When I was finally able to leave the agency without Wayne making me Swiss cheese, I hadn't thought he'd be fast enough to shoot both my father-in-law and wife. I had let him off with a warning after he put a gun to my head, but to have the audacity to do something I had wanted to do a long time ago was wearing on my patience. Then he escapes police custody! When I find him he's going to wish he hadn't met me.
All the love I could find in my heart for Lexi had me rushing over to the hospital. To be honest, I really did want to see if she was fine. If Brad happened to find out I didn't care one bit for his daughter, he'd find a way to kill me without touching me. I was also willing to stay overnight with her if it came to that. 'If' being the keyword.
"They haven't let anyone in since the surgery ended," Asher said above the chaos. "I've been sitting here for the longest. What took you so long?"
"...I guess you know now, huh?" I asked taking a seat next to him.
"Yeah. The EMTs looked at me like I had lost my mind when I was telling them she was Crystal Roberts. A pitiful look. I'm sure one of them said I was blind. How could I not recognize her in one simple hairstyle?"
"You're not the first. It's happened to a lot of people. Did you hear about what Wayne did once you left the agency?"
"No...What?"
"He shot Lewis three times. Unfortunately...he was still alive when the EMTs took him."
Asher scoffed making me laugh. He looked at me with an equally annoyed look.
"What are you laughing at?" He snapped.
"Oh, like you don't know." I chuckled. "You don't like Lewis, do you? What did he ever do to you?"
"Can I not like someone? Do I have to have a valid reason?"
"Duh. Everyone we work with has a reason."
"...I don't know. He's just...another guy I sincerely loathe."
Before I could say anything more a doctor stopped in front of us. Asher muttered something that had me shaking with laughter. I swear he was doing this on purpose. The doctor let me have a moment as he looked at his clipboard in thought. What? Did something happen to her?
"I can say we experienced some difficulties during the surgery," He started. "During the process Lexi flat-lined and--"
"What?" I jumped up.
"We were able to get her back. No worries, Mr. Thompson. The worst part has passed. If she wakes up any time soon it would be a miracle. She's bordering life and death and that's not a good place for her to be at this time. If worst comes to worst...she'll only fall into a coma."
I dropped down in the chair. There could be no way this was happening. Everyone would only know me as the cheating husband who lost his wife if she died. I needed to make amends with society. No more Sha'Kayla. No more Samantha. I'd live the right way so I'd be able to take care of the kids and myself. With school starting for them again in two months, I couldn't help but hope she fell into a coma and got better.
"Right now she's in the ICU. You can visit her if you must. No one knows what to expect, so we're keeping a close eye on her at the moment."
He left with his face buried in his clipboard. I was left confused. Why did I care about her now? Why was I sad she didn't seem to be okay right now? Wayne was definitely the first one on my list now. Taking the Asher's spot with his stupid stunt. Asher stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. I looked up at him in question.
"I suddenly have business to take care of," He said. "If you'd excuse me."
I watched him leave leaving me alone to cope with this by myself. I never knew loneliness until now. How could I go on right now? Pain was attacking me relentlessly leaving me no hint of hope. Who was I to get sad like this when all I've done to her was hurt her? I don't know what to do.
⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️
I kept telling myself that I hated Lexi and everything she did, but I found myself unable to stay away from the hospital. Every chance I got yesterday I came to the hospital. Multiple calls from my agent yelling about being late stopped me from going too many times. I got a chance to see her before going home and actually seeing my kids for what seemed like the first time that day.
The were gone now. With Lexi's friends who claimed I wasn't stable enough to watch them. I trusted their better judgement at this point. I wasn't stable, but the kids were going to miss me when I was gone for too long.
I was told I'd get to see her today. It felt very different. Usually the atmosphere in a hospital was panicked but not today. Doctors and nurses were still rushing around, but they didn't seem to be as serious as they were last night. After multiple doctors came up to me saying they'd come back to take me to see her I just stopped believing them. They were wasting my day with this. I should have able to come and go as I please. It not like I had to be escorted to the room.
"Sorry for the wait, Mr. Thompson. After Nurse Cole is finished with his rounds he'll come and take you to your wife."
"Can't I just go there myself?"
"If only. Just standard protocol to take visitors to the rooms. Safety and all."
I nodded and sighed once more. I was going to be here all day if no one came to take me to her. I was tempted to walk up myself in the next five seconds when something caught my attention. Now that I think about it I hadn't seen Ian since Wednesday before Lexi went with Asher. It made me think that he had something to do with this incident. Matter of fact, her entire family hasn't been present since after the gala.
"I apologize, Luca," Kathryn said as she walked up to me. "About what happened to Lexi. If I could do something to help both of you mend faster I would have done it already."
"...I thought you hated her," I muttered.
"Still do. She's not a bad person entirely, but I don't trust her near my family."
"Is she awake?"
"Yeah. You haven't gone to see her yet!" She exclaimed.
"No. They said I would be able to after some nurse made his stupid rounds," I said. "I don't mind the wait, but I have a million others things I have to do today."
"Why you didn't force them to take you?"
I shrugged and followed her through the halls to the ICU. Doctors looked at us weirdly which wasn't odd for me, but it did seem a little weird. We got to the correct floor and Kathryn slowed down. Why didn't we take the elevator? I swear she was probably one of those people crazy about exercise and staying in shape. We got to Lexi's room and I was practically shoved inside. I stumbled not really expecting Lexi to be fully awake and laughing.
"Are you all right, Mr. Clumsy?" She giggled.
I straightened and chuckled. I'd never get tired of that laugh.
"I'm fine," I muttered. "How are you feeling?"
