- Mom
Raul and I pull Brent up to force him to step away from her. He is screaming and sobbing as I hug him tightly. All I can do right now is comfort him and thank God that Alania isn’t here to see this. I thought we lost her when Fiona died. This will crush her, but being here to see it would be different. Brent, on the other hand, was trying to stop her. He was trying to get the gun away. We all were. Vanessa knew what she was doing, though. She chose to get revenge for her children, despite knowing that she would never be able to live without Edward. She has the wherewithal to understand how deep his manipulation ran.
Nearly an hour passes as we wait for Alania to arrive. Cian said she was on her way. He heard her keys jingling and abruptly hung up, so it’s just a matter of time. We managed to get Brent outside and calmer.
“The moment I signed to put her in that facility, I knew I had lost my mother… I knew she’d kill herself one day…” Brent says. “I just never thought I’d have to see her do it.”
“I think she was just desperate, and she knew you’d try and save her,” I say. “Sometimes people don’t want to be saved.
“Yeah. I just… Alania should see her. Not like this,” Brent says.
“Hey!” Jax yells as he runs up to us.
“Why are you…” I start to ask.
“Alania was in a wreck,” he says breathlessly. “They called the school when you didn’t answer. She flipped the truck about thirty miles down the road.
“Fuck!” I shout. “Is she okay?”
We all stand up and abandon everything to walk back toward the truck. “Julio. Get her transported for cremation. Get rid of him,” I say.
“Yes, sir,” Julio nods.
“She’s okay. A little banged up, but she’s losing her fucking mind,” Jax says as we hurry to the truck. “She was unconscious when they found her, but when she woke up, she ripped her IV out and tried to leave.”
“Shit. Okay. How’d the wreck happen?” I ask.
“Peter was the responding officer. He told me when I called for an update that the front right tire blew and when it jerked the truck off the road, a guardrail caught the front and flipped her,” Jax says. “They told her everyone was on their way to her, and she finally sat back on the bed and is now relatively calm. They just aren’t going in there because she throws shit at them. They’re just watching her on the camera.”
“Sounds like she’s triggered,” I say.
“Tire blowouts are loud,” Brent says.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “Let’s go get our girl.”
Chapter Thirty Five
Alania
Someone tried to killme. That has to be it, right? I don’t remember seeing any cars. What if they were waiting? Who though? Edward? Someone was shot. Cian’s service was so shit, so I don’t know who. Someone died. I almost died. What if Edward knew they were coming? Maybe it’s over now. Maybe Edward died. But that means someone died. He sounded upset. The screaming.
“Ma’am,” a small voice says from the door.
“Go away!” I scream at her, shoving the table so hard it clatters to the ground.
“Little Dove,” a firm voice says.
“Adrian?!” I whimper, suddenly overtaken by tears when I see my husband.
“Oh, Alania,” he says as he rushes to scoop me into his arms. A sob racks from my chest, and I’m not ready to find out who died. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
“Who died? I couldn’t hear Cian. The screaming…”
“It was Mom,” Brent says. I sit up and turn to face him, and his eyes are red and puffy. He has blood all over his face, hair, chest, and arms. “She killed Edward… She screamed at him… and then shot him. We tried to get to her. My hands were on the gun… but she… she’s dead. She left a note saying she couldn’t live without him, but you could. Said he couldn’t hurt us now, and she loved us.”
“Fuck,” I sigh and lie back on his chest. “Now I feel like more of a bitch.”
“What is it, Nia?” Adrian asks.
