"I'm sorry sir." Gideon; the head security officer apologized but I didn't reply. Not yet. Her sobs got to me and they pierced right through. Damon had warned me but I chose not to listen. I thought I could trust twenty incompetent fools to protect me for just one week.
But there she was, writhing in pain. I should have listened to Damon and stayed away. They weren't sure about where the shot had been fired from but it wasn't aimed to kill. It was to frighten me. I was used to it. I grew up and lived with it. But she, she didn't.
The glass had scraped her skin and some of them were stuck inside. When I got to the kitchen during the shooting, she was bent with her head over her ears. They had fired 19 shots around the house, the kitchen, the living room, and Sandra's precious plants.
I got her into the car and drove her to the hospital, then called Damon to figure out who was behind it. Because of how much shock she experienced, the doctor sedated her. I just sat there, by her bedside, holding her hand and praying that she would be safe.
"Peanut butter sandwich." I heard her murmur in her sleep. She must be starving. I had them watch her while I went home to make her the sandwich.
I also prepared Greek yogurt with some strawberries and honey. And finally, I baked some cookies. I packed everything up and rushed back to the hospital.
"Why won't you let me out?" I heard her voice as I stepped into the VIP ward. Good thing I had the place cleared out, she was quite loud.
"Boss's orders ma'am." Gideon tried to reason with her.
"Hey momma," I called out and she ran to meet me. "Don't run. You'd fall."
"They won't let me out." She complained as we went back in. I served everything I got her on the table and watched her devour them. Turned out her favorite was Greek yogurt.
"Are you okay?" She asked when she was done stuffing her face. "You weren't hurt, right?"
"No. I wasn't." I replied and she cupped my face in her hand and turned it to take a good look at me. "I'm sorry. It's all my fault."
"Of course it is. But then, will you rather be an ordinary person?" She asked while cleaning my dirty face.
"If I were ordinary, I wouldn't have met you, found you, or kept you close. Ordinary isn't me." I said in all honesty. "I'd choose my chaotic, perfect life anytime."
"Exactly." She affirmed.
I felt bad saying it but I had to at some point "Your house is being renovated. You should stay with..."
"No." She screamed. "I'd stay in a hotel."
"I was going to say, my family. For now, until we figure out what happened. It won't take long, I promise." It never took longer than two days to catch the perpetrators.
"I can't. I don't know them." That's right, she didn't.
"I'd be there too. Their security is better than mine. And they don't bite, momma." At least I had never seen them do it. "They could be crazy but they'd never bite."
"What about Sandra and Robert? Where will they stay when they get back?" She was looking for a way to slip out of the arrangement.
I didn't want her meeting them either but I had no choice at that point. Dad's security was stronger and tougher than mine. And I had to keep her safe.
The next day came faster than I expected. When I woke up, she was sitting on the bed, looking out the window. She hated the idea, I knew. I packed up our things and sent Gideon to get the rest from her house. She was very skeptical about leaving the hospital, "what if they're still out there?" She had asked a million times.
"I'm sorry." I apologized every time she asked. On the ride home, she avoided eye contact with me so focused on her phone. My empty mind wandered far away to the week she left.
Damon had visited while I tried to tidy up my work "Why are you doing all this?"
I didn't take my eyes off the paper "Doing what?"
"Giving the poor girl hope. We both know you don't love her. If you want sex, then take it and leave." He spoke like a child most times, it was so annoying.
"It'd be even more disrespectful and trust me, I've tried. I thought it was just the sexual attraction. But there's more. I'm not saying I love her. It's just... I can't explain." Even I got confused sometimes. When I met Trisha, I was sure I loved her. Knew from the very moment we met that I wanted her in my life and couldn't be within her.
But with Amelia, I didn't love her, it was just her naive nature I loved at first but every day I watched myself get closer to her.
"All I'm saying is, it's not worth anything dragging her into your messy and dangerous life if you don't feel anything for her." Damon seemed to be making sense for the first time in a long while. But yet again, I won't listen.
"She's fine. I can protect her." I reassured myself. But there we were, on our way to a madhouse because I refused to let go of my awful desires.
My mum had a necklace which was a family heirloom. Worth close to nothing. But I wanted it and on the day she died, it was the first thing I asked for. And today, it just sits in my room.
Amelia was like the necklace and I wanted her by all means necessary, and it was not for just the "ungodly acts", but for everything. Especially, companionship.
"You finally brought home a second wife. I told you, it's the best." Dad screamed as we entered. Who would tell him?