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“What happened?” I ask.
Her reply angers me. “The doctor will be here to explain shortly.”
I’m about to blow up when Oliver speaks. “She doesn’t know anything. She is the nurse.” He moves beside me and lays his hand on my shoulder.
“What?” I bark out, prompting him to drop his hand.
Instantly I feel like shit. He isn’t to blame for anything.
“You were going to demand she tell you something she doesn’t know,” he voices placatingly.
“Shut the fuck up, Oliver.” I‘m back at the window, trying to make sense of everything. I hate feeling so useless.
Watching people trek by without a care in the world feeds the rage growing inside me. How did I let things get to this? I’ve done so many things wrong. I’ve had many opportunities to end my father and Cillian, which makes me as much to blame as the man who pulled the trigger. I might as well have pulled the trigger myself.
My musing is disrupted by the doctor entering the room.
“What the fuck happened?” I demand.
He takes my angry tone in stride. “Some pieces of glass penetrated Ava’s abdomen when she was shot. We thought we extracted all of them, but we evidently missed one. We removed the glass and repaired the damaged blood vessel, so the bleeding has stopped. She’s on her way back to the ICU, where we’ll monitor her closely. She is stable now.”
“You fucking said she was fine a couple of hours ago. How am I supposed to take you at your word?”
I step toward him, but Oliver gets between the doctor and me before I do anything stupid.
“I understand your frustration, Mr. Manarch. Unexpected things can happen with gunshot wounds. Now we wait,” he adds.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I try to push Oliver back.
“Thank you, Doctor,” Oliver utters, giving him his cue to leave. “Viktor—” he begins before I interrupt.
“I don’t want to hear it. I want you to find the best surgeon in the world for a second opinion.” We head back to the room Ava has been recently wheeled back into. Staring at her laying there breaks me. I just want to fix it. Make it right. She always declared I’d lead her to her death.
When Oliver spots my forlorn gaze, he promises, “I’ll do whatever you want me to do, but you need to keep your cool. The last thing you need is to be kicked out of the hospital or arrested.”
Everything he proclaims is true. However, it doesn’t lessen my anger in the slightest. “How can I trust him? He said she was fine, and then she almost died in front of me.” The love of my life is comatose, and there’s no one to blame but myself. If I were a better man, I would have left to keep her safe when the first threats were made.
“I get it. But we have to stay positive and trust them to do their job.”
I trudge over to Ava and grip her hand. “Just open your eyes, baby girl. Let me hear your voice. I love you.”
She can’t leave me. I wouldn’t survive it. A world without Ava isn’t one I want to be a part of.
ChapterFive
Ava
Some hours later…
“Hello?”
I attempt to open my eyes, but it’s hard. My eyes feel so heavy. My mouth is dry, and my voice sounds hoarse. I’m also not sure anyone can hear me.
“Thank God.” I hear a distant voice that sounds like Viktor.
I sigh in relief. “Viktor?” I try to move, but everything hurts, and I don’t seem to have the strength.
“Don’t move, baby girl. You have no idea how happy I am right now.” He caresses my face, and his touch feels like heaven.
