"Is someone going to talk to me?" His voice came louder this time, with an edge to it. I waited for Sam to say something.
"Your best friend was the one who bailed Damon. He has been funding him. Hidden in the report he sent back to me was a little company account named Saben used to embezzle money from the company."
"Sam?" a whisper carrying betrayal, pain. His eyes were shocked and his body tense. I saw him breaking down. Maybe I had underestimated his bond with Sam. I had grown my defenses so high and determined to fight back that I didn’t see just how much this betrayal would hurt my husband.
Was there an easier way I could have delivered the blow? It was too late anyway, what’s done is done.
A small smile teased at Sam’s lips, as he put his hands in his pocket.
"Bravo Nita! You won." He said.
"There must be an explanation." Richard stood up from his seat. I thought maybe this would be a good time for me to step away from them so they could discuss their issues in private. As I started to move away, I felt my body being yanked and a knife at my throat.
Goddamnit, not again. Why is it always me?
"Stay where you are Richard!"
"Sam, what are you doing? Let her go. There is absolutely no need for this." Richard shouted. "Martin!!!"
Sam wrapped his arm around my throat, the blade in his hand digging deeper. He pulled me to the wall where he could get a proper view of every movement.
"I guess it was high time you found out."
"Why are you doing this?!" Richard shouted, taking a step towards us.
"take one more step and I swear to God!" Richard’s eyes went wide, I saw the other guards approach slowly, their guns in hand; Martin was nowhere to be seen.
"You want to know why Nita? Richard was always the golden boy. He always had to have everything. Did you know I noticed you first in board school? He knew that I liked you. No! I loved you but he made you hate us, hate me!"
"I told you! I told you I liked her. Saben – the shell company? It’s a coin of my name and yours. Sam and Benny. Even after school, all I could think about was you. I should have looked for you but I was busy being the Numeros errand boy."
"Sam, think about this. You are my friend."
"I am much more than that, Richard! I am your bastard brother!" he chuckled. There was silence after that confession, all of us taking time to understand what he had just said.
"Yeah. I am your brother! But our father was a coward. He didn’t want to break your mother’s heart so he took me and handed me over to his drug-addicted sister to look after. I grew up in your shadow and then you take everything from me; her! A company that is rightfully mine!"
"Sam!" I whispered finally understanding where his pain was coming from. "Don’t compound this... please."
"Did you know I had her first uhn?" he continued.
"It was you... that night." I breathed out, flashes of a memory I had successfully buried for months breezing through my mind’s eye like clicks from a camera.
My throat began to close up, and my breathing was forced.
"Do you know whose name she called even then? ---- Your fucking name!!!" he shouted. I was outside of my body. I couldn’t breathe any more; my legs began to give out.
"Sam! She is having a panic attack! Let her go and we can forget this ever happened!"
Their voices began to scramble, and my ears were ringing. I heard Richard screaming at Sam but I was too far gone to hear anything they were saying. I heard a shot ring out, my body going limp and nothing but darkness.
I opened my eyes and found Richard lying on the ground beside me covered in a pool of blood, a gunshot hole in his chest. I rushed to his side and pressed down on the wound to stop the bleeding. My tears dropped in the pool of blood, I kept screaming for help but it felt like my voice was trapped and no sound came out. No one could hear me. Help! Help me! Richard! Please! I love you!
Nothing! No one! I was alone...
I jerked up from the bed, my eyes snapping open, bright lights and beeping surrounding me. I shielded my eyes to adjust to the strange environment I was in. It took me a minute to realize I was in a hospital room, hooked to machines. Richard was asleep on the couch in a corner of the room; he was alive and well.
I laid back down and placed my head on the pillow trying to remember how I got there. My memory felt foggy, I remembered dinner and laughing outside and then I saw Sam’s face, an evil smile on it right before he reached for me. I remembered what he said.
It had been Sam all along, tears started to fall freely, my heart beating erratically. The beep of the machine I was hooked up to beeping faster and annoyingly.
Richard was at my side, his eyes swollen and face worried. He screamed for a nurse as he held my hand in his.
"Baby, I’m here! You’re safe now. Take it easy Honey, please,"
The room was instantly filled with nurses and Doctor Sanders. I saw her inject something into my IV, slowly my heartbeat slowed and I drifted in and out of consciousness, holding on to Richard’s hand for dear life.
"I love you." I had no idea if he heard me or if the words even came out. I closed my eyes and just as I was about to finally drift off, I heard Doctor Sanders say.
"She has to take it easy or she might lose the baby. It’s too early for this kind of stress..."