Chapter 286: ~ 285
Chapter 285
~Franklin~
The sound of the baby monitor was the only thing that made noise in our master suite as I adjusted the collar of my charcoal-grey bespoke suit. I stared into the mirror, my hands pausing on my silk tie as Octavia’s reflection appeared behind me. She looked tired, her shoulders carrying the residual weight of the midnight hours.
Although, it was a lot better than it was last week. Lael was sleeping better at midnight than before.
"He completely shattered, Franklin," Octavia said softly, leaning her back against the wardrobe, her arms wrapped around herself. "It wasn’t a lie. I am sure I know the difference between an act and a body failing under pure psychological terror. I had seen it before. He was suffocating on his own fear and I am sure something triggered it."
I turned around, looking down at my wife, my chest tightening with a complex, dark knot of emotions. "And he mentioned someone’s voice? He said she was suffocating him?"
"Yes," Octavia nodded, her eyes wide and haunted under the morning light. "He said her voice is always in his head and that he can’t do this anymore. Franklin... I think Maria is planning something and whatever Maria is planning, Flynn isn’t just her accomplice. He’s her victim. Well, I think."
I let out a low, heavy breath, stepping forward to pull Octavia into my arms. I pressed a firm kiss against her temple, anchoring her against my chest. "We keep our guard up, but we don’t push him to the edge. Not yet. I have to get to the office for the monthly board meeting, but I want you and Lael under maximum security today."
"I know," she whispered into my lapel. "Be careful."
Before heading down, I walked over to my desk and picked up my tablet, taking a final look over the pitch deck for our upcoming venture.
Today was the critical kickoff for the new mobile application our team was building in collaboration with JeffTech. The foundation was laid, the developers were integrated, and the board was hungry for results. I needed my head entirely in the game.
Ten minutes later, I walked out toward the garage. I was just reaching into my pocket for my key when a shadow shifted near the stone pillars.
It was Flynn.
He looked decent enough, dressed in clean clothes, but the flawless, arrogant mask he usually wore was noticeably cracked.
Despite his best efforts to smile, heavy, dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his skin had a distinctly sallow, exhausted tint to it. He looked like a man who hadn’t slept a single wink.
"Franklin," Flynn called out, his voice a little rougher, lacking its usual sarcastic edge. He cleared his throat, shifting his weight uneasily. "Heading to the office?"
"Yeah. Monthly board meeting," I replied, keeping my tone level, polite, and entirely neutral. I didn’t let a single ounce of the pity or anger I felt show on my face. "You look tired, Flynn."
"Yeah, well... didn’t sleep great," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. He forced a small, strained chuckle that didn’t reach his eyes. "Actually, I wanted to ask a favor. I need to head into the city to see a doctor. Just a routine check-up, but my rental car is making a strange sound in the engine. Do you mind if I borrow one of the cars?"
I looked at him for a long, silent second. Part of me, the hardened, defensive CEO, wanted to tell him no. But looking at the exhaustion etched into his face, Octavia’s words from this morning echoed in my head. I couldn’t deny it; I was actually worried about him. A panic attack of that magnitude couldn’t possibly be faked. If he was spiraling, the last thing I wanted was for him to feel cornered.
"Of course," I said, turning back toward the house as Olga stepped out onto the porch with a tray of tea. "Olga, please leave the tea and bring me the keys to the silver toyota from the hook in the kitchen."
"Olga will go get it," Olga nodded, disappearing back inside before returning a moment later with the key.
I caught the keys and tossed them to Flynn. He caught them against his chest, a flicker of genuine gratitude crossing his tired features.
"Thanks, cousin," Flynn said quietly, the word cousin carrying a strange, heavy weight this time. "I appreciate it."
"Drive safely," I rumbled, turning toward my SUV. "The traffic is brutal today."
I drove to work too.
The boardroom was packed with our chief board members, alongside the executive tech team from JeffTech. Octavia would have been here but she was on maternity leave.
The projection screen at the front of the room detailed the wireframes and backend security infrastructure of the new application.
"As you can see on slide twelve," I spoke, my voice commanding, deep, and authoritative as I pointed to the glowing display, "the collaborative framework with JeffTech ensures that our data encryption is completely unbreachable. We are looking at a projected user acquisition phase that will launch by the first quarter of—"
The mdoor of the boardroom suddenly clicked open, interrupting my sentence.
I paused, my brows furrowing in immediate disapproval. My personal assistant, Julian, who had worked for me for a while now knew better than to ever interrupt a master board presentation, stepped into the room. He was supposed to be present at the meeting but he was standing in for me for another meeting.
His face was completely devoid of color, his eyes wide and frantic as his hands trembled against his tablet.
The entire boardroom fell into a sudden, uncomfortable silence.
"Mr. Flemington," he whispered, his voice cracking slightly as he rushed directly to my side at the head of the table. "I am incredibly sorry to interrupt, but you need to hear this right now."
I leaned down slightly, my jaw tightening as a cold, instinctual dread suddenly pooled in the pit of my stomach. "What is it? This meeting is critical."
He leaned in, his voice a frantic, breathless tremor directly in my ear. "It’s about your cousin, Flynn. Your head of security just called from the field. Flynn was involved in a horrific car accident on his way back from the clinic. The car was crushed."
The words hit me like a physical punch to the chest. I froze, my hand locking around the remote clicker in my palm, the presentation behind me completely forgotten.
What?
"Is he alive?" I demanded in a harsh, low whisper, completely unbothered by the fact that twenty high-level executives were staring at me in absolute shock.
"He’s conscious, but he got wounded," my assistant whispered frantically, her eyes brimming with panic. "The emergency crews are active at the scene right now. They’re cutting him out of the wreckage."
My heart hammered violently against my ribs as a terrifying, chaotic web of questions spun through my mind. I stood frozen at the head of the table, everything turning into absolute chaos.