Prologue Part 2

3rd Person POV

Everyone immediately froze. They knew that it had to be dreadful news.

Bree hadn't seen him look like that since...well since he thought Chase would die.

Mr. Davenport took a deep breath, which almost sounded painful, and began.

"Sydney and Viktor were left unsupervised in their cells for a few minutes last night," he said, referring to Douglas's accomplices that had been captured. "They refused to answer any questions regarding Douglas and/or any information surrounding his work. When the supervisors left to go get additional help for the interrogation, they killed themselves,".

Everyone was silent, but still confused by the troubled look on Mr. Davenport's face. Deaths, particularly the ones of people with valuable information, were a loss, but Sydney and Viktor weren't exactly the kind of people you would mourn.

Bree informed him of this."The loss isn't that big of a loss...so why are you so disturbed?" she asked, peering at him anxiously.

He took another breath, but this one was far shakier. "They were obviously part of a plan Douglas conducted. All employees that were questioning or analyzing responses from Douglas, Sydney, and Viktor were needed to attempt any and every type of medical aid. We wanted to revive them if we could," he said sullenly.

Seeing how everyones' faces were still stricken with confusion, he continued," which means that since every worker was with Sydney and Viktor, Douglas was left unsupervised. He escaped," he finished quietly.

Stunned, the members of the family just remained silent and frozen.

Bree felt a tear slip down her cheek.

He was back.

She wanted so badly to look at Chase, but resisted, knowing that he would loathe the pity in her eyes.

"We have to prepare for him," Chase suddenly said, in a tone that meant business. "We have to strengthen ourselves physically AND mentally. If he's able to catch us, which may happen in two days or two years or never, we have to be ready,".

Mr. Davenport finally met Chase's eyes. He didn't know what he had expected to see. A trace of fear, a flicker of uncertainty was his guess.

He saw determination. He saw fire, an inferno that made his green eyes seem electric.

Quite frankly, he was glad he wasn't his enemy.

"First and foremost, information. Mr. Davenport, can you think of anything we don't know about Douglas that would be useful in his demise?"

Mr. Davenport wracked his brain. He shook his head.

"Leo? Anything from surveillance? Or otherwise?" Chase asked, putting slight emphasis on the last part.

Leo slowly shook his head. His skin appeared ever so slightly paler, almost imperceptibly slowly.

Almost.

Chase narrowed his eyes at Leo, but Leo held his ground. Anything said had to be by Adam or Bree.

"Adam?" he asked.

Adam replied,"I think you or Bree would have picked up on it better than I would've,".

The ball was in Bree's court. "Bree?" Chase asked, almost pleading at this point.

Bree swallowed hard. Telling Chase would give him valuable insight on preparation, possibly life-saving.

She didn't know what was preventing her from telling him. Pride, for being the superior in regards of preparation, the one who knew how to prepare? Possibly that was a factor, but she knew something would have a much greater sting on Chase's end if she told him now.

Betrayal. The feeling that his siblings considered him too weak to function as he should when given heavy news.

So Bree let her selfishness, her preference to having Chase happy and ignorant for now than having him informed and feeling untrustworthy towards them.

She later reflected upon this, recognizing the stupidity and irrationality that had lain in her thoughts. But there was yet another reason...

Douglas had said he would use anything he had up his sleeve to get Chase to believe his family wasn't worth fighting for. Bree didn't want to add "untrustworthy siblings" to his ammunition.

So Bree looked Chase directly in the eye, and cooly said, "No,".

Instead of seeing his gaze soften and shift from her to something else, relived to have not missed anything, his gaze hardened and focused in on her more.

"You're lying," he said coldly.

Bree felt herself freeze, and then mentally cursed herself. If anything, seeing her pause would only prove Chase's theory .

But he clearly wasn't out to prove it. He gaze drifted in the other direction before locking in on her once more.

He was certain.

"Bree, what is Chase talking about?" asked Mr. Davenport, his voice laced with concern.

But he might as well have been speaking in Japanese. The words would've had the same effect.

"Why?" Chase asked, eyes flashing in anger. "That information, that Douglas intended to use information against you guys on me, could be life saving, knowing anything he says against you is false!" he said, eyes shinning with tears. "Why?" he repeated quietly.

Bree had expected to feel sadness once these words left his mouth, but all she felt was her anger percolating.

"Don't act like you know why we kept it from you!" Bree snarled, pushing her chair back as she stood up with a screech. "Quite frankly, we didn't think you would've been able to handle it,".

Chase wavered for a moment, but regained his anger with a harsh laugh. "I couldn't handle it? Bree, I was deaf and mute, but I had gone back to normal! What about me couldn't handle it? I think YOU couldn't handle it-the idea of your wittle brother being stronger than you!" he shouted.

Bree was so furious, she lost her grip on all sense, all morale. So this was what it was like for Chase when Spike came out. "You see that? Right there!" she said, pointing at Chase."You're dealing with this like a baby! Just like you did that night when you were deaf and mute. You even sobbed like a toddler then. Really Chase, the resemblance is uncanny," Bree mocked.

The room was eerily quiet. Bree stood motionless for a moment, before feeling her heart crack into a million pieces. It registered what she had just thrown in Chase's face when she should've been apologizing for letting her pride get in the way...

If she had any heart left, it was positively murdered by Chase's expression. The majority of his face was unmoving, looking as frigid and unyielding as it had moments ago.

But his eyes were filled with the greatest blend of betrayal, heartbreak, and tragedy possible. Bree watched, frozen, as Chase raced out the front door.

"Chase!" Mr. Davenport cried, but Tasha grabbed his arm.

"Let him have a few minutes yo himself. If he isn't back in ten minutes, we'll go look for him," she reassured him.

He relaxed ever so slightly, the tense look on his face replaced by an infuriated one, directed towards Bree.

At least HE had the sense to take a deep breath before speaking.

"You will tell me about this secret you learned from Douglas later. Bree, straighten out your priorities and cool down-honestly, it sounds like you were ranking your pride above Chase's life,"he said, concerned.

Bree felt tears prick at her eyes as he left the room.

Leo and Adam looked at her expectantly, and then Leo spoke,

"Look Bree, I agree with Big D. Sort of. If you had had more time to think as oppose to being put on the spot like that, you would've come to the right conclusion. I think Chase will understand that. But an apology would hardly go amiss either. The fact that you threw that deaf breakdown in Chase's face, something that he clearly trusted you enough to know about, just to prove a point is a little misguided,".

Bree swallowed what was left of her tears, fully agreeing with Leo-she would apologize to Chase for the rest of his life without complaint if it smoothed things over even SLIGHTLY.

But the more intelligent part of her, the part that hadn't been with her earlier, reminded her of the look in his eyes earlier...a look that led her to believe that getting his forgiveness might not be so easy.