campaign for the next two cycles. So I figured, why not? It’s not a terrible cause. It doesn’t technically go against what I stand for. But what I didn’t know until it was too late was that the lobbyist was actually on the payroll of the mafia. I’m serious, Ethan. I had absolutely no idea. And by the time I figured it out, my name was all over the place in support of it.”
“What happened?”
“I stopped the legislation. I couldn’t let it go through. Allowing it to go through would be physical confirmation of an organization like that owning me, and I couldn't let that happen. I mean, I know it’s odd for a politician to have morals, but I actually do have them.”
“So now the mob is retaliating because you withdrew your support and pulled the legislation off the table.”
“That’s only my assumption, but yes. That’s also why I have to be in Philly tomorrow, Ethan. You have to let me go. I’ve got an on-the-books meeting with the boss himself to try and come to some sort of agreement on all this.”
“What? You’ve been in actual contact with them!?”
“Ethan, that’s enough,” Mason said.
I took a step back from the senator, scared that if I didn’t, I’d bash his damn face in.
“Are you insane? Do you really think you can out-negotiate a mafia don? Is your ego really that big?” I asked.
“My daughter’s life is on the line,” he said weakly.
The break in his voice tore me apart. It pierced through the haze of anger that had clouded my conscience and slowly pulled me back to reality. All of it was idiotic and stupid. The fact that Senator Logan really thought he could go toe-to-toe with the mafia was the plea of a man out of his mind, honestly. And the fact that he had been dumb enough to trust whatever assurances the mafia made in order to get him to agree to the meeting only forced Logan’s hand in his ignorance.
“I have to. My reputation and my career are on the line,” Logan said.
My eyes snapped over to his and I clenched my fists at my side.
“If you’re dead, you won’t have a career,” I said.
“Congress is my job. My identity. If I lose it, I have nothing. It was the only thing I clung to after the death of my wife. The only thing that kept me rooted while we buried her. My life’s work is tied up in that office. It has been for years. I’ve weathered presidents and regime changes and party outcries and the changing of the guard. I am my job, Ethan. And I know you understand that.”
I didn’t like the way his words sat in my ears. I didn’t like the way he compared himself to me. And yet, he wasn’t wrong. We did have that in common. For years, I’d buried myself in my work. I’d prioritized it first always, to the exclusion of everything and everyone else around me. My social life suffered. My love life suffered. My relationship with my mother suffered. Hell, even my relationship with my team sometimes suffered because of it. And as I looked at the carcass of the man sitting in front of me, I saw my future. I saw the man I would eventually become if I stayed on this path. A man so obsessed with clinging to his identify that he would sacrifice even a relationship with his own child just to make sure he kept a tight hold on it.
I took another step back and drew in a deep breath before I ripped my eyes away from Senator Logan.
Maybe, after all these years, it was time for a change after all.
