Never Let Me Go (Derek Hale Fanfiction Book #3)

Chapter Thirty-Two: While You Were Sleeping

Derek’s POV

       “Your wife suffered very extreme injuries, Mr. Hale. We’re not sure there’s much we can do besides try to save the baby by Cesarean section-” 

“Tell me. I want to know what her injuries are,” I demanded hoarsely, my voice low and sharp.

“I don’t think that’s wise-” 

“Tell me.”

“Well, okay then. It’s a long list, and if you want me to stop…” My heart sunk with every word out of the doctor’s mouth, and guilt pounded me like a battering ram. 

 “Mrs. Hale suffered an oblique fracture to her left wrist, along with several shattered and misplaced metacarpal, trapezoid, and scaphoid bones in that same region. There were several holes and tears of the biceps brachii muscle in her upper right arm from the arrow wound-”

“Can you just give it to me straight, doctor? No medical crap, just tell me what happened to my wife. Please,” I interrupted, and the doctor paused, eyebrows raised. He must have seen something in me that made him soften, because he changed course and began telling me what they’d pieced together from Chris’s injuries.

        “As you know, your wife was attacked. Her left wrist was broken and shattered, shards of bone tearing up her hand internally. She was shot in her right upper arm with an arrow, which ripped her muscle.” 

“Her left ring finger was cut off, presumably because of the wedding ring. I’m sure you heard how her attacker was obsessively in love with her, and that his motivation was primarily to have Chris for himself.”

I could only nod, expression stoic and hard.

“She cracked her jaw and suffered two broken ribs, which, judging by their position and severity, indicates that she was running away when somebody pulled her down from behind, most likely on a staircase.”

“She was stabbed twice; once through her stomach and uterine wall from above, and once more from the side. The knife went right between two of her ribs, although we think it missed the babies as there was a lack of internal bleeding or other injury in the ultrasound.”

“Your wife was shot in the left thigh from behind, and suffered extreme blood loss from this and numerous other injuries.”

“All of the skin was burned off of her right wrist, where you informed us her tattoo used to be. Again, we assume this was a jealousy-induced crime, as her tattoo was of another man’s name, correct?”

Again, I could hardly summon up the energy to nod my head.

“She has injuries indicating that she was sexually assaulted, particularly that she was raped.” I flinched, torturous images of Chris being forced to- 

“Several of her knuckles are broken and bruised, and again, we assume they’re from fighting back and punching her attacker.”

“She suffered a lot of head trauma. A severe concussion, coupled with bleeding in her brain and a fracture in the base of her skull.”

“She was hit in the face many times, and has a badly bruised cheekbone and a broken nose.” 

“Your wife twisted her ankle, which we think is from jumping off the window ledge onto the garage roof in her attempt to escape.” 

“Due to her heart condition and the extreme exertion and duress she underwent, she had a pretty severe heart attack and heart failure, which led to her falling two stories off the garage. Granted, you made it there just in time to catch her, but the force slammed both of you into the ground.”