Chapter 55 - Chapter 55. Time to Heal

The bank robbers got away in their speedboat, but Kevin and Officer Emmett managed to save their young hostage. Unfortunately, while fighting with the leader of the gang, Kevin reopened the wounds on his head and his side. As the police and ambulance approached, Kevin said to Officer Emmett, "I think you should take the boy back to the bank. After all this, he needs to be with his family as soon as possible."I can wait," the little boy said stubbornly, "You should get to the hospital right away."Officer Emmett patted the boy on the head and said, "I'll send you back in a police car. How would you like that?" Then she paused and said, "You know, I don't even know your name."The little boy replied, "I'm Stevie!"Then his eyes lit up and he asked, "Can they use the siren?"Officer Emmett laughed and said, "We'll see!"She was trying to hide it, but she was pretty worried about Kevin's gunshot wound. Just then, the squad cars pulled up and a few officers walked over toward them cautiously with their weapons drawn."Chicago P.D. Please identify yourselves!" one of them said firmly."You missed the bad guys by like ten minutes! Where the heck were you?" Officer Emmett said as she showed him her badge."Oh, Lieutenant Emmett!" the cop responded as he put his gun back in its holster."Geeze, you guys are slow!" Officer Emmett said disapprovingly.Then she turned to the little boy and said, "Stevie, these nice officers will take you back to your family. I need to get Kevin some help."Okay!" Stevie said excitedly. At the same time, he didn't forget to wave goodbye to Kevin."Where's that damned ambulance?" Officer Emmett asked one of the officers.As soon as she asked, she saw the EMTs running toward her and Kevin."I really don't need all this fuss. I have a lot of work to do," Kevin said with a hint of irritation in his voice.When Officer Emmett heard him say this, she wanted to slap him."Your health comes first!" Officer Emmett snapped at him, "If you don't treat this wound now, you'll probably get an infection. That'll cost you even more time and money. Now let them check you out."I still don't want to go to the hospital," Kevin complained.The lead paramedic introduced herself to Kevin, "I'm Erika Diaz. Just remain calm and we'll get you back on your feet in no time." She and her assistant examined Kevin's wounds and lifted him onto a stretcher to load him into the ambulance. When they checked his vitals they were surprised to see that he wasn't in shock. "You're pretty lucky," Diaz said to Kevin. "It looks like the bullet passed right through." She rolled Kevin onto his side to be able to disinfect the exit wound."I really don't want to go to the hospital," Kevin told her.This was an unusual request for this kind of injury, so Diaz thought for a few seconds and answered, "I can stitch you up and give you some IV antibiotics. But I really recommend that you get checked out to make sure it didn't hit any internal organs. It doesn't look like it did, but you never know." Then she examined the cut on his scalp and said, "Your head wound looks worse than it is. Fortunately, you're not showing any signs of a concussion.""Why don't you listen to my advice?" Officer Emmett said disappointedly, "Just let a doctor take a look."I promise I'll go if it gets worse. But I just don't have the time to deal with a hospital right now. And I can't go home like this either. Lily would freak out," Kevin joked."You're such a pain in the butt!" Officer Emmett snapped at him. "Okay, you can crash out in my living room, but just for one night. Someone has to keep an eye on you. I guess it'll be me."Officer Emmett suddenly realized just how much she cared about Kevin. It was platonic, of course. After all, she had a fiancé, and Kevin was a married man.Kevin got off the stretcher and thanked the paramedics as he stepped out of the ambulance. He and Officer Emmett walked slowly to his car, but she stopped him as he was about to reach for the driver's side door. "Oh no you don't," she said to him. "You don't think I'm going to let you drive in your condition?"Officer Emmett helped Kevin into the passenger seat and went around to the other side to start the car. She smiled as she revved the Pagani's powerful engine.They got to Officer Emmett's house in about a half hour. When they walked into the living room, she pointed at the large recliner and said, "That's yours for the night." Then she went into her bedroom and came back