He met her eyes and continued. “The relationships formed because of the parking lots and the trucking company I owned. I was on their good side. I didn’t get involved in their business and they didn’t touch mine. We had sort of an agreement. My dad was starting to interfere with their business, so suddenly it became my problem. Not only did I want to stay in their good graces, but I was so far gone from making any peace with my dad.”
His stare became more intent. “You knew that.” She nodded her head slowly, easily remembering the struggles between Kyle, formerly Kirby Nelson, and his arrogant, U.S. Senator father.
He sighed. “There was this big drug lord in New York. He was causing trouble for everyone in the New York Costa Nostra. I got wind that this drug lord was the kingpin in a governmental bribery scheme directly involving my dad. He would pay off congressmen, mayors, judges and cops and whomever else so the drug ring could proliferate with no one getting busted. They would give my dad a cut of their profits. His cut alone was in the tens of millions every year not that he needed it, greedy son of a bitch.”
He shook his head. “Then they took that operation beyond state lines to run a big national ring. The mafia was pissed and they wanted to take out the drug lord and my dad. They didn’t touch my dad because of me. As you know, my dad had used his power as a senator corruptly on more than one occasion.”
Kit suddenly felt a wave of compassion for Kyle. He had been so ashamed to share that with her at the time when they were together. She nodded and spoke quietly. “I do remember that well, yes.”
Kyle sighed. “I encouraged the mob to leave my dad and the drug lord alone because I thought I could fix it. They loved my idea and let me run with it. I reached out to the Feds. That’s when everything shifted and what I thought would be a simple process was about to change my life forever.”
He cast his eyes down. “I had a few different meetings with my dad. I wore a wire during each of them. I had a meeting with my dad and the drug lord and wore a wire on that one as well—and the Feds rushed in and took them both into custody.”
He swallowed hard and looked up once again. “Then the death threats started coming. Kitty, they were calling our apartment. They were threatening to kill you and me. I notified the Feds. I had a meeting with them. They asked me if I’d be the star witness. Without me they couldn’t get a conviction. They also asked me if there was anyone else who could testify. Your dad was one of those people. I’m sure he didn’t tell you because he couldn’t. There was a huge gag order on the trial. When I got back to Philly, I graduated from Penn and the wheels were in motion for a Federal trial.”
He sighed and cast his eyes down. “The feds notified me that I would be put into the witness protection program. They asked me if I wanted you to come with me because you were my fiancée. I said no.”
Kit eyes widened in disbelief. “What? You had the option to take me with you and you said no? Kirby, what the fuck? I thought you wanted to make me feel better? This makes me feel worse!” She felt a jolt of pain and betrayal, like someone had just sucker punched her.
He looked up at her reflecting her dismay in his own eyes. He nodded. “Hear me out. Kitty, if I would have brought you with me, you would have had to leave your music behind. No music career—ever. No law, nothing. You wouldn’t have been able to live out your dream. I couldn’t bear the thought of taking that away from you. It’s all you ever wanted. It’s all you ever talked about. I told them to put me in the program and leave you out of it. I knew I could handle walking away from a career in business and switch gears. I also knew that once they put me in the program, the death threats to you would stop coming.”
He met her eyes. “You were correct—my death was staged. They died my hair, gave me a new identity and I was relocated to Northern California. They created new academic records for me. Everything you knew of me—my school records at Exeter and Crestridge Academy, my bachelor’s degree at Penn, even my MCAT scores were all wiped out with my old identity. Those items died when Kirby Nelson legally died.
He nodded. “With my new identity as Kyle Nicholls, records say that I was born in Idaho on the twentieth instead of the first, went to an average public high school and attended the University of Washington, with a major in Molecular Biology. Graduated at the top of my class in 1983. They gave me the same MCAT scores under my new name. Whatever they set up worked, and I started med school at Stanford without a hitch that fall.”
Feeling like he was losing Kit’s attention, he looked over at Alexa who gave him an encouraging nod to continue. “When I decided to go into the program, I discussed some career options and paths with them. I made the decision to dedicate myself to medicine. I did my first surgical residency at Stanford and a cardiothoracic fellowship through UCLA, made the right connections and got sent out to Cedars to do my cardiothoracic surgical residency two and a half years ago. I have a few months of it left. I haven’t decided what my next steps are yet.”
He
