Page 76 of The Reaper
I took a step back, then turned and placed the katana back on the table. I wouldn’t be using it tonight. I wouldn’t be using any of my weapons. I fought for justice. I stood for what was right. I wouldn’t attack a defenceless man whose actual crime was loving his daughter too much. He might have a fucked-up way of going about it, but he wasn’t a monster.
I crouched down in front of him and started to untie the binds that pinned him to the chair.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m setting you free. You need to walk away. Leave this chapel and go home. Tomorrow, I’ll bring her to see you. We’ll spend time together. We will work this out. But now, you need to leave.”
I unwound the last of the ropes and then, on the table, I saw the keys for the cuffs and I picked them up, walking over to the chair and unlocking him from the last of the restraints. He rubbed his wrists and then peered up at me.
“I don’t have anything more to say to you,” I said, and turning my back, I began to walk away.
I heard him stand, then I felt the rush of air behind me as he must’ve darted for the table. The sound of metal sliding across the wooden table as he grabbed the katana. My stomach dropped and I spun around shouting, “No!” Everything happened in a blur as I lunged forward. I was ready to die on that sword, but it wasn’t me he was aiming for. He’d turned it on himself, and he was about to push the blade right into his stomach.
I threw myself forward, grabbing the sword handle to pull it out of his grip, get it away from him, and push him to safety. Hearing my cries, the door behind me slammed against the stone wall as it flew open. There was a flurry of action as I grappled on the floor, trying to restrain him. Instantly, I felt the arms of my brothers pinning him down too, holding him and taking the weight off me.
“He isn’t hurting me,” I shouted as I noticed from the corner of my eye Colton grabbing a blade from the collection on the wall, ready to defend me. “He was going to hurt himself.” I gasped, breathless from the effort it’d taken to prise the sword away from him and hold him down.
We had Nathan pinned down on his front, his hands behind his back, but as I held him tight to stop him from moving, his body began to give up. Muscles gave up the fight, limbs became loose, and we fell silent as he cried right there on the floor.
“He needs help,” I told them, each one of them staring back at me, not sure how to play this. “We need to get him to a hospital. He’s a danger to himself. He’s having a breakdown.”
They didn’t question me, just nodded and Adam asked, “What do you need us to do?”
Of all the brothers, I knew Adam and Tyler would be the best in this situation. Colton and Will would be more useful staying behind and making sure the girls were okay. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust them, but we didn’t all need to go to the hospital, and the pair of them would be better at keeping cool in a crisis. Colton and Will would distract Liv and Leah May better than any of us.
“Adam, Tyler, can you drive us to the hospital? Colton, Will, if you stay here and let Liv know we’re okay, but that we have business to attend to. Don’t tell her who was down here and don’t let either of them know where we are. Once things settle down, we’ll call.”
Colton and Will nodded their agreement and stood up. I did the same, pulling a broken, quivering Nathan up with me. He was trying to speak through his cries, but I couldn’t understand him. I just put an arm under his as Adam did the same on the other side, and we walked him to the back door of the chapel that led to the car park.
Tyler went first, opening the door for us and then sprinting on ahead to get to the car.
I got into the back with Nathan and Adam jumped into the driving seat with Tyler sitting next to him.
“I can’t… I don’t…” Nathan stuttered as the engine fired up. “I want to die.” He slumped forward, his body giving up the fight.
Sitting next to him, I could feel the power of anger and resilience rising up inside of me. He might be giving up, but I wasn’t. I had enough fight in me for the both of us.
“No, you don’t,” I said through gritted teeth. “I won’t fucking let you. You’re not giving up, Nathan. Leah needs you.”
ChapterThirty-Five
DEVON
Nathan’s body, even his brain, was shutting down. When the nurses showed us into a side room to see the doctor, I had to lead him, speak for him, tell them what had happened but in a vague, roundabout way. They didn’t need to know about the letters, the chapel, or the threats. Instead, I painted a picture of a broken man. A man who’d tried to hurt himself because he couldn’t see any other way out of the dark clouds that hung around him. A man that didn’t want to live and one that desperately needed help.
I gave them as much history as possible from the limited facts I knew about Leah’s family. But as I spoke, it was clear that he’d never gotten over his wife’s death. He’d stowed away all the grief into a locked box in his head, channelling every ounce of energy he had into caring for his daughter and distracting himself with his work. But he couldn’t hide from it forever and what we were witnessing tonight was evidence of that. The box in his head was full, bursting free, and like a leaked poison, it was affecting his brain.
He couldn’t cope with the reality of his life. The fact that time was moving on. Leah wasn’t the same girl, and in his eyes, he had nothing left to live for without her. Change for him had always been negative. He clung to the familiar memories of a life he’d lost, but his nails were broken, and his fingers bled from clinging too hard. Life had lost all control, and with it, he’d lost his way. Stuck down a well with no chance of escape.
I wanted him to see what the future looked like through my eyes. That things would change, that’s how life goes, but they could change for the better. One day, he’d be a grandpa. He’d be loved again by a little boy or girl who would worship the ground he walked on. But I knew that wasn’t something he could do right now. That was an image his brain couldn’t comprehend. Not yet. We had to take this step by step, hour by hour, day by day. All he cared about was Leah. He needed to find a way to love himself as well. And he would. I’d make damn sure of it.
They did some initial assessments, admitted him to a ward, and then asked me if I would stay with him. He needed one-to-one care throughout the night to make sure he was safe, and with staff shortages, they hoped I’d step up. Adam offered to stay, but it had to be me. He didn’t know Adam, and as much as he hated me right now, at least I was somewhat familiar. Tyler suggested ringing Leah and asking her to come down, but I didn’t want her to see her dad like this. She was strong, but I didn’t want her to be. I wanted to take this one.
So, I sent Leah a message, telling her that I’d had to go to my mum because there was a family emergency and they needed me. I asked her to wait for me, letting her know I’d be back home as soon as possible. Then I messaged Liv, giving her a more watered-down version of the truth, but asking her to keep it to herself.
Once Nathan was settled on the ward, I made a list of things for Adam to fetch for Nathan from the rectory, and he left shortly after with Tyler. The nurses let me stay on a camp bed next to Nathan’s, and eventually, after being sedated, he drifted off to sleep. But I stayed awake. My mind whirling from everything that’d happened.
An hour later, a nurse popped her head around the door and then came in, holding a bag filled with things Adam had dropped off.