with a first aid kit."I'll leave this here in case you need it," Officer Emmett said as she put the box on the coffee table and put a blanket over Kevin. Then she pointed to a door next to the bookcase and added, "The guest bathroom is right over there."Once Kevin was settled into the comfortable recliner, Officer Emmett sat down on the sofa. Kevin's phone vibrated, but he ignored it."Kevin, can you tell me what you were thinking when you blocked the bullet for that little girl?" Officer Emmett asked hesitantly."I wasn't really thinking about anything. I just figured it would be less dangerous for me than for her," Kevin said thoughtfully.Officer Emmett was touched by this. Although Kevin was trying to make it sound like a rational decision, she knew he had a heart. This made her see Kevin in a new light."It's been a long day and we both need some rest," Officer Emmett said sleepily.Then she took a deep breath and said, "You have free run of the living room and the bathroom. If you're dying, just knock on my door. Otherwise, I don't want to hear a peep out of you until morning!"Thanks! But your bedside manner could use some work!" Kevin looked at Officer Emmett in shock.Officer Emmett turned around abruptly and headed to her bedroom. She closed her door and went into her bathroom to clean up.Kevin could hear Officer Emmett's shower running as he started to doze off. Just as he was almost asleep, his phone vibrated again.It turned out to be Phoebe Anderson sending him text messages. It looked like she'd sent him dozens of texts."Is there trouble at her antique store again?" Kevin thought to himself. He decided to call Phoebe to ask her what was going on.Phoebe answered excitedly, "Kevin? You finally saw my messages?"It's been a busy day," Kevin replied matter-of-factly."Is there anything wrong? Do you need my help?" Phoebe said with concern."Oh, I didn't know you cared," Kevin answered playfully. "Don't worry, though it's nothing I can't handle."What Kevin didn't know was that Phoebe had actually blushed a little.Then Kevin suddenly thought of something. "Phoebe, since your family's got a lot of resources, have you seen any books about the healing powers of various gems?"Why are you asking?" Phoebe asked uncertainly, "I haven't seen any, but my father has an amazing library. I'll go take a look and get back to you."She didn't hang up, so Kevin put his phone on the side table while he waited for her to check the library.Just then, Officer Emmett walked out of her room while drying her hair with a large towel."Who are you calling?" Officer Emmett asked cautiously."Phoebe Anderson. Do you remember her from the antique store?" Kevin smiled and said, "I wanted to ask her to help me find a book on rare gems."I didn't expect you to be up to making any phone calls. Where did you put that bracelet anyway?" Officer Emmett said in surprise.Kevin took the bracelet out of his coat pocket. The stone reflected the room's lighting beautifully."It's magnificent!" Officer Emmett exclaimed."Do you want to take a look?" Kevin said as he held the bracelet out for her.Officer Emmett started to reach for it and then yawned, "You know, I think I should wait until tomorrow. I really need to rest first. Good night!"Then she turned around and headed back toward her bedroom. She closed the door and Kevin heard a click as she locked it behind her.Kevin started to doze off again and then he heard Phoebe's voice coming from his phone, which was still sitting on the table, "Kevin, are you still there?"He picked it up and answered sleepily, "Yup, I'm here. What did you find?"Phoebe answered a little nervously, "I found a couple of old books he probably got from an estate sale. Do you need them now?"There's no hurry. I'll stop by tomorrow," Kevin said as he yawned."Okay. It sounds like you need some rest. I'll see you tomorrow," Phoebe hung up the phone, slightly disappointed.Kevin put his phone back in his pocket and fell asleep.When Officer Emmett woke up the next morning, Kevin had already left.