Epilogue
Jae
Almost One Year Later
“What were his stats again?” While waiting for the ER nurse to update me on her findings, I cup the receiver of my phone before leaning over to pluck one of the carrot sticks off the platter in front of me.
Today is my final day at Ravenshoe Private, and although I’m very much looking forward to my next adventure, I’m also a little sad. This place has been my home for so long that when I think back at the years gone, it pops up more times than the penthouse apartment I sold for a record-breaking price last month.
Ravenshoe’s housing prices are still ridiculous. I don’t care how much of a mecca it is, millions of dollars for an apartment is beyond the joke—as are Isaac’s smirks every time I gripe about the exclusivity of the city he built from nothing.
“That’s far too high,” I reply when Trinity comes back with the figures I’m seeking. “Start him on labetalol. The selective alpha-adrenergic and non-selective beta-adrenergic receptors should bring down his blood pressure. If it doesn’t, look at other beta-blockers.”
“Okay.”
Before Trinity can hang up, I shout, “But take it slow. If you drop his blood pressure too quickly, he’ll face even more challenges.” After requesting her to keep me up to date on Mr. Norlanger’s case, I hang up.
A second emergency presents itself when Isaac enters my office looking suave in a three-piece suit. His smirk is as victorious as the price tag of his tailored suit. I’m not surprised when I notice the headline of the paper he’s clasping. Cedric was sentenced to life behind bars yesterday for his involvement in the sale of organs on the black market, and although he worked at Ravenshoe Private for eleven months of his four-year involvement in an underground crime syndicate, not a single organ sold could be traced back to Isaac’s team.
Ravenshoe Private’s staff is too stringent with the rules. They’d never let something as important as an organ go missing without reporting it to the hierarchies, and with Isaac’s medical chain extending to Saint Frances, I plan to make sure it follows Ravenshoe Private’s blazing trails.
“Did you watch the proceedings?”
Once I’ve logged out of my computer for the final time, I shake my head to Isaac’s question. “My opinion of Cedric was already too low to taint it any further, so I saved myself the heartache.”
Cedric and I didn’t meet by chance. When Roderick realized it was getting close to the seven years for the coroner he couldn’t bribe to declare JR as dead, he commenced putting steps into play to claim the land he was never entitled to. That’s how he stumbled onto a copy of Cecil’s last will and testament Tasha used to convince JR he still had something to live for.
Tasha was the reporter Cecil said was tracking the evidence of Memphis and Rosie’s accidents more than local authorities. She dug so deep into a Sicilian crime network, her family’s entire existence was placed on the line. Her mother was murdered, her father was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, and her sister was brutalized in front of her. She wanted to die, but just like Cecil gave JR a reason to live, Rosie was Tasha’s beacon of hope.
She let her stay at the cabin rent-free, brought her food and essentials every single week, and encouraged her to share her story by doing the same.
It was an interview Rosie did with a national newspaper that got her killed. She didn’t straight up declare that her grandson was a menace to society, but she dropped so many hints, more than just the Federal Bureau of Investigation started looking into her claims. Her children did as well.
They shunted Roderick from the family, and when Rosie ‘died,’ they made sure he didn’t get a penny over the amount cited in her will.
Roderick never disclosed Rosie’s final wishes to Cecil, though. He kicked him out of the home they shared and fired him from the quarry, all the while making out he was acting on the family’s behalf.
His act was so convincing, Cecil gave up hope only a few short weeks later. That was the night Tasha saved him. Although she had the strength to carry him through the woods and care for him in treacherous conditions, she didn’t have the gall to go against Roderick and the crime entity backing his campaign, which is understandable considering the escalation of his crimes the deeper he merged himself into the life of mafia royalty, but she always kept an eye on Cecil.
It was that cautious watch that saved JR.
When things went quiet after she ensured JR knew who Roderick’s focus would be shifted to if he dies, Tasha lived a humbled, off-the-grid existence that only ended when news of CJ Petretti’s death forced her out of hiding. I don’t know what garnered her the strength this time around to go against Roderick, but her determination to fix the mistakes she’s adamant she made saved my life and ensured JR got to live his without shackles.
Tasha’s inclusion in my life has been a godsend.
I can’t say the same for Cedric.
With the clergy who filed Cecil’s last will and testament no longer working at Saint Frances and his last known address unknown, before Roderick could threaten to kill his family if he dared to tell anyone about the adjustment, he was forced to come up with a new plan.
That plan included getting close to a doctor who never had a spare second for herself but could always find time for a fellow medic.
Roderick coerced Cedric into dating me.
With the FBI’s presence noticeable in the Cataloochee area since Cecil’s death, my ‘accident’ wasn’t meant to occur until we were on foreign turf. Roderick only switched things up when Cedric couldn’t keep his dick in his pants long enough to get me on a plane. When Rosha called to confess her sins to her older brother, Roderick got inventive with the spikes he had used to force their grandmother off the road for the second time in her life.
He killed her that time around instead of scarring her as Col had done to his son only years later.
Although charges have never been brought forward regarding Roderick selling organs on the black market, I believe that is how he and Cedric met.
