Page 80 of Betrothed
“No. Not possible,” Addy denied. “What did he eat today? Drink?”
Drink.
I looked down at the water bottle in my hand, the liquid clear… like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“This.” I handed her the bottle. It was the last thing he’d had before going into the water.
“I’m going to take this to Ace. I’ll be right back, okay? Stay right here and then we’re going to follow the ambulance to the hospital,” she ordered, and I nodded.
I didn’t understand. Zeke didn’t do drugs, I knew that. He’d never… but there was no arguing with Narcan.
The EMTs in the ambulance joined Stan, and I listened to my ex update them with everything he’d done as they moved Zeke onto the gurney.
“Mom!” Suddenly, Jake’s arms were around me, and he was crying into my stomach. “What’s going on? What happened to Zeke?”
He cried so hard, he started to hiccup, his little lungs unable to work fast enough.
“I don’t know, baby,” I told him, trying to find words to calm him even as my own heart rioted in my chest as they put him in the ambulance. “The doctors are going to find out.”
I moved toward the ambulance, Jake at my side.
“Kenzie.” A chill rippled down my spine.
I stopped and turned, finding Stan’s hard gaze and his mouth drawn tight.
“Go get your towel, baby. We’re going to see if Zeke is okay,” I told Jake.
He reluctantly released me, glancing several times over his shoulder as he walked toward my beach bag and the pile of towels a few feet away.
“You’re coming home with Jake and me,” Stan declared.
I recoiled. “No. I’m going to the hospital to be with my husband—”
“Only if you want to lose your son.”
I froze. “What are you talking about?”
Stan stepped closer, and I fought the rush of icy adrenaline. “Your…husband…almost just overdosed on fentanyl. If you think I won’t bring this up when we go in front of the judge, you’re wrong. And then not only will Jake remain fully in my custody, but I will make sure that you and your drug-addicted husbandneversee Jake again.”
“No.” My head shook wildly. “You can’t—”
“I did,” he snarled. “I already did.”
His eyes glittered, and right then, the truth hit me. I didn’t know how he’d done it or when, but Stan had orchestrated all of this;hewas the reason Zeke overdosed, and he was also the reason Zeke was alive.
Once more, the truth was snarled in the barbed altruism of his lies, but I wouldn’t stand for it any longer.
I ran once to save myself—to give myself a chance at saving my son.I was tired of running. The world needed to know that my ex wasn’t the hero in this story, he was the villain.
“I’m going to the police,” I declared. “This is over, Stan.”
“And say what? Your ex tried to kill your husband… only to save his life?” He scoffed and then bit out bitterly, “Who the hell do you think is going to buy that, Mackenzie? No one. Because you’re the one with a drug problem, and now, it looks like you took your new husband down with you.”
“No,” I protested. I wasn’t going to let him get away with this.
“This isn’t just going to get me Jake, Mackenzie. It’s going to ruin Zeke,” he seethed with a smile. “He’ll be disbarred. Everything he’s worked on… all the weak little women he’s so desperate to help…gone.”
Now there was no mirror—no distortion of the truth. If I didn’t leave with Stan, not only would I never see my son again, but he’d ruin Zeke’s life’s work—everything he’d fought for, everything that defined him. Gone. Because of me.