Smoke and Mirrors (DE)

64. Act of treason

"Come on mama— walk to daddy come on," Joseph said as he sat on the cold marble floor of he and Graces mansion with his legs spread holding his hands out for Cataleya to come to him.

"No come to me— come to mommy baby, come here," Grace cooed softly in a baby voice with a huge grin as they both tried to coax their nine month old daughter to take her first step.

Cataleya held tightly to her pink walker with one hand, the other hand in her mouth as drool dripped down her arm with a gummy grin as she stared at her parents.

"Look, look what daddy got— diamonds," Joseph cheesed, removing the heavy diamond chain from around his neck that she loved to play with whenever she was in his arms. He dangled the seventy thousand dollar chain in the air, the clinking sound of the metal catching her attention and making her smile harder as she removed her hand from her mouth trying to reach for it.

Cataleya let go of the walker taking two wobbly steps before falling to the ground and crawling the rest of the way to Joseph.

Grace let out a scream as she jumped up and down, clapping her hands excitedly at their daughter taking her first steps. "You did it baby!" Grace beamed proudly as Joseph scooped Cataleya up and tossed her into the air, her boisterous giggles flooding the lower level of their mansion.

Joseph gasped for air, his eyes shooting open wide as his chest heaved up and down. His body felt numb and heavy, the only thing he could move were his eyes. The EKG monitor began beeping loudly charting the ungodly speed of his heart rhythm. He watched the green line on the monitor spike and peak highly, recording every beat. He looked around the room slowly, the flat screen mounted to the wall in his room played the news at low volume. He stared at the TV calmly, reading the subtitles.

"Two DEA agents dead, one critically injured after shoutout with cartel members; Leader of the cartel, Alvaro Munoz, apprehended amid shootout"

Joseph furrowed his bushy brows as he watched the news in confusion, watching how the screen switched to a live broadcast of the restaurant they'd been in last night— how all the surrounding parked cars were shot up with .223 bullets, tires deflated, windows of the restaurant and vehicles shattered, bullet casings blanketing the pavement. Joseph clenched his jaw, using every bit of strength he had to lift his shaky hand and rip the ventilator mask off his face feeling panic begin to settle in as he breathed heavily through his nose, his nostrils flaring.

Grace slept curled up on a small couch in the corner covered in a hospital blanket. Joseph continued breathing heavily, his eyes fixated on her, unable to make a sound to get her attention no matter how hard he tried to speak. He looked down at himself, hooked up to all types of machines and IVs. Joseph mustered up enough strength to knock the hospital remote off the bed and onto the ground to wake Grace up.

Graces swollen eyes slowly fluttered open, her back aching from the small hard couch she'd fallen asleep on last night— her first time being able to sleep in almost two days. A sick feeling of despair began to settle in her stomach again as she recalled the events from the other night wishing it were all a dream— but it wasn't.

She looked over at Joseph who was awake and staring directly at her making her sit up quickly, tears welling in her eyes as she stared back at him.

A thick soiled bandage was wrapped around his neck, EKG pads stuck strategically to his tattooed chest to monitor his heart, an IV in his left hand and the ventilator mask he'd pulled off his face resting on his stomach— a look of panic in his eyes. Grace slowly stood up from the couch, holding her belly as she made her way over to his bedside, wiping her face with her sleeve too distraught to even speak.