*Instead of heading home, Kevin went to his office at Williams Media. He sat at his desk looking at the information Ms. Wilson had sent him with a gloomy expression on his face.In just one day, Williams Media had already lost over three billion dollars.When the markets opened in the morning, the stocks dropped so fast that they temporarily halted trading."Sir, if this continues, I'm afraid the company won't be able to hold on," Ms. Wilson said worriedly."Even if we can't hold on, we have to try," Kevin said as he threw the stock reports on his desk. "No matter what, the company has to hang in there. How much liquid capital do we have available? I want you to access all of it. Let's see how far the Williams family is willing to go."Yes, sir! I'll take care of that right away," Ms. Wilson said reluctantly. She knew very well that Kevin's actions wouldn't help them at all.The Williams family was just too powerful and Williams Media couldn't stand up to them without some outside help.In just a short time, not only Williams Media, but also the Witsler Hotel and the West Chicago International Group had suffered enormous losses.All over Chicago, countless small companies were facing bankruptcy.Kevin called Mitchell Cook and the others to come back to his office. They dropped everything and rushed there in less than an hour."Why are you all frowning? We aren't bankrupt yet," Kevin said as he took a sip of coffee."Mr. Williams, how can you laugh at this? The Williams family is killing us!" Adriana said in exasperation."Don't be so pessimistic. It ain't over 'til it's over," Kevin smiled. Then he asked Cook, "Mitch, what have you found out?"According to what I've seen, the whole mess is being led by the Williams family. They have at least twenty other companies helping them," Cook said gloomily."Mr. Williams, why don't we just give up now and cut our losses?" Gilbert Rhodes said worriedly."What's wrong? Are you afraid?" Kevin teased him."I'm just worried that when the dust settles, you'll end up losing Williams Media."Everyone at the table agreed."I appreciate your concern, but let's not worry about that right now. I don't want to lose Williams Media either, but I can handle it if that happens. What we need to do now is to stabilize the stock market as much as possible. Don't let it crash before 3 this afternoon." A strong coldness flashed in Kevin's eyes. Then he said confidently, "We won't lose."The afternoon dragged on. While everyone watched, the Williams Media and West Chicago International Group stocks fell again.But just when everyone thought that Williams Media wouldn't be able to last until the closing bell, there was a huge surge. Not only did it stabilize the stock market in an instant, but it also increased the shares of West Chicago International Group and the other groups by nearly 30%.At three o'clock in the afternoon, the major news agencies shared the breaking news. The CEO of KWTD Corporation, Tyler Dawn, had given his full support to Williams Media.The chairman of the Orion Group also said that he would back Williams Media.An unimaginable amount of money poured into the markets and by the closing bell, their losses had been completely reversed. Williams Media's stock had nearly doubled!"I must be dreaming!" Gilbert Rhodes said excitedly."That's thanks to the KWTD Corporation and the Orion Group!" Adriana was so happy that she looked like she was going to jump in the air."Two of the biggest players in the business world!" Emo Squire exclaimed as he slapped his hand on the table."We aren't the only ones who have been saved. It's spilled over to all the other companies in Chicago," Cook said excitedly as he stared at his computer screen."I told you things would turn around," Kevin said as he sat calmly on the sofa with his legs crossed, sipping another espresso."Mr. Williams, how did you get these two corporations to support you?" Adriana asked in confusion."I can't believe you doubted me," Kevin said teasingly.They all felt a little embarrassed.Kevin put down his coffee and continued, "You don't have to worry about it anymore. I just couldn't give up on Chicago. It's too important. But I'll still need your help."He asked them to stay at Williams Media and keep an eye on things while he drove to Anderson Antiques to see Phoebe.Over the past few days, the Anderson family's antique and jewel business was the only place in Chicago that hadn't been directly affected by the Williams family's manipulation of the stock market.When Kevin arrived at the store, two assistants met him at the door and escorted him to the third floor."Kevin, you're finally here. Do you know how long I've been waiting for you?" Phoebe said as she put down the book in her hand."I'm sorry, Phoebe, I didn't know you were waiting this whole time," Kevin said apologetically.Phoebe saw that Kevin was sorry, and her frown morphed into a pleasant smile."What is it you're trying to find out?" she asked him.