Enjoy

Sins of the Father

Chapter 34

Vengeance Is Mine Saith The Son

Christian's POV

Both Teddy and Jade are sleeping soundly in his fort right now. His bout with a sour stomach has passed with my Kitten taking care of him.

I surprised the hell out of her with my marriage proposal. I surprised the hell out of myself.

Admittedly, I was caught in the moment of feeling both vulnerable about the information I was processing and secure in her giving me what I needed at that moment. I made the same fuck up with my last proposal when I was having similar feelings of vulnerability.

Clearly, I don't handle the emotion well. In my defense, at that time I was in desperate fear of losing Ana again.

The image of me submitting to her comes crashing in my mind. I still see her face streaming with tears, telling me she how she couldn't give me what I needed and me trying to convince her of what she meant to me.

I force the image to recede. The last thing I need is to dredge all that shit up again with no rhyme or resolution to it as it stands right now.

Jade is a much easier train of thought for me to deal with. And the more I think about marrying her, the more I like the idea. It just feels right.

The fact that she didn't run out of the apartment screaming at that level of commitment suggests to me that it feels right to her too. Now I just need to wait to hear her answer. She was stunned into silence and by the time she found her voice we had to scramble to get dressed and help Teddy with his second wave of nausea.

I roll my eyes at her as she lays curled up close to Teddy. She has no idea how many women would have died to hear me ask them that fucking question. With her its like pulling fucking teeth. I've heard of playing hard to get but give a guy a fucking chance. I wonder if she was this hard on her husband. The way she tells it, he really had big hoops to jump through. But he wasn't a fool to jump through them. I suppose when a woman loves as hard as she does, its all worth it when you finally have her in the end.

My phone rings and I leave the fort before it wakes them.

"Grey."

"Sir, its Barney. Mr. Welch asks me to call and inform you that Hunter Barrington II has been admitted into the ICU of New York's Presbyterian hospital."

"Do you know why?"

"All I can gather right now is that he is in the cardiac care unit. I took the liberty of hacking into his medical chart. He has a history of Angina but his doctor is noting it may have developed into a full-blown infarction. I will keep you informed as best I can, Sir."

I hang up with Barney and text my pilot to have the jet ready to leave for New York within the hour.

Son of bitch.

He thinks he is going to check out on me before I have a chance to kill him. He thinks he can just destroy lives, then skip off to the great beyond to sit on Satin's lap before he has to answer for his shit. Fuck him. I've been paying the price for his shit since the moment I was born. I'll be damned if he gets to die his way out of reckoning with me.

…

Ana's POV

I go into the bedroom to check on Hunter. He's been lying on his back, staring at the ceiling since his father left for the ER. He and I are the only ones left in the apartment. The rest of the family is with his dad.

"Philip just called," I tell him. "He wanted to give us an update on your dad's condition. He also wanted to make sure you were okay. He's worried about how you're holding up."

"That's Phillip. He's always been second after dad. How is he?"

"He's in ICU. They are trying to stabilize him, but that's all he knows right now."

"My mother?"

"Not in the best of shape," I tell him. "She hasn't stopped crying. Will is staying close to her."

"Good."

"Hunter, I know how angry you are with him right now."

"I am beyond angry, Ana."

"You have every right to be. Him cheating on your mom while she was pregnant with you is a terrible thing. You have every right to feel the way you do about it. But he's still the dad who you looked up to all these years and he might need you now. I just don't want you to regret not being there because of your anger."

He nods, turning to face me.

"And you," he asks. "How are you doing?"

"Me? I'm fine. I'm not important right now. You and your family are. I just want to be here for you."

"Christian is my brother," he reminds me. Like I could forget.

"I know," I whisper.

"I still can't believe it. Do you know how long I've hated that bastard because of how he hurt you? He's a pompous asshole. The few times I've run across him in business only left me wanting to throttle him. All this time. I never knew he was my brother."

"When did you find out?"

"Earlier tonight. I knew something was going on when Dad had the family make the big exodus to the states. The business in Singapore was being handled and we had started talking about you. About how much you mean to me and how Dad was disappointed he might not be in Singapore when you arrived. He was so looking forward to meeting you. Christian's name came up. I told him about how you were helping him unite with Teddy. The next thing I knew everyone was coming here. I didn't know the extent of why until tonight."

"HB knows about Teddy? He knows he has a grandson."

"I imagine so if he knew Christian was his all this time. My god, Ana. Teddy is my nephew." We look at each other as it dawns on us. "Perhaps that's why I felt a kinship to him when we first met. I didn't even know. I had no idea he was my nephew. I could have just as easily turned him away."

