Chapter One

Jack hurried through the halls of the hospital, he kept his head down, afraid that someone would recognize him in spite of the surgical mask covering the lower half of his face. He took a quick glance at the waiting area and noted that Charlotte and Victoria were no longer there. He was relieved that there were two less people hanging around who might see him, especially two who were so closely connected to Conrad.

He ducked into Declan's room and anxiously hurried to the bed, nearly desperate to check on his little brother. The bed was empty, rumpled sheets and disconnected wires lay sprawled on the mattress where his brother should be.

"Jack..."

Jack whirled around to find Nolan slumped in a chair next to the door, his eyes were red like he'd been crying.

"Nolan where's my brother?" Jack hissed through clenched teeth, his heart hammering from the growing dread he felt.

"Jack...I..." Nolan stuttered.

Jack took one stride across the room and yanked the lanky man from the chair. "Where the hell is my little brother?" He practically yelled, no longer caring about who may come in and find him. "Is he dead?"

"No, Jack, no."Nolan quickly assured him. "He's not dead. I mean its serious but he's not dead I promise."

Jack let out a shaking breath and released Nolan's arm from the death grip he'd had on it. "Ok so if he's not dead then why isn't he here in his bed?"

Nolan led Jack to the chair he'd been sitting in and forced him to sit down. "There was a problem with Declan's heart. One of his arteries was damaged during the explosion. They flew in a special stent that's going to fix the damage. Declan's in surgery right now, he's in critical condition, but the doctor seemed pretty hopeful that he was going to make it."

Jack couldn't decide whether to be relieved or terrified at the news that right at that very moment his brother was having his heart operated on. He slumped down in the chair, suddenly more exhausted than he'd felt in a long time. "So the doctor thinks he's going to be fine?" He asked Nolan, needing to hear again that his brother was alive and was going to be alright.

Nolan nodded and tried to give Jack a smile. He failed unfortunately and it came out as more of a pained grimace. "There's more Jack... um... the doctor said that. He uh said that..." Nolan trailed off and cleared his throat, his eyes darted everywhere around the room but refused to meet Jack's.

"Nolan whatever it is just spit it out." Jack snapped.

Nolan nodded and cleared his throat one more time. "Declan's spine was crushed Jack. He's paralyzed from the waist down. The um, the doctor told me it's probably permanent but they'd need to do more tests to be sure. Declan doesn't know yet, the doctor was afraid that it would upset him and raise his blood pressure too much. They told him his body was in shock from the trauma."

The world seemed to swim out of focus and a wave of nausea hit Jack like a truck. He leaned forward until his head was practically between his knees and he forced himself to concentrate on just pulling air in and out of his lungs.

He refused to let himself imagine Declan confined to a wheelchair. He refused to think of the words paralyzed or handicapped. Too bad his brain didn't give a crap what he wasn't allowing it to think about because he could think of nothing except these things.

God his brother was about to become a teenage father. Wasn't that enough? Wasn't the two of them losing their parents enough? Or losing Amanda? Why did the universe keep kicking the Porter brothers?

But it wasn't the universe kicking them was it? Couldn't most of the terrible things that had happened to them be laid at the feet of one man? Conrad Grayson was the reason that Amanda was gone and he was the reason that Declan was in the hospital in the first place. He was hurt because Conrad had tried to kill Jack. He'd already taken Carl's mother from him and tonight he'd tried to take his father and almost succeeded in taking his uncle from him. Enough was enough and someone had to stop the psychopathic monster before he could hurt anyone else.

Jack shot out of his chair so quickly that he nearly smacked into Nolan. He paced the room a few times and then slammed his fists into Declan's empty bed. "No more. Tell Declan I'll see him soon." He growled and stalked out of the room, without bothering to pull the mask back onto his face.

Nolan stared after Jack unsure of whether or not he should try to stop his friend. The look Jack had had in his eyes before he'd slammed out of the room convinced Nolan not to attempt to stop him. Instead he pulled his phone from his pocket and closed the video that Declan had recorded for Jack, in case he didn't make it. He pushed the speed dial button for Emily and prayed she'd answer. His prayers were answered and she was on the other end of the line in just a few seconds.

"Ems we got a problem." He whispered.

"Are you at the hospital? How's Declan?" She replied.

"He's having open heart surgery as we speak. The doctor thinks he's going to pull through." Nolan relayed.

Emily sighed in relief, "Is Jack with you?"

Nolan swallowed. "That's the problem. He just stormed out of here and I'm pretty sure he's on his way to kill Conrad." Hastily Nolan explained everything that had happened to Declan and how Jack had reacted to finding out.

"I really think he's going to do something crazy Ems." Nolan finished up. "Ems? Ems? Emily?!" Nolan gave his phone a dirty look and disconnected the call after he realized Emily had run off to save the day without so much as a goodbye.

Not knowing what else to do Nolan slumped back into his chair and proceeded to wait for news on Declan and pray that Emily made it in time to stop Jack from ruining his life. It was going to be a long night he was sure.