Race With a Heart
Chapter 233: Jack and Michael

Chapter 233: Jack and Michael

Michael Moore lay on a hospital bed as pale as the sheets. On his arm was a blood pressure monitor connected to some kind of machine with a monitor. An IV needle was stuck into his other arm, with a long, thin tube coming off of it. He looked... old. And weak. This was not the strong, energetic CEO of a large corporation, but a man complicated by a sudden, painful illness.

"Hello, Michael..."

Moore looked away from his secretary, who was just explaining something to him, and looked at Lambert, who was standing tentatively in the threshold. He looked at him for about three seconds and nodded for Jack to come inside.

"Shouldn’t you be getting ready to go abroad now?" asked Moore. His voice was weaker than usual-quieter than usual-but he could still get people to stand at attention. That’s good, thought Jack. Maybe things aren’t so bad with Michael yet.

"Go abroad? Do you think on a day like this I would be able to..."

"That’s your job."

"Screw my job," growled Lambert in response, and he was speaking the absolute, one hundred percent truth. At that moment, he would have been able to throw his entire career and the whole world into the toilet and flush it down the toilet, just to get Kevin....

Moore smiled faintly, but Jack’s answer apparently satisfied him.

"I assume you know about Kevin," he said.

"I don’t know how much I know," admitted Lambert.

Moore’s eyes darkened. His face pulled even tighter. He was suffering, that much was obvious. Perhaps he was in physical pain - after all, he was in the hospital for a reason - or perhaps anxiety about his son was eating away at him, or something else. Successful people tend to make enemies. The greater the success, the greater the envy of others. But after all, Kevin was kidnapped for ransom, not out of envy, Paul said. But for Kevin himself at this point, does it make any difference? Or for Michael?

Michael must have been thinking the same thing, because you could hear the regret and suffering in his voice as he spoke.

"I tried to live my life honestly. I tried not to hurt ordinary people. I wanted the money I would give him to be clean, so that he wouldn’t have to be ashamed of where I got it from. Meanwhile, this money brought him suffering..."

"Mr. Chairman," the secretary admonished him, "Please don’t get excited. Your heart..."

Moore raised his hand silencing his secretary.

"They say I’ve had a heart attack. They say they need to perform an operation urgently, but how can I lay on the table when my son..."

He paused as if his heart had been pierced by pain. The machine made an alarming sound for a moment. A clever warning system.

"Mr. Chairman..."

"It’s nothing, there are issues I need to raise with Jack."

"You must undergo surgery," announced Lambert emphatically. "You have to. For Kevin. When he comes back, you have to wait for him and if you are in critical condition because you delayed the operation... Listen, Michael, Kevin has enough problems of his own now, he doesn’t need to worry about his father yet. You will undergo this operation now and when you open your eyes after waking up from anesthesia, you will see Kevin. Deal?"

Michael Moore did not answer, he just looked at Jack carefully, as if he had just considered something.

"Get out," he said, but he directed his words not to Lambert, but to his secretary. The man bowed, cast a fleeting but concerned glance at Jack and left the room.

"Sit down. Here, next to me. I don’t have the strength to speak out loud."

Lambert listened to his command. He sat as close as if he were at the bedside of a sick beloved family member.

"You love him, don’t you?"

Jack felt uncomfortable hearing this question. He thought his affection for Kevin was clear and obvious, but perhaps it wasn’t so for everyone?

"More so than my own life," he admitted forcefully, although he felt a scratching in his throat. "When I found out he was missing, I thought I was going crazy. That’s why you have to recover so that..."

Michael interrupted him with a gesture.

"Let’s not talk about me. It’s not that bad with me. But what happened made me rethink some things. To rethink you."

Jack pressed his lips together. He didn’t know what to expect, but his instincts told him nothing good. By a hair’s breadth away from death, Moore could become even more aware of the impossibility of continuing the lineage. He might start pressuring Kevin or Jack to break up with each other. Is that what Michael wants to tell him now?

"Jack, every father cares about the happiness of his child, and every father thinks he knows best what is good for that child. And every father makes mistakes."

"I don’t know if my father would classify himself in the category of <<wants what’s best for the child>>," announced Jack with a wry smile.

"I know your story," admitted Moore, "and I know it wasn’t easy for you. But you’ve grown into an excellent young man and... Kevin could have chosen worse."

For a moment, Jack felt like he had overheard himself. Moore’s words, however, rang in his ears quite clearly.

"I’ll take that as a compliment," he replied with genuine gratitude.

"This operation awaits me sooner or later, and it is not entirely risk-free. That’s why I don’t want to undergo it before Kevin comes back to me. If anything were to happen, I want to see him at least once more before I die..." He paused. Speaking was tiring for him. "But you’re right. I can’t be selfish and cause Kevin worry. My secretary and lawyers have been given the proper dispositions when it comes to material matters, but to you I want to entrust Kevin’s heart."

"Michael, are you...?"

Moore nodded.

"I’m not going to die, not yet, but surgery is unpredictable. Especially open heart surgery. That’s why I want you to know, you and Kevin, that I approve of your relationship. And I want you to take care of Kevin. He is strong, courageous, but like his mother he has a certain tenderness about him. The world Kevin sees is different from the one we see. That’s why... he needs someone strong, someone to hold his hand when something bad starts to happen to him because of his work. So if any complications arise because of the operation... be there for him."

"Of course! Michael, Kevin is the most wonderful being in the world to me. I will do everything to give him happiness."

"Everything?"

"I guess after this speech you don’t want to ask me to break up with each other?"

"I’m not that insensitive. But I wasn’t the best father either... Jack, if anything went wrong, let him know that I always loved him. Always. And I’m proud of him. Kevin is the best son I could have ever dreamed of."

"I should probably say that after the operation you’ll tell him those words yourself, but you won’t say them, will you? You’ll be too ashamed."

"I guess we’d both feel too embarrassed," admitted Moore. "Jack, thank you."

Lambert shook his head.

"It’s me who thanks you, Michael. You raised Kevin to be a wonderful guy. Despite your mistakes."

Moore laughed briefly and looked longingly at the door. Was he hoping his son would walk through it in a moment?

Suddenly his gaze became sharp. Jack trembled under its power.

"I don’t think I need to tell you that if I survive the operation, our conversation today is to remain secret?"

"I will keep quiet about everything except one thing," announced Jack firmly. "I will never, ever let you deny your blessing to Kevin and me."

"I knew it," growled Moore. "You really are a good match for my son..."