"I don't think you could have easily turned him away. Its not who you are."

"I don't even know who I am anymore, Ana."

"I'm so sorry Hunter. I just don't know what else to say right now, except that what your dad and Ella did before you were even born doesn't change who you are."

"Ella? Christian's mom," he asks. His interest is piqued. "Did he tell you about her?"

"As much as he could. It wasn't very much. What did HB tell you about her?"

He's about to respond to me when his phone rings. I reach over and get it off the table for him. I see that its Will calling.

"What is it," he says answering his call. He grimaces at whatever Will has to say to him before he hangs up.

"What did he say? Is your dad okay?"

"Dad wants to see me," he says, getting up.

I was about to ask if he wanted me to come with him because I don't want to intrude on a family moment, but before I get the chance, he's leading me out the door.

Giles drops us off at the loading entrance. Ironically, it's the same hospital Teddy was brought to that night I met him. Christian sent me a picture of him on his first day of school. He is nothing like that scared, almost starving little boy he was that night. He is thriving in his new family just like I knew he would.

All is quiet in the ICU waiting room until we round the corner and enter a private office and hear Will and Philip talking heatedly. They stop when they notice us. Its obvious we ae interrupting a disagreement.

Hunter looks around for his mother.

"She's in with dad," Will tells him. "He's sedated. They're hoping it was a severe angina attack but they won't know for sure until the tests are all done."

"Mom is going to need to be admitted soon," Philip says.

"Its not every day you find out your husband has another kid out there right before he drops from a heart attack," Will tells him.

Phillip isn't happy with his words. It clear that they are at some kind of odds about their dad. Will seems to have a similar attitude about it as Hunter does.

I look over at Hunter. I know he has a feeling that his mom already knew. I got the same feeling from her. She didn't seem surprised. Just hurt that things were being aired. She seems like a very proud woman. This can't be easy for her. Knowing her husband deceived her when she was pregnant.

The door opens and she steps out. She reminds me of Jackie Kennedy in her pink Coco Channel dress after the President had just been assassinated, standing next to LBJ covered in her husband's blood. It's a broken strength.

She lifts her eyes to meet Hunter's.

"He wants to see you," she says, quietly. "Please don't upset him any further. None of it is important right now."

Hunter only nods but the way he squeezes my hand makes me sure that he disagrees with her. He leaves me to see his dad and I suddenly feel awkward being alone with his family, especially with his mom.

"Would you like anything," I ask her. "Some tea or something to eat, maybe?"

She shakes her head.

"You are too kind," she says with a small smile. "Let's just sit and wait."

We wait for what seems like a lifetime for Hunter to come back. I can only imagine what they are discussing, but I don't hear any raised voices so I take that as a good sign.

I hear my phone going off in my bag so I fumble around trying to get it out from the bottom where I tossed it.

Christian's name appears in a text.

I quickly open it up to read it fearing that something might be wrong with Teddy. I've been sure to keep my distance so they could bond without my help and according to Kate they are doing very well.

Arriving in NY shortly. I need to speak with Barrington- C.

I am relieved to see that its not about Teddy, but the message makes me frown with worry all the same as to why he would be coming here at a time like this. Could he already know whats going on? I shake my head at the notion. Why would he possibly know? But what other reason does he want to speak to Hunter?

Okay -A

Okay is all can I say right now. I feel eyes on me. I'm sure it seems rude that I'm on my phone at a time like this. Especially considering who I'm talking to.

What am I to say? Hey, I'm chatting with your new brother. Who, by the way, I was engaged to a few years back before I came here and hooked up with your other brother.

My face heats as I think of how bad that would go over.

I look up from my phone when Hunter comes out of the ICU.

"What was it," his mother asks him.

"He wants to see Christian," he says to everyone.

"No," his mom says. "I won't allow that."

"He knew that you wouldn't. Its why he asked me to arrange it for him."

"There is no reason to bring that…boy…here. He brings nothing but shame with him."

"Mum, please. He wants to see his son before he dies."

"YOU are his son," she demands. "You three are his ONLY sons."

"You know that's not true."

"You did this to us. Why couldn't you just leave well enough alone?"

"Mum, It was Dad who did this," Will gently tells her.

Hunter turns from his mom. I can tell by his demeanor that he is dreading making the call to Christian.

"He's already on his way," I tell him, trying to ease his mind but I instantly regret it when all eyes turn to me.

Crap.

"Already," Will asks.

"I just read his text," I say, holding up my phone. "He and I…uh-"

"They're friends," Hunter says to them, coming to my rescue before turning to me. "How soon?"

