Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

My eyes fluttered open to the sound of the beeping from the heart-rate monitor. "Welcome back, Wendell," the male doctor said, giving me a small nod. "How are you feeling?"

I groaned slightly. "Ginger peachy," I grunted, slowly stretching my limbs before noticing that I had a small pain in my right arm. "What the heck happened?"

"You sprained your elbow when you passed out," the male doctor replied. "When the other young man shot you, he missed and you ended up passing out from being nearly killed. Thankfully, neither you nor anyone else got hurt or even worse. But you gave everyone quite a fright at the church, young man. A Logan Michaels was ready to fight all of the guards with all of the waiting and wanting to see you."

Logan's name caught my attention, making me sit upright. "Is he okay?" I asked. "Please tell me that-"

"He's doing fine," the doctor replied. "He's back at Cartier Valley with his uncle and one of the therapists. The other therapist and Ms. Whitfield are outside waiting for you."

"Thank you," I breathed. "Hey, I never caught your name."

"It's Dr. Merck," the older man replied just as the door opened. "Ah, there's your female companions. Dr. Sellers. Ms. Whitfield. Wendell is all right, as you can tell, and he'll be released right before lunch."

"Thank you, Dr. Merck," said a relieved Dr. Sellers. To me, "Holy crow beaks, Wendell? Are you okay? Don't you ever scare us like that again."

I held up my hands. "I never intended to," I defended. "I actually believed that Satillo was going to kill me, you know. With the way that he handled the news of you being engaged, he's finally gone crazy."

"What happened when I went out?" I wanted to know.

Ms. Whitfield took a deep breath. "Oh, boy. The moment you passed out, all mayhem broke loose with Logan AND his uncle- both of them ready to deck out Braeden AND Corey," she said. "And get this. it turns out that you were right on the money with Bellevue planning to kill you. He had arranged to have you killed off whether you did his eulogy or not. And so did Braeden. Both of those fools were met with the wrath of the St.Pierre-Michaels men and those two could give Floyd Mayweather and Oscar de la Hoya a run for their money. Luckily, there wasn't too much violence going on given the fact that undercover cops were on sight to arrest them."

My eyes went wide. "You mean that Logan and Dr. St. Pierre got-"

"Drop your pearls, Wendell," Dr. Sellers said, cutting me off. "We're talking about Braeden and Corey, with Braeden now given his third and final strike since he planned to drown and poison you. He got the book thrown at him by an irate Judge Tellier three days ago, him and Corey before they were taken into custody without bail or bond. Braeden's facing several counts of attempted murder- yours included, extortion, and even a few counts of murder and conspiracy to murder some of the late students who suffered from his wrath."

"And Corey's being booked on the charges that he joined your family in before their deaths: conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, child abuse, endangering a minor, fraud, identity theft, tax laundering- the whole nine yards and then some. And since your family bit the dust, all the weight will fall on him. Basically, he's looking at plenty of time behind bars," Ms. Whitfield went on. "But here's the real kicker, Wendell. There's been a discrepancy in your father's money and assets. It turns out that your family owned everything in YOUR name- the house, cars, the car dealership, and other properties and bank accounts. It's all to the tune of over one BILLION dollars."

My eyes went wide. "You're joking," I replied. "You cannot be serious about this."

"We're dead serious," Sellers replied firmly, her tone brooking no hints of humor as the door opened to reveal Judge Atelier and Ms. Dominguez. "You, Wendell Harding, are a billionaire."

"And it's a good thing you brought the topic up, Dr. Sellers, because Ms. Dominguez and I are here to talk about his plans for what he wants to do with his inheritance," the well-dressed judge said. To me, "Wendell, have you given any thought about-"

"Not really, sir," I replied. "And to be honest, I have a strong feeling that all my family owned in my name is connected to blood money. If anything, they might have done a lot of lying, stealing, cheating, and even murdering innocent people to get what they wanted. So if you can, make sure to liquidate everything and sell it all down to the wire. Sell off the house and cars. Donate the clothes to Goodwill or burn them. Empty the bank accounts and close them. And if there's anything legitimately earned, then I'll keep them."

