"Have you tried talking to her?"
I blink up at the nurse who came to check Ivy's vitals. "What?"
"Sometimes it helps." She offers me a smile.
I glance at Ivy, her face empty. Eyes closed. "Can she hear me?"
"You never know," the nurse answers. "There have been patients who can hear everything happening around them. Either way, I don't think it can hurt to let her know you're here."
I'm still considering her words long after she leaves when I take my wife's hand in mine. Her fingers are cold, and it doesn't feel right. It feels like she's already gone, and I don't know how to bear it.
"I'm here, angel," I rasp. "I've been here the whole time."
I don't know what I'm expecting. A twitch. A change in her heartbeat. Some sign of life. But there's nothing.
"I don't really know what to say to you," I confess, dipping my head and closing my eyes. "I know this is my fault. I put you through so much... and you are tired. So, I get that you want to rest. And I'll still be here when you wake because you have to wake up, Ivy. You can't leave me. Not now. Not ever."
A single tear streaks down my cheek, splashing onto her arm. "I can't survive without you. And if you come back to me, I'll give you everything. Anything your heart desires, so long as you stay."
The machines continue to drone on, the stillness of her body untethering me in a way nothing else ever has.
"I can't do this without you." I move my fingers to her belly, where our unborn child still grows against all odds. "You have to stay with us. Because I don't want to be here if you aren't. I... I care about you, Ivy. I care about you more than I could ever put into words, and I never knew how to tell you. How to admit it. I didn't even realize until I nearly lost you... and I can't... you just can't leave me."
A knock on the door jars me from my rambling confession, and when I look up, Eli is standing there. Our eyes lock, and he dips his head.
“You really do love her, don’t you?”
He sounds both shocked and relieved by the idea. And I won’t deny it any longer.
I turn back to Ivy, nodding solemnly. I want her to hear the words from my own lips. I want her to see how true they are.
“Excuse us.” A ruckus in the hallway catches my attention, and Eli turns just as two IVI guards shove past him, entering the room.
"What are you doing?" I growl at them.
"You've been summoned by The Tribunal, Mr. De La Rosa," the man on the right answers. "We're going to need you to come with us. Right away."
33
Santiago
"What is the meaning of this?" I shrug the guards off me with a snarl as they usher me into The Tribunal, Marco trailing us. "How dare you summon me away from my wife at a time like this—"
"There has been a serious accusation brought against you," Councilor Hildebrand interrupts my tirade. "And it is the duty of this Tribunal to investigate accordingly."
"What accusation?" I glower at the three Councilors as they peer down on me in judgment.
"We have been presented with evidence that you have altered or falsified your statements against Abel Moreno in an effort to disgrace his reputation and remove him from The Society."
An invisible shockwave moves through me as I glance around the darkened edges of the vast room. "Abel fucking Moreno?" I clip out. "The man who just tried to murder my wife?"
"I think it was the other way around." He steps out of the shadows, a serpent who just won't fucking die.
Instinct has me lunging for him, and I manage to land one solid blow to his face before the guards yank me back again.
"You see?" Abel hisses. "He wants me dead by any means possible."
"This is a fucking joke." I turn to The Councilors, chest heaving. "You know what he's done. The poisoning, the attempted abortion, kidnapping my wife, Colette Van der Smit—"
"For every offense you have laid against him, he has provided an alternate version of events," Hildebrand tells me. "It is our duty to investigate these alleged crimes.”
"Fuck your investigation!" I shrug one guard off me successfully, but the other still clings to me.
Marco steps up to his side, narrowing his eyes. "If you aren't ready to face your death, I suggest you let him go. Now."
He does as Marco suggests after a moment of hesitation, and I thank him by turning and slamming my fist into the side of the guard’s skull, dropping the man onto the floor in a fit of pain.
"You will behave yourself," Hildebrand warns. "Or we will be forced to restrain you."
"I'm a goddamned De La Rosa," I remind him. "My father was your mentor. And you have the nerve to sit up there and question me like a common criminal?"
"We are simply doing our job," he replies coolly. "You are aware how this process works. Every member of IVI who brings forth a claim has a right to be heard. Even the accused."
"He doesn't deserve to bear the mark of this Society." I glare at Abel. "And if you seek to make a mockery of the serious offenses he has committed by challenging me—"
"Enough!" A voice echoes from behind me as the door slams shut.
I turn as Marco does, and the guards launch themselves toward the intruder as Hildebrand bellows in irritation. "Who interrupts our proceedings now?"
"It's Eli," the silhouette answers just before he comes into view. "Eli Moreno."
There's an audible sound of shock from Abel, but my gaze is pinned on Eli as a sickening realization occurs to me. He's part of this. He came here to set me up. Just like before.
"Eli Moreno?" Hildebrand repeats, his voice alarmed. "Back from the dead?"
"I can assure you I am as healthy as can be for my age, considering the events of the last year." His gaze moves to his son, and something pinches his features. A look of discomfort, perhaps. I can't quite place it.
"Dad..." Abel chokes out. "I thought... you were dead."
"No thanks to you, I am very much alive," he answers.
I watch the exchange between the two men, trying to decipher every micro expression. Every hitch in their tones and shift in their posture.
"Well, congratulations on not being dead," Hildebrand tells him dryly. "But I'm still unsure what your purpose is here."
"I came here to put a stop to this." He looks at The Councilors and then back to Abel. "Once and for all. It's enough, son. There has been too much damage. Too much destruction. I can't allow it to go on any longer."
Abel's face flushes with red as his fists clench at his sides. "You would choose to defend him over me? Your own fucking son?"
"I don't know where I went so wrong." Eli dips his head in shame. "And I’m sorry that I've let you down, Abel. I'm sorry for hurting you and not being there as much as I should have perhaps... but this has become too large. Too many lives have been destroyed, and I can't in good conscience allow anyone else to suffer over your anger with me."