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My chest explodes with a myriad of fucked-up emotions that start and end with fear.
The all-encompassing type.
The type I’ve never felt in my goddamn existence.
“Mom, no!” Gwen’s loud shriek rattles the walls and I don’t even think about it as I sprint to where Aspen is trying to shove Bruno off the edge.
And succeeds.
The world pauses for a second as they both tumble down and I dive, grabbing anything I can touch.
Her arm.
My fingers dig into her skin and I flatten myself on my stomach to grab her with both hands.
She’s fucking heavy.
I find the reason behind the unusual weight that’s definitely not Aspen’s when I stare down to find Bruno holding on to her waist, with both his arms and looking up with a maniacal expression.
Aspen, however, isn’t. Her eyes are closed and there’s a gash on the side of her head that’s streaming with blood.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
My shoulders nearly snap from their sockets, but I still try to lift her up. It’d be better to throw a rock at the parasite’s head and get rid of him, but if I release Aspen, she’s sure to follow him.
A shot pierces the air and I freeze, thinking something has happened to Gwen, but then the weight becomes lighter as Bruno releases Aspen. A hole is lodged between his vacant eyes as he falls, and his head smashes against the ground.
“No one fucks with me and lives to talk about it,” Nicolo says nonchalantly from his standing position, slowly hiding his gun away.
Then he gets on his knees to help me pull Aspen up, but I already have her halfway on the edge. Once she’s completely on solid ground, I make sure she’s breathing, then tap her cheek. “Aspen, sweetheart, open your eyes.”
“Mom!” Gwen falls to her knees beside us, probably having been untied by one of Nicolo’s men. “Daddy, is she going to be okay?”
I cradle Aspen’s head against my chest. “She will be.”
She fucking has to be.
* * *
I’ve been pacingthe length of the hospital hall, back and forth like a caged animal.
The shuffling of nurses buzzing around, coupled with the rancid antiseptic smell closes my throat. Now, I understand why the fuck Aspen hates this place. It smells of death, blood, and the worst nightmares.
No.
I’m not going to think about death under such situations. I simply will not.
The doctors have been with Aspen for what seems like an eternity, and the nurse who came out earlier didn’t say anything, even when I threatened to sue this place and have her fired.
“Dad…”
I come to a halt and stare at Gwen, who’s sitting on a chair, rocking back and forth like when she was distressed as a child. Her shirt is torn at the collar, but her shoulders are covered with my jacket that I draped on her earlier. Her face is dirtied, streaks of dry and fresh tears mapping out her cheeks.
“What if…what if she doesn’t make it? What if…she goes into a coma like you did?”
“Hey.” I sit beside her, wrap an arm around her and adopt my soothing parental tone, even though her thoughts mirror mine. “She’s strong as hell and won’t let this bring her down.”
“But she’s not immortal.” She cries into my chest. “And she seemed resolved about dying, too. Her father…made her choose between you and me, but she chose to sacrifice herself, Dad. She chose to throw herself off the edge instead of seeing any of us die. But what if we’re the ones who lose her? I just found her…”
