Page 39 of Trial of Deceit (The Family’s Oath #1)

Chapter twenty-two

E ntering the bedroom, Jediah went directly to the bathroom. Light was streaming from beneath the door and shuffling could be heard. He gently pushed the door open to reveal Ashari.

She had her back turned to the mirror, looking over her shoulder at her tattered skin.

Her eyes widened as they met his in the mirror.

She quickly yanked her robe up. Jediah’s chest tightened as he stepped into the room.

He stopped behind Ashari, gulping hard as she turned to look at him through tear-filled eyes.

He reached out to try wiping them away, but she stepped out of his reach.

Ashari went to the sink and frantically washed her hands.

Jediah sighed. “Ash…” he said, and she ignored him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

She spun around, gritting her teeth at a flash of pain. “You used my worst fear over my head! The one thing I trusted you most with! You meant it, Jediah!”

He gulped. Ashari’s scorching gaze almost had him succumbing to her anger, willing to fall to his knees before her and beg for her forgiveness.

But he didn’t.

He couldn’t.

Their roles weren’t meant to be like this.

Ashari kept her distance as she walked past him, returning to the bedroom.

She lay on the bed with her back turned toward him.

A heavy sigh passed Jediah’s lips as he went to the bedroom, then exited the room.

He stood outside the closed door for a while, his head pressed against its wooden frame while he kept his eyes shut.

While his thoughts ran wild, he listened for movement.

None came.

Sighing again, he straightened and made his way downstairs.

He detoured to another wing in the house, then across the long backyard until he was at the fancy, multipurpose warehouse that hosted the ball.

All patrons were gone; the only movement came from his workers cleaning up.

While walking toward the backrooms, Jediah nodded at anyone he made eye contact with.

He entered his office, pressed his hands against a wall scanner, then waited as the secret door to a passageway opened.

Cold air brushed his arm as he reached out to curl his fingers around the railing.

Jediah held on to it as he descended the steep stairs into the dungeon while the door closed behind him.

The room he was heading toward wasn’t far along the hallway — intentionally done, so he didn’t have to re-live how he’d paced the entire length of the hallway while Ashari was being punished.

The urge to go in and retract his orders had been crippling, but he’d remained firm.

After all that had happened, he couldn’t be seen as too soft toward Ashari.

Not around his men.

Not in this life.

Jediah’s face blanked as he entered a room.

The walls were painted a dull brown. It only had a chair and television in the middle of the room.

Speakers were in the four corners of the walls.

A man was tied to a chair with his head strapped to the headrest. He couldn’t look away from the television as it replayed a scene from a movie — kids running around a playground, laughing and smiling with each other.

Their laughter would stop suddenly when a loud gunshot rang out from the speakers.

It startled the man, making him pull at his restraints while a scream ripped from his throat.

Walking further into the room, Jediah’s jaw clenched. He stopped before Dimitri, his lips twisting into a sneer as he looked down at his right hand. Confidant. Bodyguard. Longtime friendship.

Beads of sweat rolled down the sides of Dimitri’s face, some lining his eyebrows and the tip of his nose. His breathing was labored as he managed to lift his head by a barely noticeable margin, so he could stare at Jediah through wide, bloodshot eyes.

“You hit her,” Jediah said slowly. “Scarred her. Mi tell yu fi dunk her, and yu go to one extreme not even me woulda go. Mi know yu don’ approve of Ash ’cause a who she be, but that wasn’t your call to make, Dimitri.”

“She deserved it,” Dimitri panted. His body jerked as a gunshot echoed in the room, and the children’s laughter cut short. A second later, his eyes snapped shut as the clip replayed and the laughter resumed. A tear rolled down his cheek. “Turn it off.”

“No. You deserve it.”

Dimitri’s eyes opened to meet his. “Please, Jed,” he begged, trembling while he continued to release heavy, quick breaths. “I n-need my pills.”

Jediah dipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out a bottle. “These pills?”

Dimitri nodded as Jediah stepped closer to him. Jediah opened the bottle and removed a pill. Jediah held it before Dimitri’s face as he opened his mouth, then Jediah dropped it onto the ground.

“Jed,” Dimitri gritted out. “ Please . My chest is t-tight.”

