323 Family reunion(2)
“Norman.” Zeus gritted his teeth. Even after being told he was the one they were after, it was still unbelievable.
“You should call me uncle. Don’t you know that, kiddo?”
Zeus wanted to explode. “Who are you calling kiddo?”
“You, of course. It suits you.”
While he would have loved to strangle the man, he played it cool and tried to lure his plan out. “Why are you here? Did you come to laugh at me?”
“Laugh at you? I came to thank you, nephew.” Norman inched closer to the bars and lowered his voice. Of course, he knew the detention center was strict on what visitors could bring in, so there was no chance anyone would record him. Even if he was overheard, what good would it be in a case where it would be their word against his?
“You see, your mother made me unhappy. Very unhappy. And I wasn’t going to do anything about it until you gave me the chance. Then, just when it seemed like all bets were off, you slipped up. And although it didn’t work out in my favor, seeing you in here on my behalf makes me a little happy. But just a little.” He chuckled. “See you never, Zeus. I hope you rot here forever.”
Zeus’s brows are knitted. It was not coincidental that he had said that. He was going to try to kill him.
He knew about the brawls at the detention center. Norman would probably send goons after him and if they got caught for deliberately killing him, it wouldn’t matter. They were already in prison.
.....
Luckily, there wasn’t much anyone could do.
So, the following day when Zeus’s food was brought, he didn’t touch any of it. He had a feeling this was it. He could have been wrong, but he couldn’t eat a thing until they were certain Norman had been caught.
However, he banged his head against the wall and feigned breathlessness. He was wheeled into the hospital instantly.
“Is it an allergic reaction?” One nurse asked him to get a clue on where to start. He pointed at his throat frantically just as another nurse brought in his medical records.
“The patient is allergic to strawberries. He must have ingested some.” She explained. “I’ll take care of this.” She sent the other off and pulled a syringe out of her pocket.
She was yet to do a single thing when the door burst open.
She gasped, quickly adjusting her mask. “How did you get in? You cannot interrupt a medical procedure!”
Norman stared at the nurse just as she turned around and wondered why her french accent sounded so familiar. Even so, he pleaded, “He will be fine if he’s no longer gasping for breath. I need to tell him something. It’s urgent.”
She headed for the door, careful not to look up at him as she walked out. “One minute.”
When the door shut, Norman waited until he could no longer hear footsteps, then he chortled. “This is so easy it’s starting to get boring. That brainless nurse left you all to me, so how about some strawberry juice, nephew?”
Zeus remained still as Norman injected strawberry juice into him.
The latter was confused. “Why is nothing happening?”
The door burst open and in walked the nurse from earlier. She tore her mask off. “Because he is not allergic to strawberries, silly. Hello, half-brother.”
“Lucy!” he gasped. “You tricked me!”
“Don’t call it that. It didn’t take enough effort to be called a trick. I only threw in a tiny fake allergy into his medical record and down you went.” She couldn’t believe how easy it was to deceive Norman.
Zeus finally opened his eyes. “To be fair, it would have been a perfect plan. Use a prisoner’s food allergy to poison him, get him into the hospital and inject the very same allergy into his blood. It would have seemed like a complete accident. Unfortunately, you were merely a puppet in this show and the strings were in our hands all along.” He smirked, then added in a squeak, “that’s the thing with lone wolves. They think they have the world at their feet and forget to think. In your next life, find a partner.”
Lucy knocked Norman out before he could come out of his shock and glared at Zeus. “What were you thinking, letting him inject you?”
“He wanted to ensure it was a perfect ‘accident’. He wouldn’t dare add anything else.”
______
“Norman is locked up now. He will not be able to come out alive.” Lucy assured the family. She had gathered them up again to tell them the good news.
“Norman cannot be spared.” Desmond insisted.
Lucy rolled her eyes. “You underestimate my intention. Who said anything about sparing him?” She caught Zaria’s gaze and walked over to her, cupping her face. “I’m sorry honey. But they get stronger if you let them go once. I can’t risk a jailbreak so this is the only way. I know you care about him.”
“Not anymore.” Zaria hugged her shoulders. She did care about him, and a day ago, she might have asked for them to spare his life, but not anymore. “If reality was only slightly different, he would have hurt my brother and he wouldn’t even feel sorry about it.”
“I knew you loved me deep down.” Zeus joked.
“Who said I love you? I just don’t want people to think they can get away with hurting my family.” She shrugged.
“Sure, yeah.” Zeus pretended to believe her but pulled her into a hug, using his height to smack her head for fun.
She groaned. “Remind me why I didn’t let Norman kill you?”
Lucy smiled. “Then that’s decided. You will never hear from Norman again.”
No one asked what she would do. They had the idea.
“I guess that calls for celebration?” Ximena suggested. “I’ll cook for everyone.”
“Good idea. I’m starving.” Zeus seconded.
_________
In the following few days, word had started spreading about Norman’s disappearance. He was his customers’ sweetheart, after all. In the midst of the chaos, Zaria dropped by a few times, asked for his specially made blueberry muffin, and made it her business to ask where he ran off to and when he would return.
Lucy had put her up to it, calling it misdirection. If the rest of his family were to learn of his disappearance, Zaria’s appearance in the diner would close their eyes to the fact that she could know something. Meanwhile, Zeus used his phone to make a few calls and send a few messages for good measure. It was a good thing Lucy had created a voice-changing software that had a mimicking feature. As long as people believed they were having phone calls with Norman, it would be ages by the time they realized he was missing and their trail would be long lost.
_________
AN
It breaks my heart to say this but TTW will end soon T_T. I don’t know how many chapters are left yet. While tying up the loose ends, I realized something. I’ll make a huge announcement about it at Des and Zaria’s wedding! Oh I can’t wait to see my babies finally have their happily ever after. They have come so far.
Th𝓮 most uptodate nov𝑒ls are published on freew(e)bnove(l).𝓬𝓸𝓶