"Pretty great! Bullets got nothing on me. I'm supposed to be discharged today. Can't say the same for Brad though."
"Discharged?! I don't think that's a good idea."
"I'm not dead, am I?"
I shook my head in both amazement and disappointment. Lexi was always eager to do things. Apparently she didn't know with "intensive care" meant. Now if I really wanted her dead I'd tell her to go right ahead and I'll sign the papers, but I had to be the good guy here. She was staying here and that was final.
"Lexi, settle down...please." I pulled up a chair next to her bed. "I heard you died during surgery. I don't think you're leaving here. Especially under the current circumstances with your health."
Lexi's smiled slowly disappeared as I spoke. Did she not know about that or was she pretending she didn't know? Either way I would never let her leave without the right treatment.
"I don't know if you knew that or not. If you want to get better and see the kids often, I suggest you stay here and get the proper care you need. Let the doctors help you get better."
"Luca, you of all people should know I don't associate myself with hospitals." She crossed her arms across her chest. "I feel trapped."
"It's only for a couple of days. It's not like it's forever." I sighed.
"But I don't want to stay," Lexi whined.
"You have to. I work and can't look after you. Your friends all have problems of their own. The nanny wouldn't want to become a babysitter for a grown woman."
Lexi huffed in annoyance. What? It's not like I was tying her to the bed and threatening to take the children from her. If it happened to go that far, she'd never get out the hospital. My free emotions were about to be set in stone.
"Look, I know you desperately want to leave and get back to a normal life, but tempting the world with your health isn't going to get you better," I argued. "I don't trust your better judgement at this point."
"You never trust me when I want something for myself."
"There's a reason for that."
"Luca!"
"I don't like your tone." I ground my teeth.
"I don't like your tone!" Lexi scoffed and shot a glare my way. I glared back just the same. Even if she was going to say something more she wouldn't. I guess she didn't feel like she was protected enough to talk back to me in a hospital.
"...I don't know why you're pretending to care anyway. Everyone knows what you did," She muttered.
"No," I snapped. "I never meant to hurt you. Kissing Samantha means nothing to me. We both were drunk. I would never hurt you on purpose. Lexi, you've got to--"
"Shut up. You're repeating yourself. I thought you really wanted to turn things around with the divorce, but I'm sure you'd rather be with Samantha or Sha'Kayla. They seemed to be all over you Tuesday night."
"B-but I wasn't...interested in them. Believe me."
"No. Even if I were to believe you, we're still getting a divorce."
I huffed and tried taking her hand. Lexi growled and shifted away from me. She was being difficult. This wasn't this serious.
"I'll never forgive you for that," She said.
"Lexi, stop being like this!" I whined.
"I'm just being myself. You've never noticed, because you're always too busy with your problems."
"That's not true. You know i pay way more attention to you than I want."
"Of course. Only because my mistakes were catching up to me and you wanted to keep your image all perfect. You wouldn't dare pay attention to me if everyone didn't have their eyes on you. Don't deny it."
"You think I'm pretending all the time?"
"That's all you seem to know how to do. I haven't had a true hug or kiss from you since you decided to hang out at the club that day. I'd like it if you'd stop pretending to have feelings for me."
There was yelling and screaming outside our door. I thought maybe the doctors were arguing or something, but that didn't seem to be the case after awhile. We listened more and it sounded like they were refusing something. Whoever was on the other side of our door with them wasn't having it. Gunshots rang out as Lexi's name was mentioned.
Lexi's eyes widened with fear? Was something about to happen? What did I miss? Did she make a doctor mad or something? Lexi seemed more fearful for her life now than she'd ever been. All those days she'd been an officer she'd had the righter way. Now that she wasn't the one holding the gun she was screaming and begging me not to let her die.
Now she's scared? Just a few minutes ago she didn't want me to have anything to do with her. Why should I protect her? Now that she didn't have her guns she was making it my responsibility to keep us both alive.
The door flung open and a doctor stood there with the most fearful look in his eyes. He didn't have to say anything for us to know that someone was in the building. Since he was coming to us that someone was coming for Lexi.
"There's a shooter in the facility. Protect your wife and don't--"
Blood erupted from his chest and across the room, hitting Lexi and I. Lexi flinched and clung to me. The doctor gurgled out an apology and was shot once again. How was I supposed to protect Lexi? My guns were taken at the front desk! I jumped up shielding Lexi from impending doom.
Wayne stepped through the doorway and kicked the body aside. Of course it was him. Why the heck was he coming back for more? If I did have any guns I'd shoot him right now. I got paid to kill multiple people almost every month. Wayne would be the only person getting the pleasure of being shot with having me getting paid.
"You again?" I exclaimed. "Was my warning to you last night not enough?"
"Warning? That was a warning?" He asked calmly.
"Why are you here?"
"...Luca, get out the way. This doesn't concern you."
I wouldn't get out the way. Just because Lexi must have figured out a way to make him mad didn't mean he could kill her. I don't believe Cameron or Brad sent him to do something like this. If Davenport was mad about what happened to Lexi's mother, then he must have ordered him to come and finish her off. Killing Brad would have been easier. He can barely move.
"No. I won't let you hurt her," I growled.
"It's either you or her," He said. "If you die first I'm going to kill her anyway."
"No!"
"Nuh-uh. That wasn't an option."
"Wayne, you--"
He pointed the gun my way and shot me in the leg. I stumbled but didn't fall. He'd have to do better than that. I've been shot too many times to feel that pain. Once he saw that I wasn't backing down he walked closer and shot me in the shoulder. I spoke too soon! My leg gave out and I feel, leaving Lexi open and defenseless.