Jediah turned the bottle to the side and every pill toppled out onto the floor.

Holding Dimitri’s shell-shocked stare, Jediah crushed the pills beneath the heel of his shoe.

“If Ash don’ heal, you a go pay. Mi don’ care how much years of loyalty yu have to me and if you a mi brother.

Mi never tell yu fi hurt her like this! And, she’s pregnant! ”

Dimitri’s hyperventilating stopped. His eyes widened. “W-what?”

“Yeah. If yu never leff the room fi go clean up, yu woulda know! Yu lucky nothing don’ do mi baby, or else that woulda be two innocent pickney life pon yu hand.”

Dimitri’s jaw tightened. He tried hanging his head low, but it wasn’t possible. He closed his eyes again.

“You should be ashamed,” Jediah said, his voice laced with anger and disgust. He dropped the empty bottle to the ground. The bottle rolled away. Not sparing Dimitri a second glance, Jediah marched toward the door. Outside the room, he told the man guarding the door, “Turn it up louder.”

Cedella withdrew the needle from Kayon’s skin. Dedrian handed her a bandage, and Cedella taped it over the skin. Cedella secured the vacutainer tube with the rest of her medical supplies, then faced Jediah, who stared at her expectantly.

“Well?” he asked.

“I’ll let you know what’s happening after I run some tests,” Cedella said.

She glanced at Kayon, who’d fallen asleep during the procedure, and her brows furrowed.

“This new medicine has a tweak to the chemical structure he’s used to.

It might take a while for his body to adjust to it.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this is just another situation like the one we had ten years ago when I had to change his medicine due to a recall. ”

“Can you remind me why you’re giving him new medicine?” Jediah asked. Sure, he didn’t have the best relationship with his father, but the man was still the one who raised him. If he were to completely lose the one parent he had left, he’d be unsure how to process his complex feelings.

“ I’m not the one who did it,” Cedella stated, offended by Jediah’s remark. “Medicine is constantly evolving. Scientists have created this new medicine that will work just as effectively without the need for as many daily injections. It has been in use for quite some time now.”

“Why are you just giving it to him?” Jediah asked, his eyes narrowing in scrutiny.

He’d already had a long day and didn’t have time for Cedella’s antics.

His mind was running wild with thoughts of his fractured relationship with Ashari and him visiting Dimitri in the chamber a little over an hour ago.

“Because Kayon’s body never recovered from the initial accident. I found a medicine that worked great for him, and I was hesitant about introducing him to the new medicine.”

“Until now…”

“Until my stock depleted,” Cedella snapped, and Dedrian shot her a worried glance. Cedella released a ragged breath. “Please don’t let me lose my composure, Jediah. I’ve told you several times — I work for this family. It’s in my best interest to keep you all alive.”

Jediah mulled over her words. “If his body rejects the medicine, what will happen?”

Cedella was quiet for a moment. Dedrian shuffled about on her feet. Jediah forgot how to breathe. It felt like the air got sucked out of the room.

Finally, Cedella spoke, “I will see if my contacts can search the black market and find me a re-up before all the stock in the world becomes obsolete… For a price.”

The corner of his mouth ticked as he almost smirked. “I didn’t expect anything less from you.”

Smiling, she looked at Kayon. “Maybe we’re worried for nothing. It might not even be the medicine…” She trailed off and looked at Dedrian. “Has there been a change in his diet? Daily routine?”

“No, ma’am,” Dedrian replied with a shake of her head. “Everything’s still the same, including him refusing to go on walks for fresh air, even if I remind him of your orders, and if Reine offers to be with him.”

Jediah stiffened as he recalled the last time Kayon came out of the house. It’d been the day the police were on the estate — snooping around his mother’s grave, and tossing him into the back of a police vehicle for reasons he still believed were unjust.

Cedella hummed, bringing Jediah back to the present. “I’ll run the tests and let you know.”

Over the next couple of days while Dimitri suffered in the chamber, Kayon’s health took a turn for the worse. The old man’s weakening state wasn’t a surprise to Jediah. In fact, he was surprised Kayon had lived this long.

But, right now, Jediah couldn’t find the effort to care about his father’s well-being.

His mind was too occupied with Ashari. She was still yet to have a civil conversation with him.

