The atmosphere in the Black Box dining hall was usually one of warmth and chaotic energy. But tonight, it felt like a funeral for a living person.
Keigan and Rina sat on one side, exchanging worried glances. Alexander was picking at his food, his small face pinched with a stress no six-year-old should carry. Lia was trying to distract Astraea, but the toddler kept looking at the empty head of the table.
Jay had returned from the hospital only to pack a bag, but the family had cornered her, begging for one "normal" dinner. Then, Keifer walked in.
POV: Jay (The Surgeon's Cold Blade)
I sat at the table, my posture rigid. I didn't have my surgical mask, but I had my "Savage" mask on—tight and impenetrable.
Keifer sat down at the head of the table. He looked like he hadn't slept in forty-eight hours. His eyes were bloodshot, and his presence felt like a thunderstorm trapped in a glass jar.
"Pass the salt," Keifer said, his voice a low, rough rasp.
I didn't move. I didn't even look at him. I pushed the salt cellar toward Percy with the tip of my finger. "Give it to him, Percy. I don't want to touch anything he's laid his hands on."
The table went dead silent. Erdix stopped chewing. Rory looked like he wanted to phase through the floor.
"Jay, enough," Keifer said, his voice dangerously low. "We have guests. We have the children."
"Oh, now you care about the children's environment?" I snapped, finally looking him in the eye. "You didn't care about the children's environment when you turned their school into a surveillance hub. You didn't care when you made our son think there's a killer behind every tree."
"I am teaching him to survive!" Keifer roared, slamming his palm onto the mahogany table. The plates rattled. Astraea whimpered.
"You're teaching him to be lonely!" I stood up, my chair screeching against the floor. "You're teaching him that the only person he can trust is a Watson, and look at us, Keifer! Look at the Watsons! We're falling apart because you can't stop being the 'Monster' for five minutes to be a husband!"
POV: Keifer (The Monster's Pride)
I felt the eyes of my brothers on me. I felt the judgment from Rina, the pity from Lia. But mostly, I felt the searing, white-hot betrayal from the woman standing across from me.
"I am the reason this table has food on it!" I stood up, looming over her. "I am the reason Rina is safe, the reason Keigan is graduating, and the reason you have a hospital to work in! I take the hits so you don't have to feel the sting! And you stand there and call me a jailer?"
"Because you ARE!" Jay screamed, her voice breaking. "You're so obsessed with the walls you've built that you didn't notice you locked us out! I'd rather be in danger with a man who trusts me than be 'safe' with a man who treats me like a prisoner of his own trauma!"
"Then go!" I gestured wildly toward the door. "If it's so terrible here, if my protection is such a burden, then leave! Take your 'normalcy' and see how long it lasts out there without my shadow over you!"
"Fine!" Jay grabbed her wine glass and threw the contents onto the floor between us. "I hope your shadows keep you warm at night, Keifer. Because I'm done."
The Family Interruption
"STOP IT!"
The voice was small, but it cut through our rage like a lightning bolt.
Alexander was standing on his chair, his face wet with tears, his wooden sword clutched in a white-knuckled grip.
"You're not supposed to fight!" he sobbed. "Mommy, you're the Doctor! You're supposed to fix Dad! And Dad, you're the King! Kings don't make Queens cry!"
Astraea started wailing then, a high, panicked sound, reaching her arms out for both of us. Ghost let out a low, mournful howl from the corner, sensing the fracture in his pack.
Keigan stood up, his face as cold as I'd ever seen it. "Keifer. Jay. That's enough. You're behaving like the enemies you're supposed to be protecting us from."
"Get the kids out of here, Keigan," I commanded, my chest heaving, my side beginning to ache where the stitches had once been.
"No," Rina said, her voice sharp as a razor. "We aren't moving. You two are going to look at what you're doing. You survived a plane crash, Keifer. You survived a flatline, Jay. And you're going to let a school orientation be the thing that kills you?"
The Final Blow (POV: Jay)
I looked at Alexander. I looked at the fear in his eyes—the same fear I had seen when the jet went down. I had spent my life healing people, but I was breaking my own son.
But I looked at Keifer, and I didn't see the man who held me in the mountains. I saw the granite-faced "Monster" who refused to yield. The man who would rather be right than be happy.
"I can't fix this, Keigan," I whispered, my voice hollow. "You can't stitch a soul back together when the other person keeps ripping the thread."
I looked at Keifer one last time. "I'm going to the hospital. I'll be staying in the on-call suite. Don't call me. Don't send the cars. If I see a Watson security badge near my ward, I'm quitting the family for good."
I walked out of the dining room. I didn't look back at my children. I didn't look back at the brothers who had become my own. I just walked until I hit the cold night air.
POV: Keifer (The Silence)
I stood at the head of the table. The silence that followed her departure was worse than the screaming.
Alexander jumped off his chair and ran to Lia, burying his face in her skirt. Keigan wouldn't look at me. Percy was staring at the spilled wine on the floor as if it were my own blood.
"Keifer..." Percy started.
"Clean it up," I said, my voice dead. "Everyone. Get out."
"Keifer—" Keigan began.
"GET OUT!" I roared, sweeping the crystal glasses off the table with my arm.
They scrambled out, taking the children with them. The doors slammed shut, leaving me alone in the massive, golden hall.
I sat back down in my chair. I looked at the empty seat across from me. The "Monster" was alone in his fortress. The walls were high, the drones were flying, and the perimeter was secure.
I had never been more terrified in my life