"He said shortly."

He nods, but his eyes look troubled.

Something else is going on and judging by the way Hunter's mom is reacting, it can't be good. I can't believe she is blaming Christian for her husband's cheating.

If anyone is innocent in all of this, its Christian.

Not that Hunter and his brothers aren't just as innocent.

I inwardly groan at my sudden surge of protectiveness over Christian. Its followed by a pang of guilt at my loyalty to him still. But I was there to witness the aftermath of the first four years of his life with Ella. I can only imagine how he'll feel knowing that it was all because of an affair with a married man. An affair that his step mother is now putting some warped blame on him for.

I don't know if he should be sorry for Ella or still be angry with her. I know for a fact he isn't going to take being a Barrington well under these circumstances. Especially when it seems like half the family doesn't want him.

I look at them. Hunter is the baby. Will is the one closes to him. Philip is the one who is always taking care of them both. I wonder how it would have been if Christian had a chance to be apart of that. How different it would have been for him if he would have bonded with his brothers from the start. They were all kept away from him because of his father's shame over an affair. At least now he'll have an actual live person to be angry at. I just hope HB will live long enough to make this right. If he even wants to make it right.

…

Christian's POV

I stare out the window as the skyline of New York comes into view. I said goodbye to Teddy with the promise that I'll be back very soon. I hated leaving him, but it was best not to disrupt his school and his routine. He'll spend the night with Jade and Mom will take over in the morning. She'll stay over at Escala until I return. Teddy drew a quick picture for Ana, excited that I was going to see her and he knows he can call me anytime.

Since Taylor is off duty, I make the trip alone this time. I don't trust anyone else with me dealing with this shit right now. As soon as I land, I hop in the SUV that was pre-rented for me and make my way to the hospital.

I go over everything I've learned thus far in my head about the senior Barrington. It only proves to anger me more. I didn't realize that was even possible at this point.

I give my name to the nurse who I am inquiring information from. I assume she was about to deny me, seeing how normally only family is allowed in on these situations. I was surprised that my name was included in gaining access.

"Christian," I hear my name called. I turn, knowing the voice.

"It seems you were expecting me," I tell Hunter. "Ana told you I was coming?"

"She did. I was going to call you myself. Our father asked me to call you."

"He told you?"

He nods.

"He's waiting for you."

I follow him to a private waiting room where all of the Barringtons are gathered, but I barely register them. I know all of their eyes are on me but the only ones I see are two powder blue ones.

I stare back into them. Drowning in their pools of blue, but also finding my anchor in them. They center me from the raw emotion I am barely able to keep in check.

Its unclear if she knows the whole story, but she knows enough. More importantly, she knows my story. More than anyone else does, she knows my story and I can see it in her eyes. She knows who I'm thinking of right now. My mother, lying dead on the floor, cold after running from the abuse of the bastard that was her own brother.

The bottom lip Ana has tucked in between her teeth gives way to a small smile and I manage to smile back. She's may be surrounded by Barringtons, but I know she is with me.

Without a word to anyone, I move past them through the ICU doors where Hunter is waiting for me to follow him. I hesitate only for a moment to gather my thoughts. Its not everyday a man gets to meet his father for the first time. For a moment, I put my CEO boardroom game-face on, but I quickly drop it.

I don't have time for the pretense, or rather, the bastard I'm seeing doesn't have time. I need something very specific from him and he is sure as hell going to give it to me or die trying.

The room is quiet and sterile. It smells of alcohol and gauze. There is a constant beeping of a heart monitor, letting me know the bastard is alive as he lies there, void of color and barely breathing.

I step forward and his eyes spring open. They widen momentarily at the sight of me and I fear the poor fool may do himself in if he doesn't calm down. His heart monitor is going crazy. The dark gray of is eyes lighten slightly as his heartrate slows to normal.

He rips his oxygen mask off to speak.

"You are hell bent on killing yourself before I get a chance too, aren't you," I tell him. It doesn't get past either of us that those are my first words to him.

"I…" he starts, trying to breathe but finding it difficult. "I need to tell you… why I did what I did."

"This isn't about what you need. This is about what I need from you. What my mother needed."

He closes his eyes, pained at the mention of her.

"Look at me you son of a bitch," I tell him, bending down inches from his face. "I look like her, don't I?"

He nods.

"Very much," he breathes out.

"I bet you never thought this day would come. I'm sure you thought your sick compulsion died along with her. But you forgot about me, didn't you? Now here I am, in living color. My mother is alive in me and now you will answer to her."

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading and reviewing/ or rereading and rereviewing.