He’d turned the air conditioning in their bedroom down to a near arctic temperature, but every night, instead of cuddling up to him like she used to do, she hissed for him to stop hogging the blanket, seconds before she yanked it off him.

The tension was getting to him, distracting him from work. Elias was catching on.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you need to make things right with Ashari,” Elias advised as Jediah moved the cigar — his third one for the day — from his mouth to fix his gaze on the older man.

“You’re distracted, and it’ll cost the family.

Go make things right. I’ll handle all the business meetings for the rest of the day. ”

Jediah cleared his throat and straightened himself.

“Yu sure?” he asked, and Elias nodded. He left the wholesale and went home.

He went to the dungeon first, ignoring Dimitri’s chamber and going straight to the one Ashari had been scarred in.

Reaching a hand out toward the door, he hesitated. He couldn’t do it.

He called over a guard and gave him an order, to which he complied. He went back to the house, entering through the door of the kitchen like he always did.

Reine was at the island juicing fruit. It was too noisy that she didn’t instantly notice him. She must’ve been making drinks for herself and Kayon. Since his health had been deteriorating, Reine had been spending more time than usual with him.

Jediah moved to the liquor cabinet and grabbed the strongest alcohol he could find. He turned the bottle to his head and chugged, grimacing as the alcohol went down.

“Wa you a do?” came a yell while the juicer turned off.

Jediah moved the bottle from his mouth. He curled a fist and put it to his mouth. “You’re talking to me now?”

“Yes,” Reine gritted out. “So answer.”

“I’m not doing anything,” he answered and glanced at the bottle. He needed to do a few more chugs. He had to be strong for what was coming.

Reine gasped as Jediah turned the bottle to his head again. “Dimitri!”

Jediah yanked the bottle from his mouth. “Don’ call Dimitri name in a mi presence,” he warned.

“Huh?” Reine asked, her brows knitting.

Jediah abandoned the bottle on the counter and exited the kitchen. Reine trailed behind him, still demanding answers. Jediah spun around in a flash, startling Reine, who grabbed onto the staircase to maintain her balance. Her worry-filled eyes did not phase Jediah.

“If yu mention him one more time…”

“W-wa yu mean? Wa happen to Dimitri?”

“That’s not your concern.”

“It is!” she hissed. Reine’s anger made her chest heave.

“Why?” he asked, his eyes narrowing on her.

Reine sneered. “Mi a go tell Miss B!”

Jediah scoffed. “Must feel seh we a still pickney.” He continued to the bedroom, hearing Reine’s yell for Bryony.

He entered the room and closed the door behind him.

Water ran from the pipe in the sink. He dragged the ottoman from before the bed, settling it in the center of the room.

Removing his gun, Jediah laid it atop the ottoman along with what he asked the guard for.

He shrugged off his shirt while saying, “Ash, when you’re done, come here. ”

He knelt some inches facing away from the ottoman before her footsteps entered the room. She paused inches away from him.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, quieting in hopes of an answer that didn’t come.

He gulped hard. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have used what you told me over your head, but I wasn’t raised on love, Ashari.

I was raised on survival, and that’s all I know how to do…

even when it comes to the person I want to love how she deserves.

But we have a life where…” He sighed, shaking his head as a crippling fear snuck up his spine.

“I really am sorry, queen. The whip is there for you to break me like I tried to break you. I deserve it, but you didn’t.

The gun’s there, too, if you want to…” He quieted, holding his breath for seconds while no movement came.

Then, he heard a shuffle.

And the flick of a safety pin.

His first instinct was to turn and restrain her, but he remained still.

Reine was pissed at him. Bryony had been disappointed since Acacia left. His closest friend placed an irreparable wedge between them. His father was ailing still.

Maybe if Ashari put him out of his misery, everyone would be better off without him. Maybe he’d get another shot at life where everything didn’t go wrong. Those scars wouldn’t be slowly healing on his wife’s back. His mother would’ve been alive. He wouldn’t have been living a life he didn’t want.

Jediah closed his eyes, balling his hands into tight fists atop his thighs and savoring the feeling. Maybe this pinch of pain would be the last thing he felt forever, but he didn’t mind.

After this, maybe there’d be silence. The mark of a new beginning.

Ashari pulled the trigger.