Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
I’m so angry. So fucking angry.
This might have been the last time with my father, and I spent it yelling at him.
I could lose him.
“He can’t die.”
Tobias doesn’t say anything. What can he say? We both know it’s inevitable.
My fists ball at my side, and Tobias stops walking and grabs my arm, pulling me with him in the direction opposite the reception desk.
“What are you doing?” I whisper shout.
Then he’s opening the first door he sees, a closet.
“Are you fucking kidding? My dad is dying, and you—”
“Stop. You need to calm down.” He places his hand on my shoulder. “You’re going to see your dad, and you need to be calm.”
“I am calm.”
His head shakes. “No, Skye. You’re not.”
“I’m not.” My body shakes with an unsuppressed sob. “I’m so confused.”
Tobias reaches his arm up, his fingers lifting my chin to meet his stare. “Talking to me.”
“I’m so angry. But how can I be angry? But I am. I’m furious. Furious at myself for being in the dark. Furious at my dad for lying. Furious at the world for making him sick. And mostly, I’m furious that I’m helpless. He is sick, and none of the other things matter, but it still hurts.” The sob pours out of my mouth, body shaking, tears falling.
Tobias wraps me in his arms and holds me. I cry and sob and curse the world, and then a calm falls over me. “Thank you for being here with me, despite everything.”
“Where you go, I go. Remember what you said . . .”
“You’re the plane.”
“And you are my sky,” he finishes for me.
“That’s not exactly what I said.” I smile softly at him. “I’m ready.”
Together, hand in hand, we leave the closet and make our way to the reception desk.
The woman who sits behind it is middle-aged and looks up as if she’s annoyed that I’m asking her questions.
“I’m looking for Ralph Matthews.”
“I’m sorry, we can’t give out information about patients.”
“But I’m his daughter.” My tone is more abrasive than I mean it to be, but my emotions are all over the place today.
“I’m sorry, but we still can’t give out information.”
I stare at the woman at the desk, pleading until she finally relents.
“He’s in triage. Room 202.” Before she can say anything else, I’m running down the hallway, Tobias trailing me.
I still don’t understand how I ended up here. How I ended up where it all began. The memory, like the familiar smell, tickles my nostrils, begging me to remember. It feels like only yesterday when I was waking up in the hospital bed. When Ralph Matthews was placing his hand over mine, his head downcast, as he told me about my parents. Now I’m back, and the most painful thought of all is that this all happened because of me.
I walk into my father’s room and stand next to his bed. I put a hand on his arm, and he moves a little. “Dad?” I ask quietly. “I’m here, Dad.”
“Skye?” he asks, barely audible.
“Yeah, Dad, it’s me.”
“You’re here?” There is confusion in his voice. “After everything that happened?”
“I am.”
“Skye?”
“No. Don’t. Not now. I’m sorry I did this to you, Dad, but I want to say I love you, and I know you’ve always been there for me. I never took the time to appreciate it. I love you, Dad, and I’m sorry for everything.”
The nurse comes in and smiles at me. “It’s great to see your father awake.”
“Hi,” he says in a hoarse voice.
I get up and pour water from the pitcher on the bedside table into a glass for him. I hand it to him, then help him drink.
“What happened?” he asks, his voice hoarse.
“You passed out, Dad. You’re at the hospital.”
“I’m sorry for bothering you, honey,” he says.
“I’m here for you, Dad. Just tell me what you need. I know you’re sick.”
The sadness in his eyes is overwhelming. It makes a sob bubble up from my mouth, but then his gaze grows serious. “To tell you the truth.”
I sit next to my father’s bed with his hands in mine. His breathing is erratic, and he’s sweating profusely.
“I-I need you to know before I start that I love you,” he says weakly.
“I love you, too, Dad.” I kiss him on the forehead.
“I’ll understand if you never want to see me again after what I tell you, but I need you to know I love you. I never wanted to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt your family.”
It feels like I can’t swallow, but I push the word out of my mouth, regardless.
“Okay.”
“At the time . . . Reddington was a different place. When I grew up here, it was safe. But around the time when you were a small child, things were changing. Our location made us ideal. The proximity to the highway and the ports made us ripe for the picking. Elements moved into town. Dark elements. I didn’t know anyone would get hurt. I was asked to help. I monitored this man. He was a bad man. He was bringing drugs into the city. I was told to watch his every move. No matter where he went, I had to report back his exact location—”