I twisted, covering my mouth with the crook of my arm when I was met with an open door leading to the bathroom, the white tiles covered in brown mess. I turned quickly, not wanting toevenconsider what the brown stains were.
My lips contorted into a grimace when my eyes landed on a single bed, butthatwasn’t what made a knot form in my stomach. It was the figure sitting on the bed, his clothes torn and dirty, a thick, unkempt beard covering his face, and his eyes downcast. Clutched in his hand was a bottle of whiskey.
Evenin the dim glow of the only lightbulb in the room, I knew the figure was me.
“What happened?”The question fell from my lips, but I didn’t want to know the answer.
“I’m glad you asked,”Danielle said, coming to stand by me as I watched the future me open the whiskey and swallow a mouthful straight from the bottle.“Greed. That’s what happened. You started the year off by increasing everyone’s rent. People couldn’t afford it, so they moved out. No one wanted to rent a property from you, so you had to start selling properties to pay off your increasing debt.”
She moved to stand in front of me, blocking my view of the pitiful excuse of a man I was destined to become.“But here’s the best bit. A businessman, worse than you, waltzed into town and convinced you he could get you out of the shit. Turned out, he wasjusta scam artist. You lost everything. Thebusiness,thatfancy car of yours. And your house. This—”she waved her hand around, an amused smile playing on her lips“—is all you could afford.”She leaned forward, raising her hand as if she was whispering conspiratorially to me.“Although I don’t think you’ll last long here, not when you keep spending the last of your money on whiskey.”She pulled her hand away, shrugging.“But, hey, maybe you can start selling your body to make money. Hopefully, you won’t end up like me.”
She dragged her finger across her neck to indicate having her throat slit before bursting into fits of laughter.
“Why is this amusing to you?”I snarled, my fists clenching.
She stopped laughing, but the grin lingered.“Seeing how the mighty has fallen? Oh, come on, McScroodge, surely that’s how you felt every time you crushed one of us peasants under your boot?”
My gaze dropped to the floor as shame flooded me. She was right. I lorded my financial position over people because it made me feel better about my shitty existence. And now, I was reaping what I sowed.
“Come, there’s more I want to show you,”Danielle said, waving her hands again.
I didn’t want to see anything else, but it wasn’t like I had a choice in the matter. The room began spinning again as the dream—or vision—changed around me. When the room faded, and a light breeze hit my face, I looked around, confused. Until my eyes landed on a familiar house.
“That’s Tristan’s home,”I said, panic propelling me forward until I was right in front of a sign wedged into the front lawn.“Why is his house for sale?”
Danielle rested her hand on my shoulder, mock sympathy creasing her features.“Ireallyhate to be the one to tell you this, but… When your business went to shit, Rob couldn’t get another job. You kinda blamed him for the company losing all itsmoney.”She paused, sucking in a deep breath and enjoying the anguishthatI knew was written on my face.“Rob fell into a deep depression, and Emma couldn’t take it any longer. She took the twins and moved away, and now they’re selling the house to pay for their divorce.”
My heart thumped hard against my rib cage as despair tore through me.
No.
No. This couldn’t be happening. I wouldn’t have blamed Rob; he’d been nothing but loyal to me from the day the company started, and he was great at what he did. I wouldn’t have put the blame on him, right?
He couldn’t lose his home.Thatwas where Holly and Ivy lived, and…
“Tristan?”I ripped my eyes off the house to look at Danielle, trepidation flowing through my veins.“Where’s Tristan?”She didn’t reply but continued to stare at me with a manic grin on her face. Trepidation turned to fear, and I grabbed her arms, shaking her.“Where is he, dammit!”
She faked a sigh.“You asked for it.”
With a wave of her hand, the scene changed again, and when the air cleared, I realized we were in a hospital corridor. Rob stood several feet away, talking to a doctor. The knot in my stomach tightened as I stormed toward them, needing to know where Tristan was.
“Mr. Crutchens, there’s nothing more we can do,”the doctor said.
Rob’s eyes filled with tears.“Please, there’s got to be something.”
Agony shredded my heart into tiny pieces at the despair in Rob’s voice, and I knew instantly who they were talking about.
The doctor put his hand on Rob’s shoulder.“I’m truly sorry. Now would be the time to say goodbye.”
A sob flew from my lips as my knees threatened to buckle. Rob walked to a door, and as he opened it and stepped inside, I followed. My lungs constricted at the sight before me, refusing to let any air in.
Tristan lay in a hospital bed, a bandage around his head and a tube down his throat. His gorgeous eyes were closed, and beside him, a machine beeped steadily. Tears streaked down my face as I stepped toward him, while Rob stood on the other side of the bed and took Tristan’s hand in his.
“I’m sorry, Tris,”Rob said, his voice heavy with unshed tears.“Please come back to me, Son.”
“What happened?”a choked voice asked. It took several seconds to realize the question had come from me.
Danielle once again stood beside me, her amused grin replaced by one of genuine sympathy. When she spoke, her voice was low, almost as if she was worried she would disturb Tristan.“He wanted to buy his parents’ house so he took job after job. He ignored his body telling him to slow down; hejustkept pushing and pushing. He couldn’t bear the thought of his sisters losing their home.Thenone day, he was up a ladder doing some work, and his legsjust…gave up. He fell back and cracked his head on the concrete. He hasn’t woken up since.”She sighed.“Doctor said he would have fallen unconscious immediately and wouldn’t have felt anything, so there’sthat.”
