Chapter 31

CHRIS

"So?"

I didn't reply, nor did I move, I just left my arm there where it was, covering my eyes officially from the light, in truth from my sister's scrutiny. The downside of going to live with a sister that's much older than you after being hospitalized for 2 weeks is that she immediately takes on the role of substitute mom. Even when you're 26. Oh, right, my birthday was last week and it was the first one in 20 years that I didn't celebrate with my Vivy. I didn't even celebrate and why would I?

"Chris ..."

"I'm fine."

"You sure nothing hurts?" I could distinctively feel Meredith fixing the pillow under my head the exact way mom used to do when we were children. I guess some habits never rub off, being 10 years older than me and me being the youngest of the family transformed my sister in my eternal babysitter. The fact that she takes care of sick people for a living obviously added to her calling. "Chris ..."

"I told you, I'm fine." Physically, that is. Of course, she didn't believe me, so I could feel Meredith's cold hands on my chest and neck. I grimaced a bit. "How are your hands always so cold? Do your patients jump through the roof when you touch them?"

She scoffed and gruffly moved my arm to open one of my eyes, only to then stick a pen before my face. "Follow the movements."

I didn't. "I told you, I'm fine."

Meredith sighed deeply and pulled back. "So the pain is psychological, not physical." She claimed. "I know a guy-"

"I don't need a shrink."

"He's not a shrink, he's my husband."

I frowned, confused, and looked up at her. "Ex husband, you mean."

"No ..." she pressed her lips, "current husband ..."

"You must have married another shrink because there's no way you'd go back to that manipulative son of a bitch that was-"

"The pot is calling the kettle black ... fascinating." The voice came from the door, and when I located the source, I immediately glared at him.

"Mark." I spat, with all the disgust and disdain I could muster in one word.

"Christopher." He called with the same hatred latched in his voice. We never got along. Probably because he cheated on my sister right before the wedding and then manipulated her into still marrying him anyway. Only to then cheat again after the wedding, of course.

"I always thought your relationship with that girl wasn't healthy," Mark mused, walking over to the bed, "and surprise, surprise, I was right."

"It's not Vivian's fault." Meredith sighed. "She probably doesn't even know."

"Oh, I wasn't talking about Vivian." Mark smirked his ass off, the douche. "Why don't you tell the truth for a change, Christopher? Or are your lies so deeply rooted that you can't even tell reality from your made-up scenarios anymore?"

My sister turned to me, baffled. "What does he mean?"

"Nothing." I sat up, not wanting to dwell on the subject. It's not like talking about it will give me my Vivy back.

"You told Adam somebody pushed you into a dark alley when you were coming out of Shane's bar and beat you to a pulp." Meredith summed up. "And you said that most likely it was Vivian's ex."

"I didn't get a good look at them." I murmured, lowering my glance.

"Them? It's multiple people now?" Meredith raised her voice the same way as mom used to when one of us was about to get grounded.

Mark handed her a phone. I didn't need to see the video with my eyes to know what she was watching, I could tell from her appalled face. "Oh my God, Chris ..."

"It was someone's boyfriend alright." My hateful brother-in-law mused, still smirking his ass off, because of course he'd rejoice of my pain. Son of a bitch. "But it wasn't Vivian's."

"What difference does it make?" I leaped to my feet, needing to get away from his impertinent smirk and from my sister's shock. "That guy is a criminal anyway."

"Not according to the State of New York." Mark mentioned, taking back his phone from Meredith's hands, but only to show both of us a newspaper article. "Alleged mafia kingpin is acquitted." Mark read out loud. "No proof whatsoever of his affiliation with organized crime in New York City."

"Yeah, cos he's not a mobster." I scoffed, going to the window. "If they had looked into drugs-"

"They did." Mark cut me off. "They looked into all his records, found nothing. According to the State of New York, Mr. Sebastian Woodthorne is a standup guy that never did anybody wrong, never harmed a single soul and most definitely didn't touch even a sliver of cocaine in his entire life. He's basically Clark Kent without the Super alter ego."

The name rang a bell, and I turned back to my brother-in-law. "Sebastian Woodthorne?" I repeated, confused. "That's not his real name, he's-"

"But that's the man they prosecuted ... or tried to."

I dropped back against the windowsill. "Ugh, of course he'd come out of this clean, he was prosecuted under his good alias."

"You mean he has multiple?" Meredith asked, appalled.

"He's a drug lord, Mer, of course he's got, like, a hundred identities." I scoffed, not in the mood for her naïve vision of the world. You'd think that, with everything an ER nurse sees every day, she'd be less incline to believe in everybody's good heart.

"Does Vivian know?"

"I told her." I closed my eyes, not wanting to think about my lost best friend. "Adam said she's back home, she should be safe."

"Speaking of Adam," Meredith mentioned, "he called." There it was, that reprimanding gaze that she definitely got from our mother. "He said you were supposed to meet him at the airport an hour ago."

"How do you even know all this stuff?" I asked Mark, mostly because I didn't want my sister to know that I chickened out. My brother talked me into surprising Vivian, said he'd talk to her first, prepare her, and then I would knock on her parents' door. He said she'd cry out of joy, we could talk things out and finally settle everything. By that he meant we could finally be together, of course. But I chickened out, so I guess we'll never know if Adam was right.

"You know Tony, Adam's ex?" Mark mentioned.

"Of course." The guy's been my trustful source all these years whenever I needed to get information on Brian or whichever guy dared get near Vivian. A woman like her, she attracts the wrong kind of attention, I had to make sure nobody hurt her. Besides, they all ran off as soon as I confronted them, so they didn't deserve her.

