Page 58 of Wreckage of Me
“Don’t even, Dylan,” she points a finger at me like when I was twelve, making me laugh.
“Okay, so now that we hugged it out, what else you need to tell me?” I bring us back to the matter at hand.
“Couple of things,” she says, almost whispering, sounding nervous all of a sudden.
“Spit it out, Ma,” I prod her when I see she’s taking her sweet time.
She pulls a large envelope out of her bag, but doesn’t hand it over right away, just stands there and stares at me.
“You need to know that everything I ever did was to make sure you and Wyatt would be safe. And now Ethan too,” she adds with a smile on her face. It seems like she’s got really attached to her grandson.
I don’t say anything, just watch her, more carefully now than ever before. I always thought she was lurking out in the hallways at the club, getting her nose in things she had no business getting involved with. I never imagined she had any ulterior motives.
Without another word, she finally gives me the envelope she’s been hugging to her chest.
“What’s this?” I grab it but don’t open it just yet.
“Few years ago,” she starts, “Jon helped me get a couple of life insurance policies on your father.” It sounds so weird hearing her call Devereaux by his first name. Now that I think of it, I have no idea why he introduced himself to me as just Devereaux. It’s obvious he goes by a different name out in the real world.
“What are you talking about?” I finally catch on to what she just said.
“I got three of them,” she explains. “This one,” she points to the envelope in my hands, “had you as a beneficiary. This is all the legal paperwork for it. The money is ready to be deposited into an account with your name on it.”
“Fuck,” I murmur, then rip the envelope open. I pull the stack of papers out and start scanning their content. When I get to the amount on the policy, my eyes about pop out of my head. “Fuck, Ma,” I repeat. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“Jon helped me with everything,” she tells me in a soft voice, the softest I’ve heard her using since I was a little kid. “I knew your father was planning on having you killed. Ironically, he did the same thing we did,” she laughs. “Took a life insurance policy on you, then tried to get you killed.” She pauses for a second, her eyes filling with unshed tears. “I tried stopping you from going to Wisconsin.”
My head drops back, and I’m staring at the high ceiling without actually seeing it. I remember that night when she begged me not to go, told me she had a bad feeling about it. I went anyway.
“I was sick with worry,” Ma continues. “I called Jon. Told him that no matter what, we needed to put the plan in motion to get rid of your father.”
I’ll be damned. I can’t believe my mother masterminded the entire of plan of eliminating my father.
“He was going after Wyatt too,” she whispers. “And he was going to keep Ethan to groom him into what he needed for the future. He was doing it all because of me.”
“Ma, you could’ve gotten killed,” I mutter, dropping the papers back on the chair.
“I had to save my boys,” she starts crying now. “You’re all I have,” she shrugs with sadness. “All I’ve ever had.”
I pull her into a hug, an unsolicited one this time, which she accepts with joy. She squeezes me tightly to her thin body, refusing to let go.
“There’s more,” Devereaux’s voice interrupts us. I almost forgot he was even in the room anymore.
I release my arms from around my mom and push her shoulders back so I can see her face.
“What else is there, Ma? Might as well tell me everything already,” I tease her.
“It’s about Wyatt,” she whispers.
“Ah, the golden child,” I tease her and wink at her, but she’s not laughing.
“He is…” she starts but is overcome by emotion and has to take a second to breathe.
“He is what?”
“My son,” Devereaux’s voice echoes in the room.
For once in my life, I am left speechless. I have no smartass remark when it comes to my brother.