"Are you sure about this?" Ms. Whitfield asked, coming over to my right. "You're looking at a lot of money that you might be missing out on."

"I'm positive. I mean, I want to be a millionaire, but I'm going to do it the right way," I said. "And to be real, this is my posthumous middle finger to my late family and a giant one to Corey, who maybe planned to kill me off and take it all for himself."

"Understandable," Dominguez agreed. "I would do the same thing if I was in your shoes, Wendell. I'll make some calls and have the tax commissioners on hand to sell everything off."

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Nope, that ought to cover it," Dr. Sellers told me.

"Not exactly," Judge Atelier piped up. "It's been told to Lauryn and me that Wendell got engaged. And it's with his roommate and boyfriend, no less. I only have one question in mind."

"What?" I asked.

He gave me a wide grin. "When is the wedding?"

We all laughed before it was time for a final check-up (I needed to rest my right arm for a couple of days before I could get back to school and all) and all too soon, it was time to head back to Cartier Valley and to my fiance, who I hoped was waiting for me with a cool head.

************

"Wendell, thank God that you're okay," Logan breathed as I stepped into the private conference room where he, his uncle, and Dr. Valenzia were waiting for me as Victor and Pablo were setting up a lively meal for us all. "I was so worried when-"

"I'm all right," I assured him, kissing him on the cheek. "And I had a feeling that you and your uncle were raging after Braeden and Corey did all of that- arranging to have me killed off and all of that."

"Don't remind us," Dr. St. Pierre hissed, frowning at the mention of their names just as Dr. Valenzia's cell rang. "I had half of a mind to break that pipsqueak's nose when he fired the gun. If he hadn't missed you entirely, I would have done so. And Bellevue's no prize, either. Both of them are lucky that they're arrested and waiting for their trial. The sooner that they're put away, the better off we'll be."

"For sure," I agreed. "At least, I can have a semblance of peace now that they're in custody and all of that."

Dr. Valenzia hung up, turning to us with a look of apprehension on her face. "Not for long," she said softly. "I just got off the phone with one of the guards from the penitentiary that the two of them were in."

The air of relief turned to one of unease. "What happened?" Pablo asked.

"Corey's dead," the blonde therapist said. "He was found in his cell with his body hanging from the ceiling. He had made a noose or something and hung up while everyone else was asleep. The guards discovered his body at breakfast time. But that's not the worst part."

"Please don't tell me," I moaned. "Please don't say the words that I never want to hear."

"Braeden escaped during the commotion," she continued, confirming my worst fears. "He was seen getting into an unmarked van and took a guard hostage. If anything, he's still on the run and making his way back here to-"

"Finish his plans to kill Wendell and then kill all of us," Victor finished for her. "He's on the warpath and he's not going to stop until we're all dead."

"FUCK!" Logan screamed. "That little shit isn't going to quit, isn't he?"

"Easy, Logan," I barked. "Dr. St. Pierre, I need a favor from you. I need you to call Braeden's parents and have them meet me here after my therapy session tomorrow. I want to learn all about our wild-eyed friend and why he's like this."

"I'll make some calls," the older man replied.

"Dr. Valenzia. Dr. Sellers. I'm going to talk to both of you for our therapy sessions- group and private alike. If anything, I'm going to need all the mental and emotional strength to get through all of this because I have a feeling that something will go down during the 4th of July weekend."

"You don't think that Braeden will make an appearance at the ball, do you?" Logan asked. "We might need to cancel if-"

"No, Wendell. I know that you're on the committee for the event and that your uncle already invested in everything," I told him. "But yeah, he might make an appearance and carry out his plan. But I want us to be ready for anything and everything."

He just wrapped his arms around me and I felt grateful. Because  I had a strong feeling that at the end of the holiday in a week, someone might not make it out alive.

And just when we know that Wendell is okay, his life is in danger yet again! I really hate moments like this, yet I'm writing this story! SMH! Sadly, we'll hear from Braden Satillo in the next chapter, so don't miss out!

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