"FBI Tony?" Meredith wondered, seemingly confused. "The one that cheated on Adam with some dull overly muscled personal trainer?"

"That one." Mark nodded, hands in his pockets. "We talk now and then."

"How very surprising," I scoffed, rolling my eyes, "one cheating son of a bitch to another, you two must have some really heartfelt conversations."

"I'm a trauma specialist for law enforcement, dumbass." Mark spat, sending me a dirty look. "I help people like Tony on a daily basis."

"But that's not why you're still friends even after he broke Adam's heart." I scoffed back, not budging at his bully attitude.

"If I remember correctly, your brother committed a federal crime by stealing Tony's badge and never returning it. Yet Tony didn't get him in trouble."

"How nice of him." I sassed, gaining yet another glare from my brother-in-law. I wonder if it's a family thing, always choosing the worst possible partner. Meredith married Mark The Douche, Adam wasted 3 years on Tony The Cheater, and I ... well, I blew up my only chance at happiness by falling into Karen's trap. I would have been a happy man with my Vivy, hadn't I woken up too late.

"But how do you know all these things?" Meredith asked, thankfully taking me off my train of thoughts.

Mark sighed. "Tony has referred to me a few clients. FBI agents, Marshalls, even some CIA." I had half a mind of punching that stupid grin off his stupid face. Adam and I told Meredith so many times that he wasn't good for her, we even celebrated when she divorced from him ... now she's back into his trap. How can someone be so obstinately oblivious to the truth?

"So, you're best buddies now. And he incidentally told you everything about a federal case he was involved in," I rubbed my chin, pretending to think hard, "boy, I wonder whether that's a federal crime, too."

"Sebastian Woodthorne wasn't prosecuted on federal charges." Mark bit back, unfazed. "I literally said the State of New York." He smirked. "Always the same clever boy, huh, Christopher? You do nothing but prove the blonde stereotype is true."

I'd have leaped to my feet to punch the taste out of him, but Meredith immediately chastised him: "Mark, stop it."

"You're right, it's not fair to assume he understands big boys talk." The son of a bitch quipped. "I'm sorry, Christopher, I'll talk slowly for you ... State Court and Federal Court are two different things. FBI did not have enough to prosecute him." Pause. "I know prosecute is a big word, but you can look it up on your dictionary, ok?"

"Mark ..."

"Fine, I'll explain it ..." he feigned a big sigh, "you see, in America, we have this thing called Department of Justice and-"

"Mark, stop it." Meredith repeated, but I was seething.

"Mer, you either kick him out or he loses all his teeth." I spat.

My brother-in-law smirked his ass off. "According to Tony, you punch like a little girl."

"That's it." I immediately launched for him, going to punch him, but before I could, Meredith stood in between us, pushing me back.

"Stop it, both of you." She glared mostly at me, though. Very surprising. She always takes his side. "Chris, why did you lie?" Meredith demanded to know, giving me her usual angry mom stare.

"I didn't lie. For all I know it was him. It's not like I asked their names." I turned to the window, not wanting to look at my sister.

"The video shows you talking to them, Chris." Meredith insisted. "So, you know who these people were."

"Yeah, because no one talked to strangers ever." I scoffed.

"Christopher Horace Knight." Meredith called my full name peremptorily and through the window I could see her crossing her arms over her chest. "You will tell me the truth right now or I'll call mom."

"I'm an adult, that threat doesn't work anymore." It's not like I could tell my mom, hey, you know why I got beaten to a pulp? Yeah, it wasn't my best friend's kingpin boyfriend, no. It was actually a very well distinguished top lawyer who happened to be engaged to my ex Karen. You see, he didn't like how she fell back into bed with me and he decided it was all my fault and I needed a lesson. It was easier to blame the well-known criminal, who would believe a lawyer set you up to get you almost killed? Besides, if Sebastian was arrested for it, all the better, he'd stay away from my Vivy for good.

"Okay, so you'll explain to that poor woman why you lied to literally everyone."

"It's not like it'd be something news." My brother-in-law scoffed.

"Mark, you really don't care about your health today, huh?"

"Chris, tell me the truth." My sister intervened before we could restart arguing. "Why did you lie?"

Sighing, I dropped my forehead against the cold window. "I don't know, okay? I don't know why I lied."

"Bullshit."

I snapped to him. "Mark, I swear-" I cut myself off when I saw Meredith on the phone, her face morphed in a shocked expression. I hadn't even realized she'd picked up a call, her phone is always on mute due to her line of work. "Mer, what's wrong?" Nothing. "Meredith, what's wrong?" I went to her and grabbed her shoulders. "You ok?"

"It's ... it's Adam." She handed me the phone.

Confused, but also worried, I immediately answered the call. "Adam, what-"

"He found her." My brother said immediately. "He ... he took her from her home, Chris. I don't know where they are, I called the police and they've been looking, but it's been hours and-"

"Adam, slow down. Who found who?" I thought everything was solved with Nia.

"Vivian ..." my heart stopped for a moment, "Sebastian or ... whatever his name is, he found her. He was here and she went with him, probably to protect me and her mom."

"Why are you calling only now?" I barked, anxious to know whether my fears were true.

"Because cops have been searching but there is no trace of her or him, Chris ... there's no sign she left the town either, so ..."

"So?"

Adam took a deep breath. "They're starting to consider they should look for a ...corpse."