Just The Right Black

Chapter 56

Jace and Jake talked in the living room while Leo and Ariana's teammates went on about their jobs around them.

"So you have no idea how they found you so fast?" Jack asked,

"No." Jace replied, "Ariana made sure we weren't followed."
Jace sighed, his mind on Ariana.

"You guys look like you're getting close." Jack said and some ears perked up around them.

Jace wanted to say yes but after what had happened and the look he had seen on Ariana's face, he wasn't so sure anymore. He'd talk to her when they were alone.

He felt the anger rise within him as the image of her back popped into his head. It was cut, scratched and bloodied. When he had moved closer to her, he had seen little particles of glass glisten in the cuts and he wanted to find whoever was behind this badly and cut them deeply and slowly with a shard of broken glass. He had seen a large piece sticking out and his jaw clenched as he pulled it out of her. He could feel her pain and it made him only want to make the person behind this suffer ten times more.
They had hurt his wife and he wouldn't spare them.

His thought would have gone to Mark first but he wasn't so sure anymore seeing as he told no one where he was. No one. So how the heck did these masked men find him.

Someone else was behind this because even though his stepbrother was smart, he wasn't this smart.

"Scoot, get Feilman, I need to ask her some questions," Jack said,

Scoot glanced at the rest of the guys and Jace and Jack looked at them wondering what was up.
"She left."

What?!

"What?!" Jack voiced out his thought,

"She came downstairs and asked Killian for his bike. Said he'd have it back when he returned to the city."

Jace just stared at him, dumbfounded while he felt a drop in his stomach.

"Oh, she said she'd send you an email of her statement," Scoot added,

"She just left?" Jace mumbled to himself more than he was asking anyone,

"I hate to say it but...with everything you've told me, Feilman is likely to request someone take over from her." Jack said

"She can't do that to me." Jace said,

"No dude... she's doing it for you." Jack said, "She out there blaming herself for it. For everything."

Jace wanted to shout 'No' and tell him he was lying, but he knew. Deep inside, he knew Jack was right. Ariana blamed herself for all of this and she thought leaving him would keep him alive. But the truth was without her, breathing or not, he was as good as dead without her.

Jace wanted to get into a car and chase after her but seeing what happened today and the harm she would be in if she were with him, he held back the urge to go get her. She was better off without him...for now.

Jack got an email from Ariana not too long later. Two emails actually. The first one was her statement of what went on and the second one was what Jack had predicted. A request to be replaced. She had written that her reason was personal and she wouldn't want to risk the life of the client.

It hurt Jace that she wrote about him so formally like they hadn't had anything between them.

Jack had assigned Bob to take over protecting Jace while they cleared out from the safe house planning to head back to the city. Jack was setting up another safe house for Jace when he went upstairs to gather his things. He walked downstairs and checked his wrist to check what the time was and he realized his watch wasn't on him.

He remembered taking it off in the washroom when he went to freshen up. He dropped his bag in the living room where the agents were finishing up and walked into the washroom downstairs. He walked towards the sink and reached for the wristwatch which was placed in front of the mirror. He was about to grab it when he saw something strange in the mirror. A dim red light flashed, almost unnoticeable but it was coming from the back of the wristwatch. He picked it and looked behind it.

Who would have...?!

Jace froze just then as he realized it wasn't a watch he had purchased. It was the one he had gotten for his birthday.

Jace shut his eyes and clenched his jaw before he headed downstairs to find Jack. Jack was on the phone when he got to the living room.

"Everything ok?" Jack asked when he got off the phone,

"I know who's behind this."

Jack listened to Jace.
"Come back home Jace, there's no reason to hide out anymore," Jack said after Jace had told him everything he had,

"I sure as hell am."

"That was Shay on the phone earlier," Jack said, "We got something."

Ariana finally arrived at the hospital after she decided on the way to stop by to see her mum before she went home, her mind had been going back and forth to what happened.

She shook the thoughts from her mind as she stepped into the elevator. She tried to regain her composure because her mum would not stop asking her what the matter was until she told her. So she did her best to let it all take space at the back of her mind till she was ready to rehash it.

She stepped out of the elevator as it opened up and walked down the hall pausing in front of her mum's room. She took in a deep breath putting a smile on her face to cover up the emotions then she opened the door and stepped in. Ariana stopped in her tracks at the sight in front of her as her smile fell from her face.

Ariana didn't know whether to let out a scream or punch something, or someone better yet as the doctor stood near her mum's bed explaining her mum's situation a few minutes after she walked in. Apparently, she had forgotten to inform Betty as she usually did when she had to leave her phone behind to avoid getting tracked. The trip to the safe house had been impromptu and she scolded herself for not remembering to leave something for Betty to reach her on. Due to that fact, Betty had called her phone multiple times, according to her, to inform her of her mum's deteriorating health.

The coma her mum had been in had made it difficult for her to handle chemo. The doctor expressed his surprise at how her mum had even made it this long and out of the coma. But now they couldn't do anything else for her. She had days and if they were lucky, weeks till the inevitable happened. She was going to lose her mum.

Again.

But only this time, she wasn't coming back.


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Hey guys,

I know we're all sad about her mum but sometimes life isn't fair. There are a lot of people out there that beat cancer but others don't. We just have to keep them all in our prayers.

P.S.: This chapter is dedicated to the families whose loved ones have cancer. (May you find strength to go through this with them.)

J.L. ♥️